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?

‘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’

So in your own words, not an empty plate!

Most places offer a baby bowl for a few pound.
Bring your own bowl, I fed them off my plate as babies.

This thread is wild! Honestly charging for a 10 month old baby! It's ridiculous! Of course you shouldn't "exploit" all you can eat etc but this is literally a tiny baby! What did they eat? Half a spud and some veg.
Of course you're not being unreasonable x

How much did they want to charge you? It’s different if it’s a couple of quid for a baby plate or the full amount for an adult one

This is how I read it too, a lot of users are just being obtuse for no reason.

I’m confused why it’s fine for some users to completely pile up their plates but somehow OP adding a couple extra potato bites and a slice and then passing it to her baby is the end of the world. Very odd.

Who is going back up for more food at a carvery!? You fill your plate once! It’s not an all you can eat!!

This is what I was coming to say.

It isn't about the actual food eaten, you have to factor in the staff costs.

I’m not sure you can have as much as you want though? I’ve looked into Green King and it seems like they have a selection of 3 different plate sizes at different prices, you go up once to fill up and that’s it.

Your 10 month old doesn’t need a plate, you’ll be feeding him from your plate, if you want him to have his own plate then pay for it.

Isn't this like going to one of those buffets loading up your plate and then sharing the food between people? With the OP arguing that she could fill up her plate with as much food as she wanted, I'm surprised she didn't bring her whole family along... Yes, CF.

If everyone did this buffet style restaurants would go broke.

You’re missing the point, if it’s such a minimal amount of food, why do you need an extra plate?
OP might not want to abuse it but some would and it’s not down to staff to monitor her, it’s simple, you pay for one plate, you get one plate.

But they will have those costs whether the baby eats from the menu or a jar from home. Many restaurants know that making themselves baby / child friendly will attract the young families market and can be a big money spinner, especially at Sunday lunch time. The babies tend to be accompanied by adults who spend money on their food and drink. And if they have a good experience, they’ll keep coming back to spend even more money.

No because a 10 month old isn’t a whole family of people old enough to eat actual meal sized portions.
there is a reason restaurants have child menus and at 10 months old at a buffet the amount eaten will be negligible

But again, that's how carvery pricing works. It's not done on quantity of food but number of plates.
You can't mix and match pricing types.
You can pay for a set amount and have as many free plates to put it on as you want
OR you have unlimited food but pay for plates.
Otherwise how will they make any money.

And you know you want the plate for a tiny baby but they don't. And frankly why can't "a few mouthfuls" be shared from your plate anyway?

If it is such a teeny tiny amount then why would she need an additional plate? A couple of spoonfuls should have sufficed...

Also she hasn't said how large this baby was?

Exactly, if you compare Op to a customer that doesn’t bring their baby, there is no advantage to the company, only disadvantages of more cleaning up at the very least.
It’s great that places are baby/child friendly unlike when I was a child many moons ago but let’s not go to the other extreme that by bringing a baby to a pub you’re doing the company a favour!

I understand the carvery process the same as you, but I think OP is U.

Because once she has the 'extra plate' in her hand, there's nothing stopping her filling it right up with an adult size portion.

There typically no one monitoring the sides section of the carvery, the control is how much you can fit on a plate. OP would have had 2 plates worth of space for the price of one.

Obviously OP was planning just to put a little on the plate, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that people ask for 'a spare plate for the baby' and then pile it right up for one of the adults to have extra.

She might have been more successful if she'd asked for a saucer or something else that was obviously not a carvery plate once they were all back at the table with their food.

Sounds like a bit of common sense should've been applied. Taking a plate to feed a school aged child for free is CF behaviour. Everyone knows a 10 month old is going to eat bugger all and only what they are given.

Just an thought, but I assume OP is a woman and will therefore likely eat less than a man would at the carvery while paying the same price. I doubt the baby's 'portion' would have made up the difference.

Have you ever looked at the floor when a crowd of mummies and babies have passed through a cafe? Usually a couple of days worth of doggie bags left behind!

I'd have done this at that stage. He wouldn't have eaten enough to justify a baby bowl as such but I'd have brought my own cutlery and bowl for him and then just given him little bits off my plate. I think it was a bit cheeky to ask for a plate for them though I also think most family oriented places would have let it slide.

The plate was probably to allow the baby to pick pieces up to feed themselves, as many babies like to do, and to possibly catch anything that falls from the mouth. Maybe it’s helpful to put a couple of things on the plate to cool before passing to baby.

The alternative is eating directly from the high chair tray but that’s disgustingly unhygienic and more messy to clean up. Or being purely spoon fed but some babies hate that.

As for the size of the baby - how much variety in the size of 10 month olds is there really?!

Totally agree, this is what their rule is, like it or lump it, pay for one plate, you get one plate.
maybe OP is embarrassed to feed their child off their own plate, but the fact is if you don’t pay for an extra plate you don’t get an extra plate.

My Dh and I once shared a pizza and asked for an extra plate, they added £5 to our bill just to share a pizza and called it the sharing surcharge. We refused to pay it and never ate there again.

The amount of food isn’t the issue, it’s asking for a plate when the carvery is charged per plate/person.

🤔