Restaurants Shave Prices, Plump Menus in Response to Steep Drop in Customers

[MrBond]

Originally posted by: Amused

The key to overcoming that is plate sharing. Split an order with your dining partner.

No, the key to overcoming that is just not dining out . In the above situation, all three of us did the same thing, not knowing how much food we were getting, so we ended up with a mountain of leftovers.

I do still dine out occasionally, my place isn't big enough to cook for a crowd, so if I have more than four people over, we usually go out.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

I'm originally from Long Island. It's not booming there???

I wouldn't know, I'm in Maryland.

Your profile said Nassau County New York which is Long Island.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: davestar
good. maybe that means people are going to real restaurants instead

Um, no. It means people are going out to eat and drink less. Bar business is down too.

In fact, luxury and entertainment spending is down across the board.

This can't be, the President said so, he says almost daily the Economy is booming.

Is he FOS?

There is more to the economy than luxury and entertainment.

Ah exactly.

Not anymore, the average John Q public has been beaten down into submission.

Either the rich that are left will have to keep the eating out industry alive or they die.

I suspect they will die. I see places closing up all over.

Dave, please stop posting. Your ignorant class envy and perpetual victim status is pathetic.

The only person holding you down is you.

<Dave>You evil Bush-loving Republican!!</Dave>

:laugh:

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: MrBond

Originally posted by: Amused

The key to overcoming that is plate sharing. Split an order with your dining partner.

No, the key to overcoming that is just not dining out . In the above situation, all three of us did the same thing, not knowing how much food we were getting, so we ended up with a mountain of leftovers.

I do still dine out occasionally, my place isn't big enough to cook for a crowd, so if I have more than four people over, we usually go out.

i like getting a lot of leftovers. i take them home and have them as a snack.

 

[PingSpike]

I think gas prices have killed off a lot of the delivery options around here. I used to have a ton of places that would deliver, now they all tell me they don't anymore. Pizza hutt is the only place that does anymore...and frankly, pizza hutt doesn't really taste as good I remembered it tasting as a kid.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Amused
There is more to the economy than luxury and entertainment.

Ah exactly.

Not anymore, the average John Q public has been beaten down into submission.

Either the rich that are left will have to keep the eating out industry alive or they die.

I suspect they will die. I see places closing up all over.

do you read your posts to see if they are coherent before hitting the 'reply to topic' button? is there or is there not more to the economy than luxury and entertainment? you are aware that the economy has been expanding, are you not?

and it isn't just the 'rich' benefitting. the middle class has been benefiting, at least those with skills and savings. no, the people without skills or savings aren't gaining all that much (they have been gaining, in real terms, however), but what can you expect with 2 BILLION more competitors from china and india?

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: waggy
no shock.

the price of going out to eat is expensive. $10-15 per person for food. then drinks and ****** service? no thanks i can stay home and make a good meal.

we go out to eat once or twice a week. We go shopping on Saturday so we grab lunch (which is usually OK priced) and occasionally will go out for a nice dinner (maybe twice a month).

Yep, it's true. We've been cooking nice meals at home a lot more often it seems. I thought that was just because I decided to improve my cooking skills over the past year. Hmmm...

I have always avoided the big chain restaurants when I can. I took my mother out for dinner for her b-day a while back and she insisted on going to the Olive Garden. It was terrible. Nightmare service, mediocre food, ridiculous prices. Our server was a complete bitch. The first thing she did when she came to our table was try to push a $4 bottle of Sutter Home on us for $20 (which I'm sure is some type of corporate policy she's forced into), which we declined because my mother is a Mormon, whereupon she all but refused to serve us from that point on. I'm done for good with that corporate sh!t-hole.

 

[vi edit]

I just think that they are overbuilt. Places can only support X numbers of cookie cutter chain'esque restaurants. Omaha is a prime example of this. You can only have so many variations of an "upscale bar and grill" before they just blend into the same old thing. There really is no compelling reason to go to one over another. And they just keep building and building and building them. You just simply can not sustain that kind of growth without diluting down the customer base.

 

[mugs]

I expected the usual bashing of chain restaurants in this thread, but leave it to Dave to throw in a twist!

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Bahahahahaha Thanks to Gas prices, inflation, wages dropping, Americans can no longer support the eating out Corporations :laugh:

Dave, it's also hurting mom and pop restaurants and bars as well. It's industry wide.

Yep, my parents own a small pizza shop in my little home town and are thinking about shutting down and calling it quits because the downturn has been so bad.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Wish I could pay US prices!

/me faces an exorbitantly priced meal in the UK this evening, with crappy service and meh food

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I just think that they are overbuilt. Places can only support X numbers of cookie cutter chain'esque restaurants. Omaha is a prime example of this. You can only have some many variations of an "upscale bar and grill" before they just blend into the same old thing. There really is no compelling reason to go to one over another. And they just keep building and building and building them. You just simply can not sustain that kind of growth without diluding down the customer base.

