Portion sizes in pubs and restaurants-why are they so big?

[AlternativelyWired]

Unless of course it's somewhere very fancy.
Inspired by the calories on menus threads I was wondering why portions are so big. One place we go to does a children's pizza, chips and peas. This is just short of 900 calories. It's a Chicago town style pizza with a large handful of chips and a portion of peas. Even the adult menu has very little that's below 800 calories. Starters to share (for two people) are over 1000 calories. Some of the meat 'challenges' are over 4000 calories each! Why?
Surely if portion sizes were smaller or rather, appropriate, this would be better than stating calorie values and would help avoid food waste. Food waste induces a lot of guilt in me, and the calories do too as a former anorexic, and although eating out is a treat that we don't do often, I don't want a huge plateful of food that I won't be able to finish. I think the meat challenges are obscene but that might be my eating disordered and veggie brain speaking.
Why are pizzas so big? And burgers? Over 1000 calories for a burger and that's without the chips.
Could places offer small portions? Although even the seniors menu is a larger than normal portion.
I don't particularly want to know the calories of the dishes on offer but I do want a choice of smaller portions rather than contributing to food waste.
And while I'm at it, what happened to sandwiches on menus? In the 80s and 90s everywhere we went had a sandwich section with egg mayonnaise, prawn mayonnaise, beef, ham, cheddar ploughman's and now sandwiches don't seem to exist except in cafés. A nice sandwich with a salad garnish and maybe a handful of crisps. My mum would be so happy if they came back. And omelettes.
Bring back proper plates, the ones we had in the 80s not the huge ones we have now.

We rarely eat out for this reason. Chips are always deep fried in pubs which increases the calories so much, at home we would have oven chips. But then eating out is supposed to be a treat and unless your eating out several times a week I don’t think it’s a huge issue.

Our local pub does smaller portions (lighter…small appetite meals) which is great as there standard sizes are huge.

@AlternativelyWired the whole family has autism and sensory issues?

@FairyCakeWings

They have big portions to justify the prices. Even in cheaper places with reasonable prices, if they gave out tiny portions, some people would complain.

Plus it’s easier to give too much food than too little, and the portion sizes have to cater for everyone. A filling meal for me needs less than half the food my dp does in his filling meal, so which of us should be catered for considering we both have to pay the same for a burger and chips? It’s not easy for restaurants to get it right.

yup. The cost to the restaurant of the food is the least part of the cost of the meal to the customer. They can ramp up the size ot the plateful, especially things like chips and salad to make the cost of the meal look better value.

Whitbread Inns used to serve smaller plates, aimed at kids who were too old for the childrens menu but couldn’t manage a full adult portion. One was a 6oz gammon, rather than the usual 8oz. I can’t remember what the other options were. I imagine it’s more expensive for the restaurant and has limited appeal.

GBK also used to, but if you ordered the 6oz burger, you could only have soft drinks

My DC’s are both on the spectrum too, it does limit where we can eat, one will only eat pizza and chips but the pizza sauce must be smooth (no tomato chunks), we often end up in Pizza Hut or hungry horse type places which I hate because I prefer to have something served with vegetables and potatoes rather than chips and bread. This is why we only really eat out if we are on holiday or a special occasion.

Because by and large people complain a lot, and very publicly about small portion sizes and want as much for their money as possible, the industry is catering to the demands of the majority of their customers.

@amicissimma

I have a small appetite. I find a huge portion placed in front of me daunting and does detract a bit from the enjoyment.

Why do so many people on Mumsnet find this unacceptable?

I guess people go on the attack because they see it as personal criticism of themselves as they want a large portion? I think the type of place OP describes do serve far too much food and must waste a lot of it. The chain restaurants like Nando’s and Wagamama’s are actually much better as you can order different size portions to suit everyone

At £13-15, a bog standard burger, a bun costing mere pennies, some watery Iceberg lettuce, a single slice of tomato and possibly a single slice of onion, they have to make it look more like you haven't just paid them over a tenner for putting them on a plate. Hence the chips and trying to make it look five times the size by precariously balancing the bits in a way that requires a pointy stick to keep it all together whilst it's being carried to the table on a plate so oversized that a) it's easier to carry on the arm with another in the hand, as they support one another and b) makes people think they're getting more when the actual bit that contains food is no bigger than usual. Otherwise people would realise it's all just smoke and mirrors. Or bread and potatoes.

Sandwiches required fillings. Fillings that cost money - they're less profitable than the burgers and pizzas; £4 for a sandwich costing £1.20 or £14 for the burger/pizza/chips costing £1.45 - which one are they going to want to sell?

It's just a way of disguising the cheapness of the ingredients/the size of the markup.

