Should you pay for Condiments ? it’s totally reasonable to charge £2 for mayo and ketchup

[Social Media]

 

Is acceptable to PAY for adding sauce to your meal ?

 

 

 

First, they came for our energy bills. Now, they’re waging war on our beloved fish and chips. When will the tyranny end?

Probably not any time soon and certainly not in Padstow, where Rick Stein has decided to add a £2 surcharge for extras like gravy, curry sauce and aioli at his fish and chippy. Apparently even celebrity can’t protect you from “food inflation, energy costs and rising wages”. Naturally, all hell broke loose among Padstow punters, who were outraged at the additional cost to their already £20 order. “I’ve always felt that there’s something of the night about him,” one decried. “Let’s boycott it,” exclaimed another.

 

Let me add an unpopular opinion to the opprobrium. Back off, penny pinchers. Ketchup doesn’t come for free just because you decided to dine at Stein’s. It’s a product like any other, and it comes with a price. Why should Stein, or any other restaurant, have to pay it?

 

As a restaurant critic, I’m aware that dinner is getting quite dear. But my advice for anyone complaining about prices is: have some perspective. My initial thoughts on hearing the news from Padstow were twofold.

Firstly, if you don’t want to pay upwards of £20 for fish and chips, why don’t you just… go somewhere else? Stein’s is hardly the only joint in town. It’s also not the highest rated so if you are splashing the cash, splash it elsewhere. Secondly, what do people expect?

 

FULL STORY

[BritManToo]

Ketchup is £1 a bottle, around 100 servings, so 1p extra per person would be fair.

 

Ps. Used to live there before moving to Thailand, but never ate at Ricks, too expensive for most locals and nothing special.

Edited September 15, 2023 by BritManToo

[n00dle]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Ketchup is £1 a bottle, around 100 servings, so 1p extra per person would be fair.

more like £4.

 

I think the charge is more for the aioli and curry, i can see charging for houseemad sauces, condiments like ketchup, no. 

[LaosLover]

In NYC, they tried charging for chips and salsa in a Mex place, under the libertarian logic that if you didn't want chips and salsa, you shouldn't have to subsidize those who do.

 

Libertarian problem: No price diff between free salsa places and libertarian fantasy model places, as always.

 

Today: Free Chips and Salsa in 95% of restaurants. 

 

If you want to charge for something that is customarily provided for free, it has to be super-premium.

 

I'd pay extra for small-batch ketchup that been aged in a barrel or something.

 

In the UK, Pubs offer premium tonic in a little bottle to go with your gin. In Manhattan, you can spend $20 for a very nice bowl of bar nuts -we're talking only 35% peanuts. It's nearly impossible to find a Mex place that doesn't want to do table-side guacamole for you.

 

Up-charge options seem popular with the young. And restaurant margins are tight. This is the future.

Edited September 15, 2023 by LaosLover

[Nick Carter icp]

23 minutes ago, Social Media said:

Probably not any time soon and certainly not in Padstow, where Rick Stein has decided to add a £2 surcharge for extras like gravy, curry sauce and aioli at his fish and chippy

There has always been a charge for those item .

Salt and vinegar is free and cheap ketchup if you're lucky 

[Liverpool Lou]

16 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Ketchup is £1 a bottle, around 100 servings, so 1p extra per person would be fair.

Ketchup and other condiments made in the restaurant, as the article suggested they may be, do not cost just a quid a bottle.   

Even if it's not home made, which UK shops sell decent branded ketchup for £1 per bottle from which 100 servings are reasonably possible?

[Liverpool Lou]

15 minutes ago, n00dle said:

more like £4.

 

I think the charge is more for the aioli and curry, i can see charging for houseemad sauces, condiments like ketchup, no. 

Me too, those "houseemad" sauces are delicious!

[dingdongrb]

I thought it was odd the first time I was charged for a bucket of ice at a restaurant here in Thailand. But now it appears normal.

