[ike]

One thing I have noticed is that if you are paying by card, some restaurants want you to swipe before midnight even if you have not finished eating.

[girishv]

A very nice read. Please let me know the name of the restaurant and if it happens to be in Bangalore South, will surely visit some Saturday.
Just to inform you, I will be accompanied by two girls

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Glad you enjoyed the post! I will PM the name and address of the restaurant. Do visit us The meal will be on us !

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

4. Bulk purchase savings also vary widely depending on the item. For some items, such as poultry and foodgrains the savings are higher, not so much for spices and dairy items.

Do you buy from wholesale chains like Metro, or do you get stuff cheaper from smaller wholesale sellers?

Another question I had, is about what happens when the price of one item suddenly spikes. Do you:
1. Stop selling dishes that involve that item.
2. Raise prices steeply for dishes that use that item as a main ingredient.
3. Raise prices slightly for all dishes.

[Malyaj]

Originally Posted by girishv

A very nice read. Please let me know the name of the restaurant and if it happens to be in Bangalore South, will surely visit some Saturday.
Just to inform you, I will be accompanied by two girls

Thanks @girishv, I will PM you the name of the restaurant. All are welcome!

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

Do you buy from wholesale chains like Metro, or do you get stuff cheaper from smaller wholesale sellers?

Another question I had, is about what happens when the price of one item suddenly spikes. Do you:
1. Stop selling dishes that involve that item.
2. Raise prices steeply for dishes that use that item as a main ingredient.
3. Raise prices slightly for all dishes.

We source almost everything from Zomato Hyperpure. Earlier it was a mix of Metro and local vendors with whom we had rates tied up for a period.

In case of price spike you can't really do much. Menus are already printed and even if you have an erasable menu, it is not a good practice to temporarily increase prices.

You can't stop serving the dish unless it is low selling item. Prices usually spike for Onions and Tomatoes and these are staple of Indian dishes. How many will you stop preparing.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Will the better enlightened tell me what is gluten free supposed to mean. Does it mean they have removed the gluten and are charging you for removing it Three decades ago even on my trips to USA I never heard of allergy to nuts. Now every seventh person seems to have an allergy to nuts. We grew up in a time when we could not afford to have an allergy to any food. And if you had an allergy to exotics like karela or tinda your mother would make sure she sorted it out in minutes.

Gluten allergy is not uncommon in India either, but in our infinite wisdom, many choose to ignore a little stomach ache or a couple of loose motions the next morning. A lot of the folks can figure out that it was last night's food, not really blaming the wheat rotis that they've had for dinner. A quick switch to rice or khichri puts the system back on track, and everything is forgotten till the next time it happens.

In countries where such minor ailments are taken seriously and not termed as a kind of hypochondria, they've discovered the issue has to do with the consumption of some types of grain, like wheat, rye and barley. So folks with known gluten allergy switch to other types of flour, such as almond, tapioca or rice flour.

As for allergy to nuts (especially peanuts), that's not common at all to people of the Indian subcontinent. But Caucasians are often allergic to peanuts. To my mind, there are 2 possibilities - either the peanuts in India are of a slightly different variety than those eaten in First World countries, or we are genetically / environmentally immune to allergens in peanuts. You and I don't have Delhi belly, but folks from First World countries visiting India often do! (Oh, and by that logic, monkeys aren't allergic to peanuts...)

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Help! Here I am cozily fooling south Indians that I am serving authentic North Indian food and here are 2 people from Delhi thinking of visiting my restaurant and exposing me

Authentic North Indian food varies from one North Indian state to another! We need to check out whether it's authentic Punjabi food, or from Kashmir, or Uttar Pradesh.

Originally Posted by earthian

On the dot, SS-Traveller! The waitress did mention something, but the gap between what she explained and what i understood could fill a crater.

I had the most awful headache after that tempeh- no doubt caused by fermented soya.

I can tolerate Vegemite, but I stay far away from soya products, including tofu!

Originally Posted by earthian

...the alternative being an evil looking greenish liquid, which i luckily passed.

Never believe a food item can taste as good / bad as it looks. If it is delicious looking, it might not be palatable, and vice versa. Case in point, is a dark red coloured drink called kanji, very popular in North India, that a friend's mom served up in beautiful wine glasses. One gulp later, we knew we'll never willingly have the kanji again.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Gluten allergy....
As for allergy to nuts (especially peanuts),... You and I don't have Delhi belly, but folks from First World countries visiting India often do! (Oh, and by that logic, monkeys aren't allergic to peanuts...)

Ahhh the monkey connection. That explains it all :-) My link to the monkeys is rather short. In my generation there was no allergy that a quick slap from my mother couldn't sort out. On a more serious note - thanks for the explanation.

[earthian]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Case in point, is a dark red coloured drink called kanji.... . One gulp later, we knew we'll never willingly have the kanji again.

Kaanji, for our palate tastes very good, and is very refreshing. No doubt due to the tiny amounts of alcohol that the brew contains ( due to fermentation).

