Those who take eat well.....those who give sleep well.

I am a bit frustrated today by the cost of food at the different eateries.  Is it a sign of the times or are restaurants just getting a bit greedy?  Is making 60-70% profit on food items not enough?  Do you really need to make 90% on every single item? Are you gonna really break the bank if you don't charges for add-ons like a slice of cheese, 4 thin slices of avacado, 4 little slices of chicken/beef)?  Why can't you have a choice between plain or fizzy water for free - I mean how many glasses of water does a customer drink?  I think most of us are pretty conscientious of our spending these days, but come on eateries!  - If you make a good product at a reasonable price and make your customers feel like they are getting bang for their buck.....they will come!   Which brings me to ...um.....wait I do have a point.

I was channel surfing and landed on the Cooking Channel and came across Eddie Huang (this is the point).  He is a writer, chef and restaurant owner and now t.v personality  He has an eatery in good old NYC (one of the most expensive cities to dine) and he gets it.  His place is called BaoHausNYC  http://www.baohausnyc.com.  His approach is full flavored good food at a "cheap" price - and he is not the only one.  Check out the show on the Cooking Channel called Cheap Eats and see what I am talking about.

I am not naive.  I understand that the cost of running an eatery is not cheap, however I think that owners don't get that you can make $ from the masses.  That charging top dollar for a little bit of food is not gonna get you a full house unless you are Thomas Keller.  It would be nice to eat a "cheap" meal sitting down and not from a drive-thru or standing in front of a truck. Maybe not have linen, but white butcher paper or a clean table is not outrageous.  It seems that restaurant owners forget that it's not horrible to give a little something - lets face it after adding tax and tip your meal just jumped another 20% at least.  In fact the return on making someone feel like they really got a great deal is....well lets just say " a good nights sleep."