What would you pay for this?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Our menu at work reads

Curry dishes - £5
(Includes boiled rice or chips - fried rice 30p extra)

Chips- £1
Fried rice £2

If, for example, you ordered a chicken curry, with chips and fried rice, how much would you expect to pay?

I'll admit I did have to think about it for a minute although I came to the correct total in the end. I wouldn't have argued about it with someone though, I just generally pay what they ask (

Perhaps you should change it so that you charge 4 pound for the curry, then a pound for chips or a pound for boiled rice, 30p extra if you want fried rice.

Curry 4
Chips 1
Boiled Rice 1 (Fried - 30p extra)

Clear as mud?

The menu needs to say

Curry & chips £5.00
Curry & boiled rice £5.00
Curry & fried rice £5.30

Chips £1.00
Fried rice £2.00

This is because some people are dense

I disagree that you should have given in - with a queue behind him, word could get around pretty quick that you're a wimp when it comes to prices! I think I'd have regretfully told him I couldn't serve him.

Oh, and I'd have charged £7! (Or £10 to him )

Your pricing is weird, though, unless a portion of fried rice is nearly twice as much as you get with the curry.

In that case, you'd have to ask customers if they wanted the full portion of chips or rice.

Just asked DH (curry restaurant and takeaway owner) and his initial response was "I'd wonder whose dog was in the curry for that price"

On getting him to actually answer the q he reckons you will get a bollocking from trading standards but no fine likely.

The words "chips or rice included" means the price is £5 for curry with one of those side dishes included. 30p extra if you want the rice fried.

Then if you buy chips or rice alone they have stand alone pricing.

Your menu is unclear though I think he's fairly petty

Was he expecting half portions of rice and chips?

Well it depends how you order it.

If you order a chicken curry with chips (£5) and a portion of fried rice (£2) then i'd pay £7

If you order a chicken curry with fried rice (£5.30) and a portion of chips (£1) then i'd pay £6.30

It's pretty fuckin simple, and every chinese takeaway I know prices like this on the menu. You were doing him a favour charging him the way you did. If you'd charged him how he'd ordered it would have been £7.

All the takeaways round here do half and half for the same price as one or the other. Did he not mean half chips and half rice?

I always change it so that the fried rice is with the curry for people, sometimes if I repeat back the order they'll say "No, I wanted the chips with the curry and an extra fried rice" and then I'll go and "But then it will be 70p more for the same thing, are you sure want it that way?" I think sometimes people think when we say "with" that's it's going to come in the same carton, they're happy to have it priced it my way when I explain.

It's not my menu and if my till is down I have to explain why, I can't just go around changing prices for people who want it cheaper. I've never seen a chinese menu worded any other way and in the whole 5 years of working there never met anyone who didn't understand.

One very elderly couple thought briefly that it might be priced that way, but when I explained they looked and told me they though it said rice and chips included and did I have a bigger menu they could read. They were quite upset they couldn't afford rice and chips and were nice and polite so I put the chips through the till for them and the put the money in for them after they'd left.

The fried rice portions are the same size ordered with the curry or alone.

£6.30 or £7.00 would be correct. £5.30 would not be correct, ever.

I can understand someone clarifying how it was served as the Curry 'n' Chips/Rice might mean that they are in the same carton.

I wouldnt worry about it. Someone probably trod on his corns and he was taking it out on you.

£6.30 but half rice, half chips should be £5.30 and is a standard offer usually.

It's £5. You get chips included, hence you don't pay extra for the chips in the curry option. If you want extra rice as well you pay 30p, total of £5.30 for curry with chips (included) and rice.

You order the same items, but one meal costs you £6.30 and the other costs you £7?

Your op says curry dishes £5 - includes boiled rice or chips (fried rice 30p extra).

chips £1
fried rice £2
(presumably if bought separately and without a curry)

I think the pricing is misleading and at first I did think it would have been £5.30 rather than the advertised £5 plus £2 for the extra fried rice.

The customer has a point and I think the price list needs to be reviewed.

It's pretty bloody clear to me - I don't understand how anyone could work it out as costing less than the OP was charging

Unless he was after half and half I suppose and was expecting to party £5.15

And this thread confirms there are a lot of stupid people in the world, and for that I would change the wording ok the menu!

In my area it would be 5.30 for half chips and half rice. I thought this was normal. I'm surprised that it seems to be a local thing. Inshoes are you in the NW? We seem to be the only people who have this option.

anyone still getting to 5.30 AFTER having this infant at primary level sum spelled out for them....how do you get through daily life? I know the UK has a fairly low numeracy level, but still......

£6.30

£5 for the curry and rice plus 30p extra for fried . then a side of chips @ £1

I don't understand it either Anabelle, but then I don't understand most of our customers. You get the ones that come in every day order fried stuff with more fried stuff and extra portion of fried stuff, who are teeny, tiny and then you get people who call in 3 times a week to order deep fried battered prawns with chips and a pineapple fritter and then sit and complain to their friend that their new weightloss diet isn't working

And who can afford a chinese every day anyway?

Assuming the portion sizes are always the same, the pricing structure makes no sense. If chips are worth £1, then curry alone must be worth £4. Boiled rice is implicitly worth £1. But if fried rice is worth £2, then curry alone must be worth £3.30.

So in two out of three cases, curry is worth £4, so by majority vote let's make that the value of the curry. Then why does fried rice jump from £1.30 to £2 when you buy it separately, but the price of chips doesn't change at all?

The whole structure is a complete mess. Simplest solution: say it's +£0.xx for fried rice and £1.xx for a separate portion.

the half and half thing is a red herring since it wasn't mentioned at that wasn't what was ordered. so not buying that one.

and the pricing structure makes complete sense. The idea is to make money, not provide true cost value for your cash! The way listed by OP i how all chinese takeaways, everywhere, list the price.

Curry and fried rice, £5.30
Extra chips £1

Total: £6.30

Or, £5.30 for half of each. £5.15 (15p being half the 30p supplement for fried rice), at a pinch.

How can anyone not get this?

The menu is perfectly clear!