However, kaanji ideally must be consumed within 2-3 days max of it being ready, else it would taste quite sour. i make kanji at home during winters, though it is quite difficult to get black gajar.

[Cooltronics]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Here are some of those peculiar customers :
Cheers!

reading this beauty multiple times.
You missed one type, I have few in my big family and know it outright.
They are sometime called "Doctors", hygienic to the core, eat only at home and some traits -
a) rub the lemon for 20 minutes before cutting and squeezing it. The total water wasted could have given a good to all in a small village
b) They prefer "no-uncooked garnish" and "only piping hot fully cooked food" so that all bacteria are cooked and no chance of falling ill.
c) They want to check the kitchen more often then not and usually prefer restaurants with transparent kitchen

If one of the criteria is not met, they look at food as if they are served live cockroach
The facial expressions speak a thousand words and no host would like to see, infact we get upset seeing that expression.

[selfdrive]

Good list there. I wonder if you also see these types:

- threatening to leave poor reviews or flaunting their user account status on food review sites
- expecting consistency in their dishes relevant to what they had at the same restaurant days/ weeks/ years ago. It is not as if anyone is able to cook with the same consistency of taste even at home. as ingredient quality, cooks etc all change with time
- rude to waiters as if they are servants, clicking their fingers/ whistling etc to attract attention
- trying to get away from paying the bill partially or fully by flaunting some contacts
- fussy eaters who ask for dish to be re prepared more than once or return it to ask for replacements or cancel the billing for trivial reasons
- complaining about food preparation while eating. some of us have grown up with habits never to complain about food we get, but be thankful that we get any and that someone is taking efforts to put it on our table
- food wasters. over order and then throw it away. wonder what happens to all that food wastage. do you have some robinhood army type n the neighborhood which picks up leftovers to share with needy people?

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

As for allergy to nuts (especially peanuts), that's not common at all to people of the Indian subcontinent. But Caucasians are often allergic to peanuts. To my mind, there are 2 possibilities - either the peanuts in India are of a slightly different variety than those eaten in First World countries, or we are genetically / environmentally immune to allergens in peanuts. You and I don't have Delhi belly, but folks from First World countries visiting India often do! (Oh, and by that logic, monkeys aren't allergic to peanuts...)
.

I don’t know if caucasians are more allergic to peanuts than others. I do know it can be a very serious ailment/allergy. Rare, but people have died because of it.

A good friend of mine has a severe peanut allergy. Similar to people with severe reactions to bee stings, he carries a special syringe and antidote. The problem being that many foods often have small traces of peanuts. And even the smallest of amounts can trigger the allergy.

In the western world, many restaurants are very familiar with this, so are many airlines. About 3 years ago my friend and I were having dinner and they had assured us, no traces of peanuts. But there were and I could see my friend swelling up right before my eyes. A big concern is your airways swelling up to the point of suffocation. He gave himself a shot and we rushed him off to the nearest hospital. Quite the fright.

Contrary to popular belief, Delhi Belly, is in most cases, not related to food. 9 out of 10 tourists/expats in India claiming Delhi Belly have picked up some viruses. Food poisoning hits you hard and quickly, but in most cases will be gone within 24 hours.

Recovering from a “Delhi Belly” virus will usually take longer. Days or up to a week, sometimes even longer. The difference in treatment/remedy is not very different.

So many people do not differentiate. If you get the trots in a country such as India, most will assume default some sort of food poisoning, contaminated water etc.

But in most cases it is not related to food/drink and all. Virus is all about human interactions (touching/ handshake) and being very close to another. (Coughing, wheezing)

Note: I am not a doctor and know very little about these matters. I am very rarely ill. But during my first 18 months in India I was ill a lot. Very often after coming home from travel across India. I saw all the specialists, some very uncomfortable tests/exams. This is what they told me.

Loves this thread, thanks for sharing these experiences!

[rovingeye]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Here are some of those peculiar customers :

I can add one more type to your hilarious list - the ones who do not make an effort to go through the menu and will always outsource the decision making to the poor waiters - "You have a fantastic spread! Congratulations! What do you recommend?"

Come on! You're the one who has to eat - go through the menu at least and choose what your tongue wants.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

..I do know it can be a very serious ailment/allergy. Rare, but people have died because of it.

A good friend of mine has a severe peanut allergy. Similar to people with severe reactions to bee stings, he carries a special syringe and antidote.
...
About 3 years ago my friend and I were having dinner and they had assured us, no traces of peanuts. But there were and I could see my friend swelling up right before my eyes. A big concern is your airways swelling up to the point of suffocation.

That's scary, what happened to your friend - it's called an anaphylactic reaction. I've seen it once in my life, and I never want to see another case again.

Originally Posted by DCharger

Again a Techie(CEO of a Desi Consultancy) ... wants me to take a Kid's meal order from him, as he eats only half of adult-combos and rest goes waste. I politely refused and said the 5$ kid's meal is actually meant only for kids and he can ask my staff for To-Go boxes if food is leftover or even ask staff to decrease the portion size so as not to waste food.

