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Incredible shrinking restaurant portions, and other sneaky tricks

by Beth Pinsker Sep 4th 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Bargains, Food, Ripoffs and Scams, Recession

Dining out in New York is often a heady experience -- especially when you get the check. You can't stop going back for more, however, because it's just too convenient, and fun, and part of the joy of living in a big city. But after reading about how some high-end eateries are coping with the economic downturn in the New York Times, I'm starting to get inclined to just stay home and cook my own over-priced food.

The Times talks to restaurant owners who are finding ways to stretch a buck, mostly by serving cheaper ingredients and smaller portions. At fancy places, that means smaller lobsters at some exorbitant price and hanger steak instead of strip steaks. Some places are offering early bird specials and bar specials. Some are considering no-show fees. Like airlines that keep tacking on fees for things that used to be free, that's probably going to be the last straw for casual diners. Freelance writer Carol Vinzant covered 10 restaurant tricks, for WalletPop back in May.

Coping With the Economy

    As economic troubles keep diners at home, restaurants are starting to cut back on portion sizes and are using cheaper ingredients -- even high-end hot spots. In New York, restaurant owners admit to shrinking lobsters, subbing shiitake mushrooms for morels and offering discount appetizers.

    Larry Crowe, AP

    To combat high food prices, many shoppers are turning to bulk purchases, which is driving up sales of stand-alone freezers. A new study shows that sales were up 7 percent in the first six months of the year.

    M. Spencer Green, AP

    Soaring prices for scrap metal may make demolition derbies a thing of the past. Owners who used to sell their worn-out wheels for $50 to $100 are turning to scrap dealers instead, getting nearly triple the price.

    Al Fenn, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images

    Cities are cracking down on people who steal from recycling bins, but the practice is getting so widespread that some weekly newspaper publishers going further and hiring private detectives and setting up stakeouts to catch poachers in the act.

    Paul Sakuma, AP

    With foreclosures at an all time high, homeless is rising sharply. One study says that 54 percent of foreclosure victims list moving into emergency shelters as one of their plans. More details.

    Mario Tama, Getty Images

    Swearing by strategies like coasting with their engines off, filling their tires to dangerous capacity and suffering in the summer heat instead of cranking up the A/C, "hypermilers" obsessively coax dozens more miles out of each gallon. More details.

    David McNew, Getty Images

    Joshua Persky, left, an unemployed financial engineer, took to the streets of New York wearing a sign saying "MIT Graduate for Hire" More details.

    Mark Lennihan, AP

    Philadelphia Sheriff John D. Green took the mortgage mess into his own hands this spring when he refused to hold a court-ordered foreclosure auction to try to give homeowners more time to work out a deal with their lenders.

    Philadelphia Sheriffs Department

    Michigan's Oakland County and New York's Suffolk County may join many companies across the country that are considering four-day workweeks for employees to try to cut gas costs.

    Ted S. Warren, AP

    There may be a lot more kids around in your neighborhood this summer as families seem to be cutting back on sending kids to camp, or will be sending them for shorter stays. Many private camps are reporting drops in enrollment, while non-profit camps are reporting little growth.

    Jim Cole, AP



Tags: dining out, DiningOut, food, restaurants

Continue reading Incredible shrinking restaurant portions, and other sneaky tricks

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Never pay for your child's restaurant meal again...

by Geoff Williams Aug 25th 2008 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Food

About a week ago, I took my family out for one of those impromptu, unplanned dinners out, and immediately, I was both glad and frustrated at myself. It's fun to go to a restaurant, which is why I was happy with this dining decision, but with two daughters, 4 and 6, my wallet is still occasionally in shock when it sees what it costs to pay for a family of four to dine out.

Anyway, we wound up at IHOP, the International House of Pancakes, which somehow we had never visited before despite it being one of those chains that are kind of everywhere; and when the bill came to my and my wife's surprise, the waitress told us that we had picked an evening to eat when the kids dine free: $9 magically had been subtracted from the bill.

What a great country, I thought.


