JayKay Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 On another board I post on, there is a debate raging about whether or not it's rude to bring 'outside' food to a restaurant. Example; a family brings a Happy Meal from McDonald's to a restaurant because their child 'won't eat anything else' Rude or no? I used to wait tables when I was in school. I had NO problem with people bringing in cheerios or crackers for their young kids to keep them busy. Also, baby food for a baby is perfectly appropriate. But we did NOT allow families to bring in McD's food for their kids while they ordered off our menu. For one thing, it's against the health codes and for another....they were using our facility but eating someone else's food! There are strong feelings on both sides. What's your opinion?
slubberdegullion Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Yes, of course it's rude. How can this possibly even be up for discussion? Your caveats about baby food or cheerios or whatever is one thing, and that makes sense, but otherwise it's just plain rude.
alphamale Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 What's your opinion? if you are running a business that just happens to be a restaurant that serves food you have the right to tell your customers not to bring in outside food.
Author JayKay Posted December 8, 2005 Author Posted December 8, 2005 You may say, "How can this even be up for discussion?" but you'd be surprised at some of the attitudes some parents have! They think the RESTAURANT is at fault for not providing child-friendly foods. I agree that it's incredibly rude to bring another restaurant's food to a dining establishment....but other people feel differently. Am I allowed to paste a link here? I would love for you guys to see some of the entitlement-minded parents' statments...
lindya Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Am I allowed to paste a link here? I would love for you guys to see some of the entitlement-minded parents' statments... Ask and ye shall surely be told No. Post it quickly.
a4a Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Am I allowed to paste a link here? I would love for you guys to see some of the entitlement-minded parents' statments... It is reasonable of course for a parent to bring formula, teething snacks, or the gerber jarred selections. I think you hit it on the head with entitlement-minded parents. what would be the difference if an adult vegetarian brings their own vegetable tray to a steak house from another establishment? a4a
lilmoma1973 Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I don't think it is rude .. My daughter doesn't like to eat Japense so sometimes not all the time we will stop by McD's or Wendy's because she eats better when we do that!! I feel if we go where she don't want to eat we will pay for something that never gets eaten.. Daughter don't eat alot and very picky eater so this way we get out money's worth!! My h and i love mexican food and daughter does too but she don't like it all the time h does .. She will only eat cheese ,chips and rice there ,she don't like meat because she is an animal lover and every since she found out that beef was from a cow she won't eat it!!
Art_Critic Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 It is a form of theft of services.. A restaurant seat does indeed generate revenue, well, the seat doesn't, the person in the seat does. Some restaurants know by meal period, by hour, by any way you want to know, how much revenue they expect that seat to produce. Ever wonder why you can't bring your own food into a movie theater.. Theft of services.. a lot of theaters have it on the back of their ticket. It is also against health department regulations. It isn't a matter of being rude .. It is doing something that is wrong..
Author JayKay Posted December 8, 2005 Author Posted December 8, 2005 I was baffled too because almost any restaurant has something kids will eat... Chinese places have plain rice, fruit and ice cream. OK, not the most balanced diet but you don't eat there everyday, right? Italian places have plain spaghetti with butter, bread and will often give you plain meatballs, no sauce. Japanese places can make plain chicken, baby corn and veggies. I worked at a Greek restaurant and kids loved the red potatoes, lemon rice and strips of chicken or lamb on kababs! I can't imagine a place having NOTHING that your child would eat....
Author JayKay Posted December 8, 2005 Author Posted December 8, 2005 My other question is, do you tip the waitress extra if you bring in McD's or other outside food? Waitresses get tipped based on the check amount. Obviously, if you're bringing in food from elsewhere, your restaurant check is smaller....
westernxer Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I worked at a Greek restaurant and kids loved the red potatoes, lemon rice and strips of chicken or lamb on kababs! Now I'm getting hungry. Seriously, folks should leave the kids at home with a babysitter when they go to a restaurant. Talk about ghetto...
a4a Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 That is true Jay Kay never thought about the server in this instance.... many times people that bring small children into eat may it be from another establishment or the jar food require more services from the server such as warming bottles or food, more clean up time ect..... hummmmm...... a4a
JadeStar Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Most resturants do cater to kids meals as well, as far as a childrens menu. Not all do, but most. I haven't had the experience of bringing food from another resturant to the one we are at with my kids. However, most of the time we all decide together as a family where we would like to eat. Sure there are times, when my husband and myself might go to a little more conservative restuarant where theres either not a childs menu or that serves something that our kids may not like, but we only go somewhere such as that, when its just us two. I don't know that its really rude, but just a persons preference I suposse. Jade
a4a Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Now I'm getting hungry. Seriously, folks should leave the kids at home with a babysitter when they go to a restaurant. Talk about ghetto... I would not say it is ghetto to take your child with you to a family restaurant but if you are packing up the screaming kids and take them to a raw bar or sports bar .......wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll! I guess you could also say that is what Chucky Cheese is for! I would never enter such an establishment it just says "germ factory" all over it in my eyes! a4a
westernxer Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I would not say it is ghetto to take your child with you to a family restaurant but if you are packing up the screaming kids and take them to a raw bar or sports bar .......wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll! It's ghetto if you're bringing food from McDonald's (especially when I lean over and ask for some of their fries). Other than that, feel free to stuff the kids with all the raw sushi they can handle.