 

I wonder when restaurants in the west will start charging for restroom use? How about charging for paper napkins or maybe a rental charge on utensils? 

 

Condiments should be like others items such as employee wages, overhead, cooking oil, salt/pepper, etc......  all rolled into the cost of the product/service. Itemizing it is just asking for trouble.

[impulse]

The left hand is asking whether you should pay for condiments while the right hand is praying you don't notice that it's already over 20 GBP for fish and chips.

[ChipButty]

It's only a matter of time here in Thailand some will try to charge,

 

I noticed recently a place we go to for a breakfast, it's a full one decent bacon and sausages, eggs any style, mushrooms, tomatoes, and toast which is home made bread, we usually share one, they always had HP sauce bottle the last couple of times we have been in and I have asked for HP, i get it in a little bowl a portion, no problem.

I see the price in makro has gone up quite a bit, 

I used to know a guy who a restaurant over in Kata and he told me he had to take it off the table as it was getting nicked, How bad is that? 

[DaLa]

Recently charged 5 baht for ice in my glass of beer at Chatuchak. At 100 baht for a large Leo I will be using one of the other bars in the area.

[impulse]

34 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

I used to know a guy who a restaurant over in Kata and he told me he had to take it off the table as it was getting nicked, How bad is that? 

Had a friend of mine who returned from a trip to the USA thoroughly impressed that they have toilet paper in the ladies rooms.  Strangely, nobody nicks it there. 

 

Closer to the OP topic, a lot of my favorite restaurants had sauces so popular they now do a booming business selling the sauces.  Some just take-away, but many sell them through the supermarkets.

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by impulse

[ChipButty]

12 minutes ago, DaLa said:

Recently charged 5 baht for ice in my glass of beer at Chatuchak. At 100 baht for a large Leo I will be using one of the other bars in the area.

You got fined 5 baht for putting ice in your beer, 

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

Had a friend of mine who returned from a trip to the USA thoroughly impressed that they have toilet paper in the ladies rooms.  Strangely, nobody nicks it there.

 

That doesn't surprise me I have some apartments for rent it gets nicked, there is certain nationality who just take everything, tea bags the lot gone, sad.

[LaosLover]

Rick Stein is a boomer brand and boomers hate up-charges.

 

Otherwise, well done Rick, for getting a little buzz going for his very mature brand.

[brianthainess]

I have paid extra for gravy here, in a falang run pub.

[RayWright]

Eaten at Rick's Fish & Chips many a time, as well as his Café (infact sent the Thai fishcakes back as they were cold once).

The only condiments required with Fish & traditional beef dripping cooked Chips are salt&vinger. However, Rick's home made Aioli is to die for. His mushy pees aren't bad either.

The only accompaniment I have at his chippy is a Guinness to go with my battered oysters.

Tommy sauce is for French fries, or colouring up a good Shepherds Pie.

Just fancy some now. The F&C that is.

[bkkcanuck8]

17 hours ago, n00dle said:

more like £4.

 

I think the charge is more for the aioli and curry, i can see charging for houseemad sauces, condiments like ketchup, no. 

Canada we have a place called Swiss Chalet which serves rotisserie chicken which is a standard 'Chalet Sauce' that is enough for the chicken, if you want MORE then they charge for extra servings (small, or a big cup)... that is reasonable... but if a place starts charging or standard condiments... then I am avoiding them completely... it just sets up some ugly situations especially people that don't normally dine there - order something, then find out... oh yes, that little thing you thought came with it... it is a few pounds more.... it will literally leave a bad taste in new customers mouths and that won't be good or business long term.

Edited September 15, 2023 by bkkcanuck8

[Speedhump]

16 hours ago, ChipButty said:

It's only a matter of time here in Thailand some will try to charge,

 

I noticed recently a place we go to for a breakfast, it's a full one decent bacon and sausages, eggs any style, mushrooms, tomatoes, and toast which is home made bread, we usually share one, they always had HP sauce bottle the last couple of times we have been in and I have asked for HP, i get it in a little bowl a portion, no problem.

