The problem with large portions
So, I have always had a problem with restaurants that serve enormous portions. I have always believed it was simply a way to increase revenue by providing too much food to justify charging more for each meal. Since all of the other costs to the restaurant are consistent (personnel, facilities … etc.) adding a little extra food and jacking up the price can bring in more revenue per person.
Yesterday, I was listening to NPR while driving and caught the tail-end of an interview with some guy who is writing a book about obesity in America. I didn’t hear much, but I heard him talk about this restaurant problem, and he mentioned that Ruby Tuesdays had recently tried to reduce their portion sizes in response to the health concerns and obesity concerns in America. However, the backlash from their customers was so overwhelming that they had to return to the larger portions after just a short time.
This interested me, so I did a little search and found this article on Time Magazine from last year which talks about the issue as well. Interesting read.
Anyway, this just made me realize — the problem isn’t completely the fault of the restaurants. I mean, these chains are big businesses and they have to make money. They are just giving people what they want. So, the responsibility is on us. It’s not so bad bad to take advantage of big portions if we were all somehow disciplined enough to take half of it home for later or split with someone else at the table. Or, we can choose to frequent the local places, who generally serve more appropriate portion sizes. We just all have to get over our “price per pound” mentality and think about what is actually a reasonable amount of food to eat at one sitting.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I noticed the last time I went to Ruby Tuesday that the burger left me wanting. It was small. Of course, being preggers, I eat all day long, so nothing satisfies me for very long. Don’t get me started on the necessity of Girl Scout Cookies.
It’s good to find your blog. Did you know that your profile pic makes you look like Edward Norton? I’ve always thought there was a resemblance, but wow, that one really does it.
I was going through a ton of stuff tonight that had been stored in boxes and moved over and over again. I was tired of moving it, so I went through it and tossed out 80%. But I came across a letter from you, amongst a huge box of cards, so I thought I’d track you down. Glad I did. Hope things are well.
You know Clay is in OKC at grad school, right?
April 9th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Liz, thanks for finding me. I did not know I looked like Edward Norton, but thanks, I suppose!
Yes, I’ve seen Clay once since he’s been up here and I see your comments on his blog a lot too.