Banned from Buffet: Is it fair?

 I was watching Jimmy kimmel yesterday, I was bored and Blake lewis was going to be on the show, so give me a break. :)

 anyway, he had 2 men on the show who were banned from a Chinese Buffet in Louisiana, because the waitress told them they ate too much. She also told one of the men he looked like "he had baby in stomach". anyway....

this is the jimmy kimmel segment on youtube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BCBqHIn2DOE  


It was an all you can eat buffet and the 2 men were charged double and told not to return. and to really make it interesting, the men were regular customers. and the only restriction the resturant had was that you would be charged 20% extra, if you/children wasted food.

It is aparantly big news. I googled "man banned from buffet", and I got 71,500 hits.

this is an article of it from msnbc http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22487819/



Do you think the resturant was right? how much is too much at an all you can eat buffet? If you eat everything on the plate is that considered wasting? how much is too much? 

I would love to hear what others think as I think this whole thing is unbelievable.

They shouldn't have been charged double;eating the food is not wasting it and they have NO right to charge someone more just because they opt to eat the more expensive foods on offer.

I personally agree, but I wanted to know how others felt. I mean, it is an all you can eat buffet, how can you eat too much at an all you can eat buffet? 

 others may disagree. I heard a woman on fox news say that they (the resturants) should charge extra to deter people from all you can eat buffets. what!?! yes, we have people who are overweight in this country, but the resturants offer the buffet in the first place.  

Should the men sue? should the waitress get fired? so many questions..

The only time I think someone should be banned from a buffet is if they are wasting (i.e. "not eating") the food.

I remember there being a similar news story a while back about a woman and her kids being kicked out of a buffet.  They were loading their plates up and then throwing half the stuff away untouched, and coming back for more.

But if these guys were actually eating it, well...they did pay for it.

Original Post by greyskies:

I personally agree, but I wanted to know how others felt. I mean, it is an all you can eat buffet, how can you eat too much at an all you can eat buffet? 

 others may disagree. I heard a woman on fox news say that they (the resturants) should charge extra to deter people from all you can eat buffets. what!?! yes, we have people who are overweight in this country, but the resturants offer the buffet in the first place.  

Should the men sue? should the waitress get fired? so many questions..

Should charge extra to deter people from the buffets?  Well, then just don't have buffets at all. That was a stupid statement.

I agree that the men should not have been charged extra or banned. Its an all you can eat not all you can eat of the cheap food and limited trips to the expensive food.

I had read about that.  I'm a pretty light eater, so I hate buffets, but some people in my family certainly enjoy them.  My biggest issue with this (especially a statement above) is that's what they signed up for, as an all-you-can-eat buffet.  You make money on the people who don't eat much, you lose money on the people who eat more than what the cost of their meal covers. It's a risk you take when you own that kind of restaurant.  The owners shouldn't take it out on these two patrons who eat a lot, just because they're losing money on their meals, especially if these people are eating all of the food they grab.

I think I saw a case in which the restaurant owners charged double to a customer who had been in the restaurant for more than three hours.  They said that a meal doesn't take longer than three hours (their lunch was from noon to 3) and therefore the customer was getting two meals.

That makes a little more sense to me that just saying, you're eating too much.

I don't have a problem with buffets.  I don't go to them very often - maybe once or twice a year. 

I've been to a Brazilian steakhouse that has a truly awesome "salad bar" but it's way more than salad - it has a couple of soups, a couple of seafood items (like steamed shrimp or ahi tuna) and LOTS of great fruits and veggies.  It's a prix fixe deal there -- if you get the whole meal (including all those meats brought around by hot guys carrying the meat on swords) its $45 per person.  If you just get the salad bar, it's $20 per person.  Even paying that much for it, I don't feel compelled to go back to "get my money's worth".  That's silly to me.  I'm paying for quality, not quantity.  The way I see it, if you stuff yourself and overeat, you're just going to poop out some of the extra anyway (and store some as fat probably), so yes, you are wasting it if you eat food that you didn't need.

