Should Restaurants Charge for Filtered Water?
Almost a year ago, we told you about Millennium in San Francisco charging a buck per glass of water that's passed through a Natura filtration system. Well, they're still doing it, and as San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer points out on his blog Between Meals, there's something psychologically disturbing about knowing that buck went to self-righteous water. Plus, there are plenty of other restaurants that seem to be pouring it for free.
What's next, a rental fee for straws? It'd be nice if free tap was an option in addition to the filtered stuff. Or even if that dollar was stretched out across the bill so you didn't fixate on the "water" surcharge. But at the same time, Millennium is going on a year now with the same policy, so maybe the clientele is used to it. There was a time when paying for airline food seemed unheard of.
Related
San Francisco Restaurant Charges for Water Filtration
Tap'd NY, New York City Tap Water in a Bottle
John Updike's Short Story on Drinking Water
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
19 Comments:
It really depends. Water being free is status quo. It comes out of the tap. It's free. That's how it's always been and that's how it should be.
But what if there was a small charge, and that charge went towards good? I'd consider paying it but many wouldn't, validly arguing that if they want to give money towards a cause they'll do it because they want to and not because they're forced to.
So, while I support not doing things a certain way just because it's always been done that way, I can't decide if it would be a good idea or not.
FWIW I still think that airline food should be free with the airline ticket unless it's a very short flight - like, snack short, a flight that's not long enough in duration to require a proper meal.
CanadianFoodieGirl at 11:28AM on 05/12/09
I would never, ever rent a straw.
finewinendine at 12:08PM on 05/12/09
I don't know, before I would have said that's ridiculous... because I live in New York and consider our tap water pretty decent.
Then... I went to Vegas. Their water is DISGUSTING. I seriously never thought tap water could be so gross. I would have totally paid $1 for filtered water out there. Blech.
crazy_betty at 12:09PM on 05/12/09
actually, back in the day (meaning: before my lifetime), one had to pay for airline food. similar concept as now: you got a menu and ordered what you wanted, paid when the plane landed.
french tart at 12:11PM on 05/12/09
Filtered water comes out of most soda fountains already. It's not like they have to add filtering apparatus to it in order to give you filtered water. I would prefer to drink filtered water over non-filtered but if that's not an option I'll just get a nice beer.
joeqboo at 1:03PM on 05/12/09
hell no! filtering water costs less than a penny a glass retail. you can buy knock-off filters 3/$10. going off the #s on the brita website a filter is good for 300 16.9 oz bottles, about twice the size of an ice-filled tumbler. notice that i'm using prices for generic filters..that's because they do the job just fine, there's no need for uv filtering outside of the third world. i guess there is also a tiny labor investment but not enough to justify charging even a dime extra to filter the water. i guess we can blame the bottled water only morons for this ridiculous trend.
sloppy at 1:06PM on 05/12/09
good point joe, that makes my response an even more emphatic HELL NO!
sloppy at 1:12PM on 05/12/09
another symptom of our society - make a buck, whenever you can, wherever you can.....
well, every dog has their day.... in these times, that sort of tactic really alienates people. they should turn it around -- free complimentary filtered water with every dinner. then they're probably charge a fee for renting the glass.
pooch at 2:01PM on 05/12/09
honestly, the thought of non-filtered water is simply disgusting; i've never worked in a restaurant that didn't use some sort of filtration systerm. it may actually be a health code requirement around here.
rasellers0 at 2:15PM on 05/12/09
Do resturaunts charge per cutlery usage?
Seems like a no-brainer cost associated with operations to me.
hungrychristel at 2:44PM on 05/12/09
Ridiculous! They should advertise that their water is filtered, but they certainly shouldn't charge for it! It is too bad that people are actually paying for it, otherwise maybe they would change their policy.
GraceF at 3:14PM on 05/12/09
Most of the world charges for water. I dont see a problem with it, expecially in places where the regular drinking water is not so delicious. My father gives filtered water away at his places.. charge I say! I'd pay.
seikel at 5:03PM on 05/12/09
Millennium is one of my favorite restaurants in SF. The $1 charge kinda sucks, but I'm a devoted enough patron that it won't stop me from going there again.
But from what I understand, isn't the $1 also to offset the loss of revenue created by their not buying bottled waters anymore? I don't know if it's a situation where they're just trying to make a quick buck, it's more of a business making an environmentally sound choice, and then asking the consumers to eat the price of that choice.
tinytophats at 5:12PM on 05/12/09
how much for the air inside millennium?
i bet a lot of it is hot.
pooch at 6:11PM on 05/12/09
i would pay for water if it were part of the tap project: http://tapproject.org/
callmenaomi at 8:15PM on 05/12/09
Not that this establishment is part of this, but corporations have already begun taking over the worldwide potable water supply as though it were oil. We may soon be paying a steadily increasing amount for every single drop of water we use or consume.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/features/water
chanterelle at 9:59PM on 05/12/09
Is there a non-filtered "free" option at Millennium?
jbzepol at 10:31AM on 05/13/09
@finewinedine, your comment made me chuckle! I would never rent a straw either...As for free water, I actually wrote a blog post about this last year.Many European countries charge for water, so why don't we? I always felt water was a basic need that should be free, but there might be a larger picture here called conservation.
Hillary
Chew on That at 1:11PM on 05/13/09
@Hillary, I agree that water should cost more, to encourage conservation. However, when you are drinking a glass of water because you are thirsty, its pretty impossible to be wasting water. Watering your lawn is a different story. Safe, clean drinking water should be free to everyone- or at least restaurants shouldn't be making a profit off of it, which Millenium obviously is.
Embackus at 4:39PM on 05/13/09