I know, I don't understand this myself. One area has been building heavily lately, and its had a lot of chain resturants come in. First Chili's came in. Then they built a 99. Then they build a longhorn right across the road from Chilis. There was a ponderosa steak house already across the street before they started. How many places that sell steak and hamburgers do we fvcking need crammed into the same area? I don't get it. Why not open an asian place, or an italian place, or a seafood place? You're just forcing yourself to compete almost entirely on price and service when you could be controlling an ignored niche.

Maybe people just want fries and burgers 90% of the time and thats where the money is at.

 

[Fritzo]

I know with gas prices, I'm not going out as much. I go to work, then go home. If we go anywhere, it's to go shopping or we'll hit a nearby resaurant. I think the big chains are getting hit by the gas spike.

 

[sash1]

Originally posted by: Vic
The first thing she did when she came to our table was try to push a $4 bottle of Sutter Home on us for $20 (which I'm sure is some type of corporate policy she's forced into)

lol. suggestive selling sucks. we do that here at Applebee's, too. I think its intrusive and rude, if the people want to order wine, they're gonna do it regardless if I tell them to or not.

I only try to push alcohol on tables who are already looking at that menu or if the manager is in close proximity. Otherwise, i think it's just pointless and stupid.

 

[Feldenak]

My wife and I rarely eat out because:

(In order of importance)
1) We like cooking
2) It's nice "together time" to cook meals
3) Don't have to raise our voices during conversation to be heard over other diners
4) Better portion control at home
5) Cheaper to cook at home

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Bahahahahaha Thanks to Gas prices, inflation, wages dropping, Americans can no longer support the eating out Corporations :laugh:

Dave, it's also hurting mom and pop restaurants and bars as well. It's industry wide.

I've actually noticed an increase in business at the mom&pop types of places, perhaps at the expense of the chain restaurants around here. Perhaps people are getting tired of all the "atmosphere" at many of the restaurants you mentioned, favoring instead to go to quieter family restaurants where they aren't faced with 20 televisions airing one of three different channels, music, and every other patron having to speak loudly to carry on a conversation. Combine that with the realization that the quality of their food is, quite honestly, inferior to and over-priced for that quality.

I see TGIF has introduced "23 new items" and Applebees has hired a chef to come up with new entrees. Maybe neither chain has stopped to think that maybe that's part of the problem. How many "new items" can you actually have? - "I know, I know! We'll take the 8 ounce cheap sirloin steak, and we'll cover it with a mango and pineapple sauce. We'll call it "Molokai zesty tropical fruit embellished sirloin" (Because God forbid, they actually give their food a simple name.) "In the description, "An 8 ounce* sirloin, with a generous coating of mango and pineapple sauce made from fresh delicious tropical fruits; one of our house specialties." At the bottom, next to the *, it'll say "weight before cooking, there was a 20% solution added to enhance flavor and to tenderize it so it can be eaten. Sauce was made 8 months ago from fresh fruit, and subsequently canned. House specialty, because we're good at training part-time college students to throw a steak on our pseudo-grill, and laddle on 2 spoons of that sauce when the steak is done."

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I know with gas prices, I'm not going out as much. I go to work, then go home. If we go anywhere, it's to go shopping or we'll hit a nearby resaurant. I think the big chains are getting hit by the gas spike.

No doubt that's part of it. A year ago it cost me $35 to fill up my tank. Now it's $50. Take that times two or three fillups a week for me, and the same amount for my wife and that's upwards of $100 a month more in gas. To cover that I'm going to drop down spending on non-essential stuff. Movies & Food are at top of the list when things get cut.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: davestar
good. maybe that means people are going to real restaurants instead

Um, no. It means people are going out to eat and drink less. Bar business is down too.

In fact, luxury and entertainment spending is down across the board.

I don't know why this surprises anybody. Looks at other trends...people want the nice kitchen and the nice home theater so that they can spend quality time with their family.

That means they don't eat out. Dinner and a movie is now done at home. And to me, it's more enjoyable that way.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: davestar
good. maybe that means people are going to real restaurants instead

Um, no. It means people are going out to eat and drink less. Bar business is down too.

In fact, luxury and entertainment spending is down across the board.

I don't know why this surprises anybody. Looks at other trends...people want the nice kitchen and the nice home theater so that they can spend quality time with their family.

That means they don't eat out. Dinner and a movie is now done at home. And to me, it's more enjoyable that way.

Exactly.

 

[FoBoT]

it is due to higher gas prices
seriously
the discretionary income people were using to eat out is being used to fill up gas tanks
seriously

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
it is due to higher gas prices
seriously
the discretionary income people were using to eat out is being used to fill up gas tanks
seriously

srsly

 

[foghorn67]

I'll remember this article the next time I am waiting an hour for a table at the Cheesecake Factory.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Bahahahahaha Thanks to Gas prices, inflation, wages dropping, Americans can no longer support the eating out Corporations :laugh:

why aren't you living in cuba yet?

 

[JS80]

i would eat out everyday if i didn't have to pay waiters any tip. my #1 beef with going out is tipping. no pun intended.

 

[TheSlamma]

Nope. The way to get me out more is less of this pre-cooked trash suburban style food.

With as easy as noodles are to make I can't believe I can only find 3 places in town that do not use dehydrate crap.