Charged for an empty plate?!

[sandwichh]

I recently went to a greene king pub for a carvery. After plating up my dinner, I asked for a plate for my 10 month old, not to take any extra food but to take it off my plate to give to him. They wanted to charge me for it! Never had this issue before, AIBU?

It’s very telling that as a society people think under one’s should be charged the price of a kids meal now for a couple of mouthfuls of food. I bet these places are happy to give away dog treats though.

I used to just bring one of my baby’s bowls with us and fill it up with food from my plate. No one even said a word.

This is like the thread the other day where someone wanted a refillable drink to serve five people or whatever

No it’s not

I think it is because of the ‘helping yourself’ set-up of carveries and refillable drinks. Both are easily exploited by the unscrupulous, so there will be policies decided by management to try and reduce cheating and junior staff are obliged to follow the policies regardless of the individual circumstances.

You expected your child to be fed from your plate? The plate you put extra food on to feed your child. They also have to clean the plate your child eats as well as clean up after said child.

Aside from that I'm not sure feeding a baby a carvery is ideal. I would be worried about salt content. When mine were small I took out what they were having before adding the salt and pepper. As well as the fat content. Hard for them to digest.

@sandwichh would you get one plate and share it with your husband and pay for one even though both of you ate from it? No you would be charged because it’s a buffet dinner you can go as many times as you like.

Having had a look at Greene King it is not all you can eat, it’s served meat of choice and then you choose your sides and vegetables. A children’s carvery is only slightly cheaper and there was no menu of a baby charge.

As you are paying for a relatively fixed amount and there is a choice of sizes, I don’t think you are depriving them of huge profits!

To me, the answer to this seems completely dependent on how much they wanted to charge you for the additional plate.

Obviously they need to charge you something to cover more food than for one person plus all the additional restaurant running costs that apply (and the reasons for this have been well laid out by previous posters, and sorry I do think anyone who disagrees might want to consider that they may have CF tendencies), but I do think it is unreasonable to charge the same price as they would for an adult.

So what was the price OP?

Greedy people don’t pile their plates and only eat a mouthful, we eat every single bloody pea and mop up the gravy. I love a carvery and will pile my plate and eat it. OP is suggesting it’s either okay to take more than she would have eaten and wasted it (unreasonable), or it’s okay to take more than she would eat and give it to someone else (also unreasonable). I guess the third, and far less likely option, is that OP would have taken the perfect amount of t of food for herself and given some to DC, meaning she would not have had enough food.

Sorry it is totally different as compared to a sharing a dessert with your partner. If you order a dessert it is a fixed amount and it is up to you who you share with. If you go to a buffet then the charge is per plate or you don’t eat. You can’t sit with your partner and eat off their plate and say only one of you is eating. 🤦🏽‍♀️

You genuinely can’t see how being served a meal on a plate is different to helping yourself to as much as you want from a carvery (including extra to feed your child)?

I don't go to carvers because the food is generally grim but I don't think it's unreasonable to say they want to charge at least a child meal price if its a child eating a meal. Itskind of irrelevant how much food will fit on your plate. You want a place setting for your baby. So pay.

They charge for children’s portions. Some places will have policies for under a certain age but I always just fed off my plate

Am I completely misunderstanding this or have most posters got the wrong end of the stick? I think OP is describing a normal carvery where you pay for a ticket, give your ticket in and put food on your plate. Once you've filled your plate, that's it- you can't go back up to the buffet. I had this same situation literally last Sunday when I went for a family carvery and asked for a side plate for my baby, because I wanted gravy on mine and it's too much salt for her. They gave me a free baby bowl which I didn't expect at all and had no idea existed (it's apparently always free at this one) and even a slice of turkey for her, which was lovely of them. They didn't want payment for it but I was prepared to pay. Anyway, I think OP (like me) just wanted a plate for him to share with her and no extra food. She didn't want to pile up an extra plate for free. Unless I've got it completely wrong.

Absolutely ridiculous charge!!

The restaurant was fine with it if the baby ate from OP’s plate. It was the baby having a separate plate (which could then be filled) that was the issue.

If it was actually “a couple of mouthfulls” it would be no problem to have the baby eat from OP’s plate. There are presumably some 10 month olds who haven’t really taken to weaning yet who would genuinely only want that.

Wanting a separate plate to put the baby’s share into suggests it is as more than a couple of mouthfuls - more like a typical 10 month old would eat.

If we’re all labouring under a misconception and this buffet was not one where you could put as much as you wanted on your plate, and return for more if desired, she hasn’t said so despite the numerous times it’s been asked, as far as I can see.

Edit - although she has said “there’s no limit” so sounds like it is as most people think.

Yeah you shouldn't of asked for a plate but honestly never been charged extra at any carvery. I always ask for a bowl and fill from my plate.

I can't see how people think this is being cheeky. It's exactly the same as ordering one meal to share with a friend and asking for a spare plate. I often do this with a friend as we both eat really small portions.

It's still 1 plate of food, the same plate that she would be filling up for herself anyway! Of course that's assuming it's a single serving. I've never been to a carvery where you can go back up for more, but that seems to be a thing from reading these comments?

Just how much food do you think a ten month old is going to eat?

It may just be a few mouthfuls but it still costs money for the pub to buy the food. A few mouthfuls over a year soon adds up. Many businesses have such tight margins a few mouthfuls can mean the difference between sinking or swimming.

Ok, like I say I’ve never been to the big chain ones. Have you been to Greene King? Do you know which format their carvery takes? If it is indeed all you can eat, I agree that does have some bearing on the OP’s issue - although I still think trying to charge a 10 month old for a full child’s portion is OTT.

At a Toby Carvery I go to sometimes Iv'e seen a lady with twins being fed from her plate. I've actually seen her there a few times on a Wednesday lunch time. The twins are about 14 months old now but been going since about 8 months old and seem to like carvery. I like seeing them and the waitress is always so nice to them too. They both sit up in highchairs and the Mum feeds them in turn.

It’s a carvery.. where people leave tons on their plates as “they paid for the privilege” to do that!

So you think their profit margins would account for a ten month old having a few spoonfuls?

Really?

If its a carvery, you serve yourself.

If you're giving some of what you've served yourself, to your child, you probably served yourself planning to do that. If its enough food its worth bothering to transfer it to another plate you basically want a meal for your child without paying for one.

Either the child is so young it can just have a odd thing off your own plate, or you want the child to have a portion of food on their own plate (in which case you pay for it).

It's like a parallel universe sometimes.