But that's entirely unfair on your part, unless the law does not permit you to sell kids' meals to adults! Whatever be the price, every restaurant makes a profit on kids' meals. OTOH, To-go boxes are not exactly environment-friendly, and neither is wasting food. Asking to decrease portion sizes while keeping the price the same is equally unfair to the customer, never mind whether he's a CEO or even a billionaire.

[Malyaj]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Good list there. I wonder if you also see these types:

- threatening to leave poor reviews or flaunting their user account status on food review sites

- food wasters. over order and then throw it away. wonder what happens to all that food wastage. do you have some robinhood army type n the neighborhood which picks up leftovers to share with needy people?

No one has directly threatened to post a bad review, however some online customers ask for extras or a customization which is not viable for us and there is always a feeling that not satisfying that request could get you a bad rating, if not a bad review.

Bad reviews are part of being in a B2C business, however it doesn’t help that a lot of reviews are poorly written, with excessive reliance on negative superlatives (such as ‘worst food’, ‘horrible’, ‘waste of money’ etc, without giving any constructive feedback or an accurate description of the problem.

Food wastage is a problem. One can excuse a new customer who wasn’t aware of our portion size or preparation type and couldn’t finish what was ordered. However it frustrates me when regular customers do not give instructions and then waste food. We haven’t yet figured out what to do with leftovers. It goes into the bin.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

About 3 years ago my friend and I were having dinner and they had assured us, no traces of peanuts. But there were and I could see my friend swelling up right before my eyes. A big concern is your airways swelling up to the point of suffocation. He gave himself a shot and we rushed him off to the nearest hospital. Quite the fright.

Gosh this is scary. I will never look at an allergy in the same way again. I know of a person who was infected with a flesh eating bacteria and nearly lost his life. Not sure what caused it, but it makes you realize what strange things can happen and how vulnerable our body can be.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

No one has directly threatened to post a bad review, however some online customers ask for extras or a customization which is not viable for us and there is always a feeling that not satisfying that request could get you a bad rating, if not a bad review.

Bad reviews are part of being in a B2C business, however it doesn’t help that a lot of reviews are poorly written, with excessive reliance on negative superlatives (such as ‘worst food’, ‘horrible’, ‘waste of money’ etc, without giving any constructive feedback or an accurate description of the problem.

These days online reviews are important for many kind of business. I certainly look at the reviews and I usually do a review of new places we visit too.

Sometime ago an interesting trend started to emerge, read and weep:

https://www.economist.com/gulliver/2...or-bad-reviews

A few years ago, we visited a Sunday car boot sale in Suffolk, UK. It was advertised as the best, most enjoyable car boot sale, ever. Or words to that effect. We went and spend about 1,5 hours roaming the various stalls. Afterwards I left a review, saying that we had a pleasant enough 1.5 hours, but overall felt it was just your average car boot sale, nothing special. If you are in the neighbourhood and want to spend a little time roaming around stalls with stuff from peoples attic and garages, you will enjoy it. I gave an overall rating of 3 out of 5.

The proprietor of the venue went absolutely mental and told me I was all wrong and I should have given him 5 out of 5, or at the minimum 4 out of 5.! He started accusing of not even having been there. At the time, although the particular event had been running for several years, every Sunday, it’s online presence was limited. Mine was the fourth review! and I brought down the average rating considerable.

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Food wastage is a problem. One can excuse a new customer who wasn’t aware of our portion size or preparation type and couldn’t finish what was ordered. However it frustrates me when regular customers do not give instructions and then waste food. We haven’t yet figured out what to do with leftovers. It goes into the bin.

Food wastage seems to be a problem just about all over the world. The only country that I know that has institutionalised the idea of doggie bagging in restaurants is, remarkably, the most wasteful nation in the world: The USA.

No matter where you go, small, large, simple, exclusive, posh restaurant they will all offer you a doggie bag for the left overs after a meal. And just about all customers makes use of it.


Jeroen

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Food wastage seems to be a problem just about all over the world. The only country that I know that has institutionalised the idea of doggie bagging in restaurants is, remarkably, the most wasteful nation in the world: The USA.

No matter where you go, small, large, simple, exclusive, posh restaurant they will all offer you a doggie bag for the left overs after a meal. And just about all customers makes use of it.

I always eat all the food on my plate unless it is abominable. This led to me weighing in at near 100kg after a 2 week trip to the US. I felt "not right" when I came back and it was straight to a dietician. That was 14 years ago

8 years ago, we had a face to face in New Mexico. First waste - all of us drive to a local diner for breakfast (even though the breakfast was included in the tariff). This was to include the NM staff (2!). Choices were 4 egg pancakes / fried eggs - you get it. I was cautioned by the waitress that I was selecting from the old age pensioners menu. Doggy bag time - I reused but a colleague of mine kept availing of it.

Lunch - had some respite since we were in the company canteen and I stuck to a sandwich or sushi.

Dinner - T'was a Mexican food place. Portions loaded with cheese ran over. Again the colleague availed a doggy bag. For the life of me, I could not understand what this lady did with the doggy bags in her hotel room. If she donated to the homeless - fair enough.