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How to Make Fancy-pants Restaurants Cheaper: One Critic's Radical Ideas

Posted by Ed Levine, October 2, 2007 at 8:15 AM

London restaurant critic Nicholas Lander has some provocative suggestions in the Financial Times about how to cut prices or keep them down in high-end eateries as restaurateurs deal with higher food costs:

First the bad news. There is no doubt that menu prices in restaurants across the world are likely to rise quite significantly and, most probably, quite soon. Even those restaurateurs and chefs with harmonious working relationships with farmers and growers will be unable to escape the steep rises in a number of basic foodstuffs.

But the scale of the price rise will depend not just on how restaurateurs respond to this challenge but also how quickly they are prepared to jettison some of their practices, that have become costly irrelevances and often detract from the overall enjoyment of the meal.

Lander has some prescriptive measures in mind for restaurateurs. Will they take him up on any of them? Do you have some of your own?

• No reservations policies. This would certainly save diners money (reservationists do get paid), but if I am meeting meeting my wife for a special-occasion dinner, I don't want to wait an hour and a half for a table.


• Timed bookings, or "you can have a table for four at 8 p.m., but you must leave by 10 p.m. so that we can seat another party." I have never had a problem with this practice, but it does make many diners crazy because they feel it's "occasion interruptus" when a restaurant asks them to move on. Many people see this practice as a sign of unenlightened hospitality, to borrow and twist Danny Meyer's phrase.


• Eliminate the ceremonial "charger plate," the one that is on the table when you arrive only to be whisked away when you sit down. I'm sure the rationale for placing the plate there in the first place is that restaurateurs don't want you to sit down at a table that's not properly dressed. If the elimination of charger plates would reduce the cost of my meal, I'm all for it.


• Cut down on the array of amuse-bouches, breads, and petits fours. If I could save twenty bucks and get two fewer courses at Thomas Keller's Per Se, I suppose I would, but I don't think Keller is going to go for that. Those kinds of flourishes are what distiniguish one fancy-pants restaurant from another, and every four-star chef I know is so incredibly competitive they would not willingly give up any kind of edge. I love every component of the incredibly delicious bread basket at Del Posto, so I would be very unhappy if they eliminated it to save me $5 on my meal. Even at non-fancy-pants restaurants like Esca, the mackerel-white bean bruschetta freebie served to everyone is a lovely, welcoming touch.


• Waiters shouldn't a.) fuss with your napkins by folding and refolding them when diners get up or b.) spend inordinate amounts of time reciting every ingredient in every dish. I guess I don't disagree with either of these points, but I don't really buy the idea that restaurants would need a smaller staff as a result.

I think the question Lander is asking is this: Is there a way for restaurateurs to cut costs (or keep their costs down) and remain competitive while still making their customers feel well taken care of? Only restaurateurs, and not economists or critics, can answer that question.

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Tags: restaurant business