Is Fine Dining A Waste of Money?
Yes, I think fine dining is a waste of money.
Their food isn’t the best.
They don’t give you enough.
And it seems like an overrated experience.
I get it though.
I don’t have to agree with fine dining to understand why it exists.
People are going to have big moments in their life.
When the moments are big enough, McDonald’s won’t cut it.
I understand why one of the richest men in the world owns a luxury brand.
Humans love status and prestige.
Fine dining is not going anywhere.
Let me still explain why I think it’s a scam.
My Recent Encounter with a Fine Dining Place
I’m one of the easiest guys to impress with food.
If I enjoy it, then I will eat it.
Simple.
McDonalds, Chipotle, Taco Bell doesn’t matter.
Recently, I went to this coffee house where I ordered a large iced coffee.
The person I went with ordered a small iced coffee.
When I ordered my coffee, the lady was like:
‘An El Bruno, right?’
Something like that.
I just nodded my head and repeated a large iced coffee.
She smiled.
After we placed our order, she told us to sit down, and someone would bring us our order.
5 minutes passed and a lady was headed our way with the order.
Something looked wrong though.
She was carrying 2 tiny drinks.
She put the 2 tiny coffees on our table.
I quickly let her know:
‘Excuse me, I ordered a large iced coffee, not small.’
She looked at the receipt and asked:
‘You ordered an El Bruno, correct?’
Back to this strange name, I see.
I told her:
‘Idk, a large, iced coffee.’
She responded:
‘Yes, an El Bruno. This is the size for those, sir.’
I was surprised.
My drink was in the same sized cup as the small drink.
I didn’t even know how to argue with this lady.
She suddenly introduced this new language, and I was caught off guard.
So, I said:
‘Okay fine…’
As I sipped from my tiny coffee, I thought about how Dunkin Donuts wouldn’t play me like this.
The Sneaky Move from Restaurant Owners
Here’s a sneaky move that restaurant owners are pulling nowadays…
They are stripping away portion sizes, increasing prices, and slapping fancy names on their products.
This is happening to steakhouses all the way to coffee houses.
I understand why though.
A restaurant is one of the riskiest business models to get into.
There are high warehouse costs, insurance costs, the food can go bad, the business is heavily reliant upon reviews.
It’s super hard to make a profit in the restaurant industry.
They struggle to pay their staff a minimum wage.
So, they put the onus on the customers to tip their staff in order to keep their business afloat.
Which I’m not against btw…
I think it’s noble that there are pockets of people from society who are willing to get raw goods and organize them into food for the public to consume.
It would be hard to encourage these people to start a restaurant business if they were told that it would be impossible to succeed.
I am more than willing to tip high-quality restaurants if it ensures that the public dining industry stays intact.
With the good comes the bad though…
Why Fancy Restaurants Are Emerging
Things are changing.
There is a cold war brewing between restaurants and customers.
Many customers aren’t going to eat like they once were.
They are choosing to cook at home.
Many customers aren’t tipping like they once were.
Tip fatigue has set in and it’s cutting into the restaurant’s bottom line.
Many new restaurants are emerging.
So, the local mom-and-pop shop has way more competition.
A combination of:
- Customers choosing to stay in and cook.
- Tip fatigue.
- More competition.
Is shredding away at restaurant owners’ margins.
They need to do something!
They need to their increase prices so they can make some money.
How can they increase their prices though?
Won’t it be weird if they charge double the prices for the same item as other restaurants?
It would be weird.
So, they need to leverage something…
ART.
This is where the “fanciness” comes from.
- If a regular restaurant charges more money for an ordinary product, then it is seen as a scam.
- But if a fancy restaurant charges more money for an ordinary product, then it is seen as art.
Fine dining, they say.
I see more restaurants slowly adopting that “art” label so they can charge way higher prices without having anyone question them about it.
Plus, the customers of these fancy restaurants love feeling like artists themselves.
I can see customers who typically order the El Bruno teaching the new customers what an El Bruno is and what makes it different than Dunkin Donuts coffee.
Earn the Fancy Restaurant Title
If I get married, graduate, or get a promotion, then I want to go somewhere fancy.
I’m thankful that a lot of fancy restaurants exist.
For my recent birthday, I went to a fancy steakhouse.
They gave us a steak show, allowed us to try different meats, and even sang me happy birthday.
The experience was awesome.
An experience Mcdonald’s wouldn’t have been able to give me.
I like fancy restaurants and understand their role in the eating ecosystem.
My only problem is when restaurants that have not earned the fancy title forcefully give themselves that title.
That coffee that I had in the coffee house was not amazing by any means.
There was no reason for them to deceive me like that.
They gave me a small-sized coffee after I thought I was going to get a large-sized coffee.
My advice for upcoming restaurants is to KNOW YOUR ROLE!
When you deceive someone, you will get a short-term transaction, sure.
But your brand will take a major hit.
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