Tags: kids eat free, KidsEatFree, restaurants

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Fruity and ostentatious, yet highly fictitious: Online restaurant, hotel reviews easy to fake

by Jason Cochran Aug 21st 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Extracurriculars, Food, Ripoffs and Scams, Shopping, Travel, Fraud


We all do it. When we're planning a trip to an unfamiliar city or we're looking for a new hole-in-the-wall for a dinner date near home, we poke around online for reviews of local restaurants.

But on some sites, reviews are serving up a steaming plate of B.S.

WalletPop told you about the hugely popular Yelp, which has been accused of extorting restaurants and shops that got received bad reviews. For a price, says a San Francisco CBS affiliate, Yelp will move the badmouthing blurb lower down the page, potentially out of sight. One sofa store owner paid Yelp $350 a month to bury her embarrassing reviews.

Last year, one New York City hotel was awarded a five-star review by an effusive reader of TripAdvisor. Except the hotel hadn't even completed construction yet. Public relations flacks were suspected.

This sort of stuff happens all the time. TripAdvisor says it tries to weed out these obviously false postings. But some readers allege it swerves too far even in that. One travel expert about Hawaii accuses TripAdvisor of twice killing reviews that conflicted with its paid sponsors. For sites like these, integrity is everything. Many publications, though, don't have the resources to do the follow-ups necessary. Increasingly, the phonies are not apparent.


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Tags: award of excellence, AwardOfExcellence, Chowhound, featured, fraud, hoax, hotels, Osteria LIntrepido, PR, public relations, restaurants, reviews, tips, TripAdvisor, user review sites, UserReviewSites, walt disney world, WaltDisneyWorld, websites, Wine Spectator

Continue reading Fruity and ostentatious, yet highly fictitious: Online restaurant, hotel reviews easy to fake

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Is eating out cheaper than eating at home these days?

by Amey Stone Jul 31st 2008 at 12:20PM

Filed under: Budgets, Food, Kids and Money

I haven't done thorough scientific research on this topic. But one thing I've concluded this summer -- albeit, a self-serving conclusion given that I am not a big fan of cooking -- is that going out to eat with kids can often be just as cheap as eating in.

Let's consider a sample meal at, say, Red Lobster. I went there for lunch recently with my three kids.

First let me mention that they serve these delicious cheddar cheese biscuits that are "free" with most meals and quite filling. My girls scarfed them right up and the waiter was kind enough to bring more. Their appetite was then ruined, of course, for the $5 kids' meals they ordered. That meant plenty of leftovers.

My fish entree was just $7.75 and came with those incredible biscuits, a salad and a side dish. My one-year old shared my meal with me and we still had lots of leftovers. Hence, dinner at home with Dad was taken care of with the addition of a few supplemental noodles. Our total bill plus tip for lunch came to about $25 and amounted to nine meals, or about $2.70 a meal.

Of course, a home cooked meal is often much healthier and can be more relaxing and intimate. So I want to be clear to everyone getting ready to write a nasty comment -- I don't recommend you do this every day.

But if you have cut meals with the kids at casual dining establishments from your budget as a way to save money -- and many people have -- you can make a case that a meal out now and then is actually a pretty good deal.



Tags: budget, Red Lobster, RedLobster, restaurants

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Hey little restaurants: enough with the tomatoes already

by Carol Vinzant Jun 15th 2008 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Food, Recalls

I was eating out yesterday when a big fat tomato slice arrived on my plate. My husband and I both looked at it like it was rotten. In my head I know that kitchen managers are professionals and food safety experts. Surely they must have chosen the right ones since the FDA warned everyone off raw red Roma, red plum or red round tomatoes (despite the confusing nature of the report).

We gingerly put the offending tomato off to the side, now wary of anything it touched. Unless a restaurant makes specific mention of what they're doing about the tomato situation, I don't want to see one in my meal. And if it is there, I want to be able to pick it off without contaminating any other food. Seems like a waste for restaurateurs, who are being stretched thin, to bother paying the current high tomato prices if the food goes to waste because they don't explain what they've bought.

