South Shields restaurant fines diners for not clearing their plates
FOLLOWING news of the American who picketed his all-you-can-eat restaurant for not making him full, a story from Kylin Buffet in Ocean Road, South Shields, where Beverley Clark have been asked to pay an extra £20 or not eating enough.
When her party of three left on their plates two onion rings, a piece of prawn toast, and a spring roll, the staff surcharged them £20 for “wastage of food”, on top of the £18 food bill.
Miss Clark worked out that if she removed the food, the charge would be gone. So, like a hungry granny at a wake, she placed the leftovers in her handbag. That would show them. She tells the Shields Gazette that “the staff kept checking if we had eaten the food. In the end I wrapped it up in a serviette, and put it into my bag when they weren’t looking, so it looked like we had eaten it.”
Sam Fung, manager at the Kylin Buffet, replies:
“I accept that my staff should not have spoken to the family about the food on their plates more than once. However, they left a lot of food from the buffet on their plates and we have to charge for wastage of food. We stand by our policies.”
Wonderful stuff that a restaurant should foster a code of etiquette, and one many parents can relate to – finish your dinner. We only hope this place continues its civilising drive and bans diners from placing elbows on the table, not tucking in chairs when leaving the table, ordering ketchup, and failing to tuck their vests into their Y-front, the true sign of a gentleman.
You may have read ‘An Innkeeper’s Diary’, the story of John Fothergill, host of the Spreadeagle at Thame between the world wars who became the subject of a BBC play:
Fothergill was the contumacious dandy for ever locked in combat with ‘clients’ who fell short of his standards, a man prepared to track down and rebuke a brigadier-general who, with his wife, dropped in to the Spreadeagle to use the lavatory without a please or thank you. Sharp-eyed in his white jacket and buckled shoes, he was quick to challenge those who aspired to use his premises for unhallowed coupling. (Client: ‘You think you can ask everyone who comes here if they are married?’ – ‘Yes, if I want to.’)
The Kylin Buffet has made bold start to promote its own standards but it has some way to go. We’d urge it to go further, to make it compulsory fro patrons to eat with chopsticks, not sully the tablecloths and fold napkins into the shape of swans. Anything less is just not the done thing…
Posted: 18th, May 2012 | In: Key Posts, The Consumer Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
