

Why many restaurants don’t actually want you to order dessert - acdanger
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/10/why-restaurants-dont-always-want-you-to-order-dessert/

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mcv
$30 entrees? $20 desserts? And those are mid-level restaurants?

I thought the US was cheap, and Netherland was expensive, but I eat in
excellent restaurants and often pay less than €20 for a main course, and never
more than €10 for dessert. A 3 course meal for less than €40. Unless I'm
somewhere really fancy that aims for (or has) Michelin stars, of course.

Also, in most restaurants, you fill the table for the whole evening. You need
to start really early to be finished in time for late eaters to be able to
fill the same table.

And much of the time in restaurants is actually spent waiting for the next
course. If the restaurants are really in such a hurry, they could just bring
the food sooner. In fact, I think desserts would be more suitable for that,
since they can often be prepared in advance.

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joekozPHL
I find it hard to believe that mid-level restaurant desserts don't have a
healthy profit margin. Most desserts in these restaurants are food service
cheesecake, topped with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle, and marked up to
$7 or $8.

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justintocci
in practice, a slice will get ordered by up to five people and then extend the
meal up to twenty minutes.

If you were selling time on that table it would be more like $10 for twenty
minutes. Hence the problem. No one is arguing that the markup is huge, its
that it comes at a cost.

on the other hand, an appetizer does not extend the meal and has a similar
margin.

