I try to keep everyone up to date on some of my favorite stories from the previous weekend.
This week I thought I would try to figure out why people are so fascinated and crazy about bread? It's really interesting, because I have a piece of bread each day with my coffee in the morning and and there is one restaurant that I have to have bread with this certain anchovy dish that I just love, the crust most specifically, but other than that, I really could care less about it one way or the other. I mean, I don't feel deprived should there not be any bread on the table, or resentful if my basket isn't refilled immediately, I don't even notice. I don't think that I have ever uttered the words "does that come with bread?" When people ask me what I think are some of our best dishes and I don't mention our sandwiches, except for the crabmelt, because it's soooo yummy, they say why didn't you mention any of the sandwiches? I typically tell them that I would much rather have more fish and not fill up my tummy on bread.
I just remembered something, My Mother always said, if you are having a sandwich, , then you don't need bread as well, it's coming with your sandwich. Nope, Mom, not these days, forget the carbs, unless it's January and New Year resolutions are in full force, everybody wants bread for the most part, regardless of whether they are about to have a sandwich. In fact, one of the Pizza places like Dominos or Round Table has a new special, Pasta in a bread bowl with a side of bread, wait what?
So all of this is leading up to an interesting thing that happens virtually everyday at our restaurant. If you've really geeked out on our site you will notice that under our frequently asked questions tab, there is a question that says "why do you charge for bread?" So you can go back to that and read it for the answer, but do look at it, because I actually found out that the charge only covers 1/3rd of our health care for the City of San Francisco and the restaurant picks up the rest in overhead. So we charge 50 cents for bread to help cover the cost of our employees health care. Now in my mind, I really could care less if it was a dollar, two dollars, 50 cents or free, but I have found out that many folks don't think like me. These days a quarter gives you 6 minutes at a parking meter in San Francisco, so really, 50 cents is pretty much nothing comparatively.
Bread is one of those things that when people go to a restaurant everyone expects it to be there and they are genuinely alarmed or put off when it's not there. I've actually read up on this bread topic (ok so I'm a little odd) and people say they "think it's part of the meal" and therefore they shouldn't pay for it. Well, I think a glass of wine or a beautiful gin and tonic is part of my meal, but sadly wine and cocktails aren't part of every one's list. Some customers get grumpy when it's not heated or when the butter isn't soft or when it's not San Francisco Sour Dough. Honestly, I always think that if the bread is heated it's not fresh (PS. most people don't like the sour in the sour dough) Unless the restaurant bakes on the premises or very close to a bakery, It's how restaurants "refresh" day old bread.
This past weekend we sat down a group of 3 or 4 women (I didn't serve the table, so forgive me I can't recall the exact count). One of the women wasn't going to eat, but at the last minute prior to placing the order the server heard her say, "I'll just have bread and water." The server then said, "you know we charge for bread," then she said, "Oh, then I will just have water." Had we not charged for bread, then does that mean she would have just sat there eating bread? I already know the answer "um.... yes......"
I think people don't realize that things have changed in San Francisco that the profit margin restaurants used to have is virtually nonexistent. People are so excited to see reform for workers and health care for all, but for some reason, when it hits them in their pocket book, they aren't so supportive. One time, I didn't get a tip, because I told a tourist that we charge for bread and she said "I've never had to pay for bread." I let her know why we charge for it and asked her again if she would like bread, and she said "two please."By this time she had already convinced herself that the restaurant was pocketing the money, it was a scam to say it went to the San Francisco Health Care program and that she was going to let me know that she was not a supporter, and therefore not going to tip me, because in her mind I represented a stolen 50 cents and she wasn't about to give her hard earned money "to the man" (This woman really sticks out in my mind, because in all my years working at FPS, I have never not been tipped).
On our menu, we specifically state that we charge for bread and the reason we charge for it is to help cover the cost of the San Francisco Health Care program blah, blah, blah. After our patrons place their food order, I always confirm that they want bread for the table. Here are some of the answers to a pretty straight forward question (By the way a simple "yes" or "no" is just fine with me):
"Yes, I guess I want to have one of your 50 cent pieces of bread, but it better be good!"
"Seriously, you charge for bread."
"I see you charge for the bread, would you mind if I just ate the bread I just bought next door instead?" Ok seriously? That is one of the most tacky things I've heard, think about it.
"We would like bread, but only 1 piece because you charge for it." Ok, whatever you say. PS. These folks always want another piece.
"Oh, yes, I would love one of your 50 cent pieces of bread, to support your (wink wink) health care (ha ha ha)." I always get so cranky about this response, because trust me, if you've had something happen to you and you didn't have health care, you can be economically bankrupt within a few hours in an Emergency room. So, I don't get why health care is so funny.
"Oh, yes I would love some bread I think it's great that you charge for it, then it doesn't go to waste." Oh my gosh, I love these people!
This one just happened this weekend:
"Would you like bread for the table?"
"Just 1 please."
"Well, exactly what percentage of the health care is covered with the bread charge in your restaurant(I told you people, are really serious about this subject)?"
"1/3." I said
"Well then if it's actually 1/3, then we will have 2." So these are the folks that are thinking that they are actually making a donation. Seriously folks, I really don't care if you have 1 piece or 700 pieces, it's all 50 cents to me.
I am telling you that I don't make these stories up. Anyway, again, you can read all about the bread charge in our questions tab and for even more unsolicited thoughts, go to http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/our-nightly-bread-2/
Who knew?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)