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Restaurants are interesting, because the serving experience is a really important part of the encounter. Almost all of it, in fact. It's a social experience, n
by esotericn 8y ago
Restaurants are interesting, because the serving experience is a really important part of the encounter. Almost all of it, in fact.
It's a social experience, not a utilitarian 'fuel me up' encounter.
If you cut back on that, the whole product is less valuable, so cheap labour is really important. If it gets too expensive, 'average' people won't go any more.
You could have the best quality food in the world, but if it's ordered via a McDonalds' style kiosk and comes around on a conveyor belt to a plastic, unmade table, most would probably not bother (at the price a "restaurant" would charge, anyway).
In the UK we have Wetherspoons' pubs. There's an app you can use to order food to a table. It's great and I use it often. But it's low-end food that does the job.
At a "real" restaurant I want the lighting, the waiter, the wine glasses, the atmosphere.
Without that, well, 40+ quid goes a _long_ way in the supermarket.
- Xcelerate 8y ago> Restaurants are interesting, because the serving experience is a really important part of the encounter. Strongly agree with this. There's a Bib Gourmand pizza restaurant right next to where my wife and I live, and she always wants to get pizza from there "to go" so we can watch a movie together. It's great food, but it seems a little absurd to spend $24 on pizza just to eat it at home. In my opinion, half of what I'm paying for is the nice ambience of the restaurant itself. (However, I will say that paying a third of the price for a nice bottle of wine does make carryout dining much more appealing.)
- wenc 8y ago> the serving experience is a really important part of the encounter. Almost all of it, in fact. For me, it's not so much the serving experience, but the experience of eating with and around others in a "third place". I did a little thought experiment: would I prefer to eat with a restaurant full of people and 1-2 mediocre servers, or be lavishly served by impeccably trained waitstaff in a restaurant with only a few patrons? I concluded that the former would be my preference every time. I figured my interaction with servers is typically less than 5 minutes in duration, but my interaction with the restaurant environment is often about 1-2 hours.
- esotericn 8y agoIt's a balance though, right? The limiting case would be McDonald's. Which has it's place, but is hardly a place to go for a social occasion.
- wenc 8y agoYou're right of course. No service would definitely diminish the experience, especially if one is dining with family or significant other. I wouldn't take my significant other to an automat for a date... But in my opinion (and it's just me -- I do see your point of view and it does make sense to me), service itself is only a small part of the experience. I just got back from dinner at a sit-down Indian restaurant where service was minimal but the food was amazing. I had a good time. My expectations may be cultural however. Most Asian restaurants have minimal service, and I usually hardly notice if the food's good. There's still service in a sense (the busboys bring out the food) but interaction is minimal. All that said, I still want humans in the picture... p.s. this is an aside and has nothing to do with your observations, but there is one McDonald's where it wouldn't be inconceivable to go for a social occasion: the McDonald's HQ in Chicago, where they serve an international menu. Interestingly, though you order on a touch-screen, bussers bring out the food to you at your table, like at a restaurant.
- hopler 8y agoPeople line up at elite food trucks for social occasions.
- ckdarby 8y ago> At a "real" restaurant I want the lighting, the waiter, the wine glasses, the atmosphere. This sounds like the Blockbuster mentality where they thought people wanted to go to the store and browse.
- sl1ck731 8y agoThis isn't my experience. I wish I could cut out the waiter and niceties. I don't go to a restaurant most of the time to socialize, but rather I like the food and hate cooking.
- acchow 8y ago> At a "real" restaurant I want the lighting, the waiter, the wine glasses, the atmosphere. At such a "restaurant" I'd want all that, but also with a button I can hit to call a waiter over. And clearing my payment from the table (credit card chip reader on the table) without needing the waiter to be available.