The problem I have with the Brazilian steakhouse is more along the lines of justifying paying that much for one meal when there are poor people who are scrounging just to eat ramen noodles. Just doesn't seem right....

they hav eveyr right to charge fat people more its a private business based off of profit.

I agree with giggle that they have every right, but in that case, they also need to make their policy more obvious so it doesn't appear to be discrimination.

Just put in front "All you can eat as long as you don't eat too much. If you're obese, you will be charged double."

Then let the market take care of that place ;) 

They should at least say that patrons will be charged more if someone shovels down mounds of the more expensive dishes. There are different ways that they can do things. I think that springing the charge on them like that was wrong.

If they price by your weight, teenage guys will have it made!

My brother could tuck away enough for 5 or 6 people when he was say, 13-20 years old.  But he was scrawny as a bean pole for most of that time.

If I go eat a bowl of lettuce and some jello, will the management come to me and offer to refund 75% of the cost?

Some people eat moderate portions of pasta, some eat heaps of meat. It balances out for the restaurant owner. If it doesn't, it's time to re-evaluate their pricing.

thats shocking surely the point is its an all you can eat buffet you pay your money and eat what you want. I can understand them being asked to not return if they eat regually at the buffet and it cost the company more in food than they are paying, but they cannot ask for extra money afterwards.

Surely they dont offer half price if you eat less? if you pay for the amount youve ordered and eaten isnt hat just called a normal resturant not a buffet?

Original Post by giggle_puppy:

they hav eveyr right to charge fat people more its a private business based off of profit.

 Not it's run on the premise that it's an "all you can eat buffet".  It's Houma, Lousiana, I imagine half the people in that joint must be fat as hell.

 

That being said I thought the video of the two toothless yokels was pretty funny.  "Balled shramp"  translation: "boiled shrimp", for the non-southerners...  LOL

Owning a buffet means you set up pricing so that no matter the diners weights, big eaters and small eaters still allow you to come out profitable.  That will mean the occasional person whom you dont make money off of because of their appetite or perhaps because they focus on high ticket items like crab legs instead of cheap rice.

They dont legally have the right to charge fat people anymore then they can charge latino or tall people more.  You cant charge a fat person more for an airline seat but you can for requiring more then one seat.

If you want to define your buffet, you can limit trips to the buffet line and good luck with that one.  They knew they were in the wrong and came back to offer the meal as complimentary.  The diners didnt want it - the wanted the option to eat within the guidelines established. 

Years ago ate a BBQ place with one entree two sides and for one of the sides I really liked I got a lot, shamefully a lot.  When paying I was told that they would size it in a separate container and charge me that way or I could adjust the side to qualify it as a side.  I wasnt offended because the serving I had gotten wasnt considered the amount of a side and they had options to buy an item by size as well.  

Itd have been different it were it an all you can eat buffet.  Either you make rules that apply to everyone at the buffet or its all you can eat, but you dont discriminate because someone may not provide you a profit due to serving sizes youve determined to be allowed.

I do think refusing the return of people is limited to those who waste food because its all you can eat.  Because your pricing doesnt accommodate big eaters with the rest of your diners is not the big eaters problem. 

Not a new problem...

You be here four hours...you go home now!! (A la Louie Anderson)

well, let's be realistic.  the waitress was rude, yes, but if these guys were "regular customers" they might be regularly eating away the restaurant's profit for the night.  if you were the owner and saw the same two men coming in night after night and putting away as much food as you budget for ten...come on.

i just think the owner or manager should have handled it, rather than an employee, and should have done so in a confidential and respectful way. 

...maybe all-you-can-eat buffets have outlived their usefulness anyway?

i don't know pgeorgian...i'm guessing there are a lot of people who don't eat the cost of the buffet.  i tend to avoid all you can eat places (for many reasons), especially since it's never really financially viable for me.  i'm happy with a yogurt and apple and some cheese in the park.

Original Post by pgeorgian:

...maybe all-you-can-eat buffets have outlived their usefulness anyway?

 i would agree with that...