Back when the FDA made its announcement 145 people had gotten sick. Now the total is 228. Certainly some tomato buyers are not absorbing the information.


Tags: eating out, EatingOut, restaurant, restaurants, salmon, salmonella, tomato, tomatoes

Continue reading Hey little restaurants: enough with the tomatoes already

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Waiters feeling the pinch as consumers tighten up

by Zac Bissonnette May 21st 2008 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Food, Career, Recession

As the video below explains, suddenly frugal consumers are eating out less -- and tipping less. One bar owner told NBC that customers are still spending the same amount -- but tipping 10% or 15% instead of their customary 20%.

If you're a customer, don't be a jerk: if you can afford to go to the restaurant , you can afford to leave a solid tip. Being a stingy tipper isn't frugal; it's rude. If you're feeling hard up for money, try cooking at home or going to less expensive restaurants.

If you're a server and you're not making as much as you used to, this may be a time reevaluate the service you provide and look for areas to improve. Boom or bust, the best servers will earn the best tips. For some tips on better serving, check How to Be a Waiter and How to Be a Great Waitress, both from wikiHow. If you're feeling really ambitious, there are a few books on the subject. Two of the highest-rated on Amazon are Clam Chowder: The Server's Field Manual and Tips: the Server's Guide to Bringing Home the Bacon - The Customer Speaks To Every Waiter, Waitress, and Restaurant Manager In America -- Make More Money!



Tags: Restaurants, Waiters, Waitresses

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Comebacks we'd like to see: #21 -- Howard Johnson's

by Geoff Williams May 17th 2008 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Food

This post is part of our series ranking the top 25 bygone products and trends we'd like to see return.

If I had a time machine, the first place I'd go would be back into the 1970s, to visit a Howard Johnson's.

OK, maybe, actually, it wouldn't be the first place I'd go. I'd enjoy seeing dinosaurs from a distance, touring the Roman Empire, and I'd have to try to get Abraham Lincoln's autograph. There's no way I wouldn't visit the 1920s, an era I'm fascinated with, and come to think of it, I'd have to check out one of Shakespeare's plays, and... well... okay, Howard Johnson's may not be the first place I'd visit. But I would want to go there.

In fact, now that I think about it, it probably would be my second or third stop. Running from dinosaurs would be thirsty work.

Back in the 1970s, when I was a kid, I didn't know it then, but whenever my grandparents took my parents, younger brother and I out to a Howard Johnson's for breakfast, lunch or dinner or just an ice cream -- we did it all -- we were engaging in a part of American dining history that had encompassed much of the 20th century.



Tags: 36 flavors, 36Flavors, comeback wed like to see, ComebackWedLikeToSee, hamburger joints, HamburgerJoints, Howard Johnsons, HowardJohnsons, ice cream, ice cream parlors, IceCream, IceCreamParlors, restaurants, vintage restaurants, VintageRestaurants

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Smaller portions keep menu prices down -- but people order more!

by Zac Bissonnette May 13th 2008 at 12:30PM

Filed under: Food

With food costs rising at a furious pace, restaurants are looking to avoid increasing their menu prices: by serving smaller portions. In addition, many chains are offering really small servings in an effort to lure in health- and budget-conscious consumers.

It's working to the extent that the small servings have quickly become big sellers, but it isn't making people any thinner. According to the USA Today, "Instead, people are using smaller dishes as an excuse to add to their orders, spending - and probably eating - just as much as before."

That's right! No pesky fun-sized dishes are going to interfere with our pursuit of the American Dream: the 42-inch waistline. But at least ordering smaller portions makes people feel healthier -- even if they order 7 of them.

I bet those are the same people who order 2,900-calorie cheese fries, and then wash them down with a Diet Coke.

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Tags: Diet, Dining, featured, restaurants

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Recession Watch: Signs of the economic slowdown abound

by Jonathan Berr Apr 26th 2008 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Bargains, Food, Simplification, Recession

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

The good news about the recession is that there are bargains to be had for the adventurous shopper. The bad news is that many people are not able to afford them.

