Paying for Non-Alcoholic Drinks with dinner

I know this is a sore spot for some, but we also pay more per gallon for bottle water than we do for gasoline. As Deb Hall stated most places will still give you water for free.

Is the cost of tea outrageous, maybe. One poster figured the cost of tea at $.21 but did not include the cost of labor, refills, insurance, chemicals and water to wash the glass, breakage and so on.

Restaurants are providing a service and they charge for it. At Hooters it is $3.27 for a 32 oz non alcoholic beverage. Is that high? I say yes but people flock there everyday.

Bottomline is restaurants are in the business to make money. They are charging fair market value for beverages and offer a free alternative in most cases. The places that used to charge $1 or $.75 for drinks are out of business.

On the subject of refills:

I've found, for me personally, I tend to drink less when the server isn't obsessively refilling it everytime it gets a third empty. It's a bit of a trap for both parties, really - the servers feel they have to keep drinks refilled before they get anywhere near empty, because if they get empty then it looks bad on the server who then loses tip money; customers like myself end up drinking more than they think they are, and far more than they really need to, and contribute to the erosion of the restaurant's profits owing to consumption beyond their norm.

Of course, for every customer like me there's probably three or four who suck down Coca-Cola as if the company is going back to the "new Coke" recipe tomorrow. Personally I wouldn't mind a restaurant charging slightly less for a soda, but charge on a per drink basis.

I don't really think the Applebee's of the world should be chastised for the occasional free birthday dessert. But I think whoever came up with this free refill business certainly didn't do us any favors; it's far more pervasive of a practice, cuts into restaurant profits, and encourages us to consume even MORE calories that we really don't need... and on a regular basis.

I wouldn't blame this trend on Applebee's and other chain restaurants because local places also participate. For instance if you register with Louisville Originals you get a free dessert on your birthday from Baxter Station and/or a free Louisville Originals t-shirt from other participants. Sweet Surrender also sends out mailings for free birthday desserts.

I do not expect expect any restaurant to give me a free dessery for my birthday, nor would I ask for one, but I'm always willing to accept one if offered. I guess one could argue that giving someone a free dessert is a way of showing appreciation for their patronage. Beyond that I would expect that people who are dining out for their birthday typically are not doing so alone. An establishment could be betting on others in that party purhasing something extra like dessert when they may not have otherwise.

Aaron, I disagree in several instances...

1)While I make sure to keep waters full 100% of the time, I only fill soda on request (and once they've asked once I'll keep doing it) because there are a lot of people like you who don't necessarily want 48oz of coke and many parents don't want me wiring up their kids before bedtime. But it's rare that anyone gets upset that I haven't filled it, and if they do realizing that I'm happily filling it RIGHT then usually calms them down.

2)The free refills aren't where restaurants lose money, it's in overhead. I think restaurants offer free refills as a way to make up for a slightly higher markup.

If you'd rather all restaurants could go the way of Avalon, and offer bottle cokes (12oz at $2 a pop with no free refills).

3)The problem with the chain restaurants doing that is it creates a standard in the consumers mind that independent restaurants can't live up to cost wise. Most places like Applebees who give a free desert give soft serve with a little chocolate sauce and sprinkles or some equivalent which costs a minimal amount material wise while independent restaurants spend much more time and money on their desert. Our deserts are $6-8 for a reason. The chef has taken the time to create something special and imagine the cost of giving out numerous free deserts every night...it'd be cost suicide. And now, thanks to Applebees many customers after saying it's so and so's birthday, waiting and smiling, put me in a very awkward position where either I assume they want something for free, or dissapoint them because they DO want something for free. It makes me feel snobby and it makes them look cheap and many of them also assume that we're chintzy because "geez all these other places do it"...It's just a bad deal all around.

also-

Of course, for every customer like me there's probably three or four who suck down Coca-Cola as if the company is going back to the "new Coke" recipe tomorrow.

...you have no idea!

Jeremy - I don't really think I implied that all servers do it, and I certainly didn't mean to, and in fact even began by discussing the condition of servers who do not. It's great that you don't. But it's been my experience that a lot of servers do. More often than not I have to stop a server from refilling.

To be precise - I didn't say restaurants were losing money on free refills, I said free refills cut into profits. I'll grant that the difference is a fine one, but it is different.

And just to reiterate: this is not a problem I have with servers, so I hope you weren't taking offense to my statements. It was only a few words on my issues with the free refill standard.

Regarding the free desserts at chain establishments: Chain restaurants do LOTS of things that could create unreasonable expectations in customers at other restaurants by the very nature of being what they are. If people don't understand the difference between eatting at Applebee's and the Oakroom (don't know where you work, I'm just using that as an example) then I have to say the fault lies in the customer, not in the chain.

well I agree that that's where the fault lies, but (I work at bourbon's Bistro) while the difference in Bourbons and Applebees is hardly subtle, it is a bit finer a difference than Applebees and the Oakroom. Our prices are low enough that we get a lot of people who usually go to chains and are willing to try something new but I still think it creates an awkward situation.

And I certainly didn't take any offense at your comments, I mostly take issue with the "charging for drinks shows lack of class" comments made previously and I was just responding to a few finer points you had made afterward which I disagreed with...

I know this is a sore spot for some, but we also pay more per gallon for bottle water than we do for gasoline. As Deb Hall stated most places will still give you water for free.

a gallon of water out of the tap costs a minute fraction of a gallon of gasoline.

I am going to open a restaurant with only two things on the menu: cigarettes and soda. I'll charge $24 for a glass of coca cola and $10 for a pack of smokes. no BYOC, no free refills, no food, no servers, . I'll be a millionaire in six months.

Can I get reservations for next Thursday? I've heard the "Smo-cola" trend is going to be even hotter than "Dark Dining" and I want to experience it first!!!

If you combine the two, at least you won't have to look at everyone's yellow teeth...

Yeap, that's what comes from an opinion on what are ultimately only peripheral matters. Clearly it's inane to even discuss such things.

huh?

I normally don't have a problem with the price of soft drinks at restaurants, but last weekend we went out for dinner, and my diet coke cost almost as much as my husband's 24 oz beer. Of course, soft drink prices were not displayed anywhere on the menu. The food was great, but I was surprised by the price of the drink when we got our bill.

Ron,
Love the idea!

BTW - bottled water not tap. On average we pay $1 for 16.9oz, or $7.57 per gallon. What a racket! I think I have a natural spring in my backyard, oops that's the hose. Well if Coke and Pepsi can do it why not us?

Run that hose through a filter and you can give that water a fancy name and sell it for megabucks.

Aquasani?