If it bothers you, stick to starters.

If you don't want full portion order seniors portion or some places do lite bites.

@CheesusWept

I always ask the restaurant to box up the leftovers and then that does me and DD for dinners for the rest of the week.

I thought this was a joke at first but it is Mumsnet after all. Maybe 1 meal can feed 2 people for a week ... 🤔

@CheesusWept

I always ask the restaurant to box up the leftovers and then that does me and DD for dinners for the rest of the week.

Blimey, how long does a chicken last you?

@CheesusWept

I always ask the restaurant to box up the leftovers and then that does me and DD for dinners for the rest of the week.

Only a week?

I assume you order one meal between the two of you, and have ridiculously greedy appetites?

Jesus wept, no wonder there's an obesity crisis in this country.

YABVU.

As a family we eat out every quarter or so. I have several who, while over 6’ and built like toothpicks and eat extremely healthily at home, take that quarterly opportunity to get their high fat, high salt, high sugar fix in abundance. And I mean in abundance. Think 2 starters each, 1.5/2 entrees and a huge main, rounded off with desert.

I don’t eat like that when our, nor does DH or DD, just hollow legged DS’s (all adults). I don’t see why they should have a teeny portion put in front of them to satisfy you. If DH, DD and I don’t find Noah, and it’s something that can be reheated we just ask for it to be doggied up. No big deal. I’ve also never stayed in any accommodation that hasn’t had at minimum a bar fridge where you could stick doggy bags - how else do you keep the milk for in room tea/coffee?

Here's a novel idea. Eat what you can eat and then ask for a doggy bag🤪

You have already paid for the food and within your rights to take it home for afters or to eat next day.

I can't understand how people eat so much

DH and I are stil working our way through the leftover salad from our wedding 21 years ago. We couldn't possibly manage a chip.

@Greensleeves

I can't understand how people eat so much

DH and I are stil working our way through the leftover salad from our wedding 21 years ago. We couldn't possibly manage a chip.

😂😂😂😂

For a lot people, value equals quantity, not quality. Feeling stuffed means you’ve been treated, and had your money’s worth. Psychologically, excess food is powerful - a feast!

Ever eaten at a Hungry Horse? 🤣

Large portions make customers happy and are relatively cheap to provide. Your waiter still costs you £9.50 an hour (+ pension, ER NI, recruitment and training cost…) whether they’re carrying a regular plate of chips or mountain of them. And chips themselves, are cheap as chips 😉 to make.

Responsibility lies with the individual.

I don't find the majority of restaurant portions to be too big for my appetite. If the portion was genuinely small enough for the meal to be within a "healthy" amount of calories it would be way too small and I wouldn't want to pay for it. The reality is that the problem is that the food we are used to eating is too unhealthy for us to eat a satisfying amount and it be healthy. A "healthy" amount of pizza for example would be tiny. I accept that when eating out it is a treat, not something likely to be healthy if I want to be full.

As for sandwiches, I still find that pubs do these at lunchtime, more themed cuisine restaurants don't.

@AlternativelyWired

It's me who eats the pizza and chips we all have sensory issues and restricted diets so eating out is tricky. I quite like a good carb fest. Carbs are not a personal enemy for me.

Is that reflection.of your disordered eating onto the rest of the family or do they have their own issues?

When I take my 3DC for food they eat every morsel - even the 10yo will.eat every morsel of an adult dish- because it's a treat. They're all healthy, active and lean, with normal appetites. I never see overly large portions these days, it's the opposite.

If it bothers you, stick to starters.

Yes, also this. If you do not want a larger portion then get an entree to start and then against n for main or if really light just get an entree for main. Not hard to work this stuff out.

@Greensleeves

I can't understand how people eat so much

DH and I are stil working our way through the leftover salad from our wedding 21 years ago. We couldn't possibly manage a chip.

🤣

I do find the portions too big, but tend to eat it all because I cant stand the waste otherwise !

@Cocomarine

For a lot people, value equals quantity, not quality. Feeling stuffed means you’ve been treated, and had your money’s worth. Psychologically, excess food is powerful - a feast!

Ever eaten at a Hungry Horse? 🤣

Large portions make customers happy and are relatively cheap to provide. Your waiter still costs you £9.50 an hour (+ pension, ER NI, recruitment and training cost…) whether they’re carrying a regular plate of chips or mountain of them. And chips themselves, are cheap as chips 😉 to make.

Responsibility lies with the individual.

Exactly this.

I don't think judging things by meat challenges is really sensible either, these are novelty exceptions, not the rule.

I have been experiencing the opposite, portion sizes have been getting smaller, it’s off putting and I’ve stopped going to certain restaurants because it’s not worth the money.