I see the price in makro has gone up quite a bit, 

I used to know a guy who a restaurant over in Kata and he told me he had to take it off the table as it was getting nicked, How bad is that? 

A restaurant owner friend (free condiments) I know has heart palpitations when customers use a lot of HP sauce in his places because of the cost to him. ???? He won't charge though, we've talked before. Another busy place I eat at on Sundays has plastic squeezy bottles of mint sauce in their condiments tray to use freely with roast English lunch. As I like lashings of it, it's appreciated and is a reason for me to favour them over other places also serving good food. I would look for other places if a 2 or 3 star restaurant started to make a small charge charge for 'a condiment usually expected' with any particular meal, and it's purely out principle, to prevent it becoming the norm.

[JayClay]

I dunno

 

I think I wouldn't mind if restaurants were to charge for condiments; At least then I wouldn't have the constant worry of whatever I order being ruined by by an obnoxious of smothering undocumented mayonnaise.

[JayClay]

19 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Ps. Used to live there before moving to Thailand, but never ate at Ricks, too expensive for most locals and nothing special.

If you never ate there you don't really have the right to claim it's nothing special.

[ChipButty]

51 minutes ago, Speedhump said:

A restaurant owner friend (free condiments) I know has heart palpitations when customers use a lot of HP sauce in his places because of the cost to him. ???? He won't charge though, we've talked before. Another busy place I eat at on Sundays has plastic squeezy bottles of mint sauce in their condiments tray to use freely with roast English lunch. As I like lashings of it, it's appreciated and is a reason for me to favour them over other places also serving good food. I would look for other places if a 2 or 3 star restaurant started to make a small charge charge for 'a condiment usually expected' with any particular meal, and it's purely out principle, to prevent it becoming the norm.

I watched a guy one night order a plate of chips then preceded to use a full bottle of mayonnaise on his chips so that's 70 baht for the chips and over 100 baht's worth of mayonnaise, that's abusing it.

[alanrchase]

The article isn't particularly clear if he charges for ketchup other than vaguely mentioning a sachet of mayonnaise. If you order chips and want curry sauce or aioli to dip them in I don't see too much of a problem charging for it, a sachet of ketchup would be a different matter.

[Smokey and the Bandit]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Ketchup is £1 a bottle, around 100 servings, so 1p extra per person would be fair.

 

Ps. Used to live there before moving to Thailand, but never ate at Ricks, too expensive for most locals and nothing special.

Like most celebrity ''chefs'' you pay for the name, the food is really not bad , but not extra special! 

[new2here]

To me, I think it’s a fair thing to say that from the moment a customer sets foot onto the restaurant’s premises- there’s some level of “cost” for nearly everything.

 

I think the trick for the restaurant- and to a degree, for the customer - is how to apportion those costs so that they are fairly reflect the charge for use by each customer AND perhaps more importantly, can those costs even be realistically apportioned?

 

I DO think that some costs - even small - can be.. but others I think it’s a struggle to do so.

 

I look at airlines for a rough parallel.. LCCs essentially only charge for the basic service of transport from A to B.. if you want take take bag; that’s extra.  Food? that’s extra too.  

 

I think a restaurant *could* offer - say “entree A” a traditional burger and fries and define EXACTLY what you get with that.. Then, from there if a diner wants anything else - let’s say a fry dipping sauce, and it’s not included in the definition of entree A, then there’s an incremental charge..

 

In my head, I guess I ask two basic questions.. One, is the restaurant industry as a whole really set up for this kind of pricing model, the accounting, back office and front customer-facing rollout it would require… and two, are diners really interested in going down this route where they have a choice of dining at places that roll all costs into the entree choice - largely regardless if you’ve used some element of the dining experience and/or how used .. or would they prefer a pricing model that drills down to the individual usage assigns a cost for that? 

