Am I a CF to go to the takeaway and ask for a discount?

Not only the time and labor, but the spices they use may be very expensive. You dismissed that with "tomato based" but it's probably the other ingredients as well as the labor. If I were the vendor I would feel devalued and dismissed by your attitude.

It won't hurt to ask 😊

This

so @Clape adding all you said into chat gp this is their answer

Ahhh perfect — that sounds like Shatta (Lebanese/Palestinian chili sauce).
This is the spicy, smoky, chunky red sauce they serve with grilled chicken & shawarma.

Name of the sauce:

Shatta (شَطّة)

Typical Ingredients:

• Fresh red chillies
• Garlic
• Salt
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Tomato paste or roasted red peppers (for body)
• Sometimes cumin or smoked paprika for that smoky flavour

No mayo, no yogurt, no sweetness.

What it tastes like:

• Spicy (but not overwhelming)
• Tangy (from lemon)
• Savoury and slightly smoky
• Chunky texture from hand chopping or pulsing, not blending smooth

Quick “Takeaway-Style” Recipe (very close to the one served with Lebanese chicken):

Ingredients:

• 6–8 red chillies (or 3 chillies + 1 roasted red pepper for milder)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (for the smokiness you mentioned)
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1–2 tbsp tomato paste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2–3 tbsp olive oil
• Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Finely chop the chillies and garlic by hand (or pulse very quickly — don’t blend smooth).
2. Stir in the smoked paprika, cumin, salt and tomato paste.
3. Add lemon juice and olive oil to loosen to a spoonable texture.
4. Taste → adjust salt / lemon / heat.

It keeps for 1–2 weeks in the fridge.

No one goes to their local takeaway haggling over the sauce. Actually cringing from second hand embarrassment. They are a business. They aren't there to cater for your sauce needs.

If a little goes a long way why do you need a pot that’s 25 times the size of a normal portion

£4 usually and you said 3 figures for the amount you needed

hence the 25 pots

If you only need to use a bit on your salad then presumably a larger jar would last ages? I would just ask them if you can buy the sauce separately and see what they say. If they don't, ask them if you can buy their salad and sauce separately to the chicken, and explain you'll be in to buy it regularly because you love it so much. They might be happy to do that as it would be regular custom.

Well yes because someone will cut a cake up to sell individual slices to make more profit from the cake

OP literally says in her second post that she's tried some recipes and they've been foul.

And if only life predicaments were posted on Mumsnet, it would be slim pickings indeed

A whole cake is often cheaper than buying x number of individual slices (in my not insignificant experience)

Another one who cannot see any CFery in this scenario at all?

"Hi, I love the sauce that you serve with the chicken. Is there any chance I can buy a larger amount of it to use at home?" They'll either say yes or no. Either way, they're hardly going to take offence.

No idea what the discount bit was about, but I think the OP has addressed that.

Ha ha - you may well be right

You can buy in Sainsburys.

This is because their sauce does cost £1 a pot.

absolutely worth an ask, when we go to wagamamas we always get a few tubs of the katsu sauce to take away they normally charge us about £1.

Id take in an empty tupperware of the size i want filled and just ask them how much they would charge me to fill it up.
Also, i'd go in at a time when they werent so busy. Less chance of them just wanting you to go away with your funny request lol

Seriously, just go in and ask. They won’t be offended, you’re not asking for a freebie and I’m sure would be happy to help and if they can’t they will tell you.

As I say; the Thai place nearby regularly sells me a big tub of their peanut sauce for very little, the tiny dipping pots they sell are normally about £2.20 each and I get the equivalent of about 50 for about £9, they have absolutely no problem doing it - the only time it was a problem was when they ran out of the big tubs to put it in!

I'm really interested in how it could be considered rude to offer someone 3 figures and complement their sauce making skills?

Genuinely.

(I once asked a Chinese takeaway to sell me an onion on my way home as I'd forgotten it for my recipe. They gave it to me for nothing and laughed at me.)

But that's probably domino's infamous garlic and herb dip which is mass produced and full of preservatives? Not a house made tomato and onion fresh dip?

I make a similar-sounding dressing by blistering small, fruity chillis before pounding/blending them with the other ingredients. It gives a deep, smoky, sweet/savoury flavour.

You know there are many, many different types of salad dressing?

If you genuinely think salad dressing is 'sugary,' then you need to branch out a bit.

could it be this
Lebanese Tomato Salsa (Banadurah Harrah) Recipe - Food.com

I would ask for the recipe, I have done this often!

It's Lebanese tomato and onion based, it's unlikely to be sugary.

They probably would love to sell you a pot but the biggest hurdle would be the actual transaction as I guarantee that does not appear on the POS till so they can’t process the request. Computer says no

Just ask if they can do it in a bigger container and how much would it cost? And take it from there. I’m not sure what’s in it for them to give you a discount though?