Times are tough and the economy is slowing. The National Bureau of Economic Research has not officially pronounced that the U.S. is in a recession -- technically two consecutive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product Growth. GDP rose 1.9 percent last year and is expected to decline in the first quarter by 0.1%, according to Morgan Stanley.

Yet some economists, including David Wyss of Standard & Poor's, argue that a recession is already in progress. He believes that the economy is half-way through the slowdown, which he expects to be mild as recessions go. "It's still going to hurt," he said in an interview. "Recessions always do."

Indeed, signs of a recession are all around us. People are doing without a full tank of gas. They are watching their pennies at the grocery store. They are learning to do without things that they thought, until recently, they could not do without -- including $10,000 summer camps. Many are watching their homes decrease in value at an alarming rate and foreclosures have hit records.

In WalletPop's Recession Watch series, bloggers documented some of the new trends brought about by the economic slowdown. For example, some young adults are moving in with their grandparents. Businesses of all sizes are merging to save money. Others, such as a karate dojo, are adding quirky new side businesses, such as selling balloons.

Here are some other additional signs of looming recession:



Tags: automobiles, Cadilliac Escalade, CadilliacEscalade, car sales, CarSales, ebay, Ford Expedition, FordExpedition, GDP, gross domestic product, GrossDomesticProduct, Hummer, mcdonalds, payday lending, Payday loans, PaydayLending, PaydayLoans, recession, restaurants, weddings

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Court rules New York restaurants must post calorie information

by Zac Bissonnette Apr 21st 2008 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Food

New York City recently passed a controversial rule requiring that any restaurant chain with more than 15 locations nationwide.

The New York State Restaurant Association appealed but Judge Richard J. Holwell of United States District Court in Manhattan rejected the group's claim that the rule violated restaurants' first amendment rights.

In his ruling, Holwell mentioned the obesity epidemic sweeping across the country and said that the posted calorie counts might induce some diners to reconsider their choices and that "these choices will lead to a lower incidence of obesity."

Seems reasonable. And obvious. It's a shame that the New York State Restaurant Association is looking to prevent consumers from having increased access to nutritional information. Giving consumers more information so they can make an informed decision is always a good thing to do.

And the restaurants probably don't have much to worry about. The 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act that required packaged food manufacturers to provide detailed nutritional information was met with similar outrage. Now it's an accepted part of the law, and Americans have continued to get fatter.

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Tags: Dining, New York, NewYork, Restaurants

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Moms stay home - and restaurants feel the bite

by Julie Tilsner Mar 17th 2008 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Extracurriculars, Food, Home, Career, Relationships

If there was one truly happy player in the harried, two-income, over-scheduled family of popular lore, it was the restaurant industry. With extra income and no time to cook, families ate their lunches and dinners out in huge numbers.

But the thrust of women into the workplace has leveled off over the last decade, according to labor statistics. And restaurants aren't feeling the love. According to a piece in the Wall Street Journal, the number of people dining out has gone down.

Last year, 207 restaurant meals were purchased per person, down from a peak of 211 in 2001, according to the NPD Group, a research firm that studies, among other things, how Americans eat. Meanwhile, Americans prepared 861 meals at home in 2007, compared with 817 in 2002, according to the group.

Why? The economy? High gasoline costs? Foodie culture? Probably all of the above. Research targets the moms, though. When Mom stays home, they say, there is less money in the family coffers to squander on food out, and more inclination to save money by cooking at home.

With our economic future looking pretty scary these days, restaurant chains should expect this trend to continue. But the Food Network can breathe easy. Somebody has to teach us how to cook.


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Tags: home cooking, HomeCooking, restaurants, two-incomes, women in the workplace, WomenInTheWorkplace

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When dining out, don't split the check evenly!

by Zac Bissonnette Mar 12th 2008 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Food, Saving, Wealth

When dining out with a group of friends, one of the easiest ways to pay is simply to divide the total check by the number of people, with each person paying the same amount, irrespective of who bought what. It's quicker, easier for the server, and reduces that awkward discussion of money over dinner.