 

[freeworld]

19 hours ago, LaosLover said:

Rick Stein is a boomer brand and boomers hate up-charges.

 

Otherwise, well done Rick, for getting a little buzz going for his very mature brand.

Seems you have a bias against boomers.

[LaosLover]

3 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Seems you have a bias against boomers.

Yeah, I am one.

 

And my ilk is largely a PITA. Me? I do my best.

[tgw]

6 minutes ago, new2here said:

To me, I think it’s a fair thing to say that from the moment a customer sets foot onto the restaurant’s premises- there’s some level of “cost” for nearly everything.

 

I think the trick for the restaurant- and to a degree, for the customer - is how to apportion those costs so that they are fairly reflect the charge for use by each customer AND perhaps more importantly, can those costs even be realistically apportioned?

 

I DO think that some costs - even small - can be.. but others I think it’s a struggle to do so.

 

I look at airlines for a rough parallel.. LCCs essentially only charge for the basic service of transport from A to B.. if you want take take bag; that’s extra.  Food? that’s extra too.  

 

I think a restaurant *could* offer - say “entree A” a traditional burger and fries and define EXACTLY what you get with that.. Then, from there if a diner wants anything else - let’s say a fry dipping sauce, and it’s not included in the definition of entree A, then there’s an incremental charge..

 

In my head, I guess I ask two basic questions.. One, is the restaurant industry as a whole really set up for this kind of pricing model, the accounting, back office and front customer-facing rollout it would require… and two, are diners really interested in going down this route where they have a choice of dining at places that roll all costs into the entree choice - largely regardless if you’ve used some element of the dining experience and/or how used .. or would they prefer a pricing model that drills down to the individual usage assigns a cost for that?

There are restaurants where the main goal is providing meals for cheap, so I'd say itemizing small extras is ok as long as they are itemized in order to cover the cost, not with the goal of making extra money. 2 GBP for a little ketchup is a rip off.

 

And there are restaurants where the main goal is to provide a good dining experience, pleasure of eating nice food in a relaxed atmosphere.

In such a setting, I as a customer wouldn't like being annoyed by extra charges here and there, especially if they are a rip off.

For example, there is an allegedly very good Thai restaurant at Terminal 21. I went there, checked the menu, very reasonable prices I thought. Then I noticed there was no drink menu, so I asked to see that, and it was like 150 baht for a small beer and something like 60 baht for a small bottle of soda.
I didn't taste the food. It's not about the money, it's about the annoyance of exorbitant prices for drinks spoiling the dining experience. thinking "oh gawd I hope one small bottle of beer will be enough, otherwise it will cost me another 150. Children, please have enough with one minuscule coke (25cl !!!!!!! what an insult) ". I can order 2 large beers and a large soda with a good meal when priced normally. They would make more money serving me with that at normal prices than the gross margin they would make on their 1 small beer at 150 baht.
And in general, such practices demonstrate a general disrespect for the customer, it's not about providing a good dinner experience it's about ripping people off.

[HauptmannUK]

I've always liked Rick, a super nice guy.  We attended the same school (Uppingham) although not at the same time (he's 14 years older than me).  He's a very generous guy - does a lot for charity (which you don't hear much about, he's very modest and humble) and he's given a lot to his old school. Met him quite a few times at reunions.

My friend Richard Tice (currently leader of the Reform UK party) is another Old Uppinghamian. We were in West Deyne House at the same time and have kept in touch since. His nickname was 'Dodgy Dicky' but he's a straight arrow.  Stephen Fry was two or three years above - was a very odd boy, he had a 'reputation' and I kept away from him.

 

[DJ54]

If condiments normally come with your order there shouldn’t be an extra charge. If you ordered extra 

It’s ok if an extra charge… although £2 is too much. 
 

Fast Food like KFC etc, should ask if you want condiments or let the customer ask… … a lot of waste I can see… ketchup with pizza? I for one don’t add ketchup or mayonnaise on pizza…