Art_Critic Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I guess you could also say that is what Chucky Cheese is for! Chucky Cheese has written rules about not being allowed to bring outside food in.. it is even on their website.
a4a Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Chucky Cheese has written rules about not being allowed to bring outside food in.. it is even on their website. I bet they do! Funny that they are geared towards kids too! But what I meant is that screaming kids really do not belong in establishments that are geared towards adults in the first place. a4a
RecordProducer Posted December 8, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 I think it's okay if the adults eat at a restaurant to bring separate food for the kids. I don't do it, but let's view it from profit's point: if my kids will stay hungry in this particular restaurant then I would rather go to McDonald's where we can all eat. That actually happens often. When we are in a regular restaurant, my kids never finish their meal. Last time we bought them, burgers and they ate them before we got to the restaurant, but we didn't plan it.
Newfoundland Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 Personally I wouldn't bring one restaurants food into another restaurant. However, I bring food from home for my 4 year old son all the time and will continue to do it. Why? Well at Applebees no drink is included in the kids meal, which is already expensive to begin with. So if I want to get him a milk it's like at least a dollar or two extra. That is just nuts to me. So I bring him milk in a small emptied water bottle and stick it in my cooler. I also do this at restaurants that don't have milk for children to drink. Ds is sensitive to sugar and the last thing I need is his bouncing off the walls from drinking a sugary punch or drink and having him stay up at all hours because of it. I also bring fruit bowls in to supplement his main meal. What do most kid's meals come with? French fries. Not a bad thing once in awhile, but if he is going to have something unhealthy I want to balance it with something healthy, so I bring either a mixed fruit or an applesauce or Craisins or something. I've also brought in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to McDonalds where I was meeting my friend because we KNEW the kids would rather have PBJ's than burgers/fries/nuggets. The woman behind the counter saw my (very small) insulated bag and asked me what my son was going to eat, why wasn't I ordering something for him? I just gave her my very best 'McDonalds look' (you know the one) and ignored her. This sort of goes beyond my comfort level, I did feel a little bit 'sneaky' by doing that.
Author JayKay Posted December 9, 2005 Author Posted December 9, 2005 Folks, if you think restaurant meals are over-priced or unhealthy...you DO have the option not to eat there.
MWC_LifeBeginsAt40 Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 I was at a country club a few months ago, and this one group of women ordered in pizza. The organizers of the even were appalled to say the least.
Erotica Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 I don't think its rude at all. Why am I going to let my child go hungry when she won't eat anything from a particualr restaurant, and I'm just wasting money and food. My H & I LOVE mexican food, but most of it my 3 yr old doesn't eat so we'll get her some chicken nuggets from McDonalds and bring it for her & order her a plate of fried, the owners have no objections.
blind_otter Posted December 9, 2005 Posted December 9, 2005 My other question is, do you tip the waitress extra if you bring in McD's or other outside food? Waitresses get tipped based on the check amount. Obviously, if you're bringing in food from elsewhere, your restaurant check is smaller.... Screw these people. There are regulars at the restaurant I am a waitress at now, who sometimes come with friends who bring in their own food. I don't care, but I hate it when they ask me to bring them anything. Why should I? I'm not getting tipped, beyotches. If you have food from somewhere else, clean up your mess and don't bother the waitress. For ANYTHING. Also, if you DO bring your own food, for GOD'S SAKE clean it up your own damn self. Leave me the bullshyte to clean up and no tip to compensate me. Apparently I work for free. Waitressing constantly reinforces the idea that human beings have no concept of anything that affects anything but themselves.
Author JayKay Posted December 10, 2005 Author Posted December 10, 2005 Oy, Blind Otter...I feel ya! I worked as a waitress all through college and grad school. There are so many people who think you're nothing better than a slave and treat you as such. Don't get me wrong ....there were some wonderful customers. But we had a fair share of obnoxious ones who felt entitled to OUTRAGEOUS favors. For example, the woman who upon discovering that we had run out of her favorite special, (crisp duckling with orange sauce) demanded that we send one of our staff out to a neighboring restaurant to purchase a similar dish for her and deliver it to her table. We refused naturally. Then there was the family (we called them the screamers) who allowed their children to screech like banshees and crawl about and play underneath the table. The mother once asked me to cut up her youngest daughter's chicken fingers and serve them to her under the table while saying, "Here poochie poochie" because her daughter was 'pretending to be a dog and won't eat if you don't play along' I told the mother I was too busy to 'play along' Another time The Screamers asked us if we could take the McD's Happy meals they had brought in for their two children into our kitchen and would 'plate' them so the kids could practice eating off of nice plates while still getting their McD's meals. I spoke to the owner about this. He rolled his eyes and told me to charge them a $2.50 'plate fee' for each kid. I did. I saw the Screamers scanning their check with irritated expressions on their faces afterwards. The didn't come back for a while after. My boss' sentiment? "Good riddance!" Folks I can't make this stuff up.
RainyDayWoman Posted December 10, 2005 Posted December 10, 2005 unless the child has food allergies or other special needs (for example, many autistic children require gluten/casein free foods) i think it is rude to bring in other food. if your child won't eat the food at a restaurant, stay home, or go when the child is with someone else. if you have no option but to take the child with you, feed them before going out. if you're worried about spending an extra dollar or two, good luck with affording to have kids in the first place.
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