But if you're a water and crackers guy and your friends like wine and Ahi appetizers, this obviously puts you at a disadvantage. You're subsidizing other people's expensive habits. But there's another reason not to split it like this: Your total check will also be bigger.

In his book The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas, economist Robert H. Frank discusses this phenomenon: if a diner is choosing between a $20 dish and a $30 dish he will, without even thinking, perform a cost benefit analysis. If the the $30 dish is only worth $5 more to him than the $20 dish, he may choose to go with the $20 dish: the additional benefit does not equal the additional cost.

But if he is with a group of 5 people, that additional $10 is only $2 to him and each other person --and so it makes sense for him to go with the $30 dish, even if the added value is not equal to the total the group will pay.

I'm not saying that your friends are mooches who are consciously looking to dine lavishly at your expense. But on a subconscious level, it means that splitting the check evenly will lead to higher costs -- and more calories!

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Tags: Dining, Food, Restaurants

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Are Americans finally getting smart about eating out?

by Tracy Coenen Mar 4th 2008 at 10:30AM

Filed under: Food, Health

The latest numbers from the restaurant industry suggest that Americans aren't eating out as much. One research company says that dinner traffic fell by 2% in 2007. It seems that most restaurant chains are reporting declines in traffic.

Ruby Tuesday reports almost an 11% drop in same store sales for the fourth quarter. Starbucks is planning to close 100 under-performing stores. McDonald's reports almost no growth in same-store sales last year.

Maybe American are finally "getting it" when it comes to eating out. Quite simply, eating at restaurants is expensive, easily costing three to four times more than eating at home. And maybe even more importantly, much of the food at restaurants is not nutritious. Constant dining out can wreak havoc on our insides.

With everyone complaining about how poor the economy is, I'm actually glad to see Americans eating out less often. It's not good for the restaurant industry, but it's a wonderful thing for family budgets and healthy eating!

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

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Tags: dining out, DiningOut, restaurants

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Offbeat eateries -- Hospital style in Taipei

by Tom Barlow Feb 19th 2008 at 12:15PM

Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Extracurriculars, Food

Tired of the same old Applebee's and Cracker Barrel fare? Well, fortunately, you're living in the 21st century, where choice reigns. We've pulled together some suggestions for places that offer novel dining experiences.

Concept restaurants come in all flavors, some of which leave me shaking my head. Among those include the DS Music Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, where hospital is the motif.

The décor is straight out of ER -- crutches, x-rays, wheelchairs, tables resembling hospital beds, all those items that apparently, serve to whet the Chinese appetite. The wait staff is garbed in medical gear, too, as nurses (sporting rabbit ears, a bit of a break in the theme,) and doctors.

The menu is not so much hospital-inspired, though, I didn't see any Jello side dish offered with the "Pretty good XO sauce stir-fry prawn ball." Vodka punch is served in an IV bottle. Groups can be seated in the separate Intensive Care Unit.

Somehow, when I hear the word hospital, I don't think of good food, attentive service or reasonable prices. Things must be different in Taipei.


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Tags: DS Music, DsMusic, Offbeat Eateries, OffbeatEateries, restaurant, restaurants

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The unintended consequences of nutritional disclosures?

by Zac Bissonnette Feb 16th 2008 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Food, Health

New York City recently imposed a new rule requiring that chain restaurants to disclose the number of calories in each menu item next to each menu item, and it's generating criticism from a surprising corner: obesity experts.

Of course most experts think that this is a good rule but, according to the New York Times, at least one nationally-recognized authority believes that "the new rules could backfire - whether by adding to the forbidden-fruit allure of high-calorie foods or by sending patrons away hungry enough that they will later gorge themselves even more."

I'm not buying the "forbidden-fruit" argument. If there is anything new to it, any person who would a burger because it has 900 calories is probably a lost cause anyway.

To me, this is an issue of disclosure: giving consumers more information in an easy and convenient format is almost always a good idea.

Public Citizen, Center for Science in the Public Interest, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association have all expressed their support for the measure, and I'm inclined to side with them.

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Tags: diet, Food, restaurants

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