Half price food... if you sit in?

[hjtip10]

Is this true? You can't take away! Is the government trying to spread covid twice as fast this month? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Yep. Went to McDonald's today. No discount as takaway. Should have ordered eat in and taken away regardless!

@jewell it won't be passed on to customers.

[quote Northernsoulgirl45]@jewell it won't be passed on to customers.[/quote]
Our place has done just that. Don't make blanket statements you have no evidence for.

I was only referring to a thread where someobrwas complaining that their hotel booking wasn't reduced and they were told in no uncertain terms that tnis change wax to help the hospitality industry not cudtomers. Certainly we havd received no discount on our very expensive self catering holiday.

@howfarwevecome There will be people saying the same about the furlough scheme and the SEISS grant.

[quote Northernsoulgirl45]@jewell it won't be passed on to customers.[/quote]
It will in some places. Our cafe has reduced drinks prices to account for the reduction in VAT.

@KitKatastrophe She has anxiety but Covid just topped it all of for her!

@Northernsoulgirl45

Yep. Went to McDonald's today. No discount as takaway. Should have ordered eat in and taken away regardless!

*@jewell it won't be passed on to customers*

That doesn't sound right as McDonalds are passing the VAT cut on, if your local one isn't might be worth reporting the their head office

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/mcdonalds-full-price-list-vat-18679692

Or maybe you're wrong.

You probably are ight with the VAT cut as the prices did seem different. I haven't been there since March so you could be right.

I don't mind keeping people in jobs via the furlough scheme.

But I don't think we need to subsidize people who can already afford to eat out anyway by paying for them to do so.

I tried to use this yesterday at our local park. There were no free tables and you're not able to book a table in advance. We couldn't take a half price sandwich to eat in the park. I wasn't willing to pay double to eat 20 yards away so we ended up at McDonalds. I would have preferred to support a local business.

I think it's a bit odd in places like costa actually. I can see how it works in a proper restaurant. Costa gave me my order half price yesterday and I wasn't expecting it, I was jut perching on the table outside with takeaway cups. And they don't have waiting staff etc.

We’ve used this once already to support an independent, local business and I think it’s a great idea. The number of tables has been reduced, there are screens between tables and a one way system in place. I felt really safe, safer than I will be in September when I’m in a bubble of 310 pupils and with 36 pupils in my rooms and no extra protection at any one time. We’ve booked in for 4 more restaurant over the next few weeks to support the scheme. I think if you choose your restaurant wisely, it acts as a nice stepping stone for those whom have previously been shielding and then have to go back to work in the next couple of weeks.

@howfarwevecome

I don't mind keeping people in jobs via the furlough scheme.

But I don't think we need to subsidize people who can already afford to eat out anyway by paying for them to do so.

The thing is though that I can't afford to eat out with my children at full price but I can at half price so for me it is stimulating the economy and I'm sure I'm not the only person who is in the same position

I took my teenagers to eat at a Thai restaurant yesterday. Under normal circumstances I would not be able to afford to pay for three adults. It was a lovely Family experience eating food that they hadn’t tried before. We felt very safe - safer than I feel travelling on a bus to get to work every day.

I get that it's not to help take aways, and yes places that are purely take away should be excluded, but lots of places do a mixture of eat in it takeaway, and that includes restaurants etc, which have started doing take away food during Covid.

I don't understand why in those places (or those that have permanent seating but the possibility of takeaway on request, the law insists that food has to be for eat in. It's losing that business potential customers - and ones that don't take up a seat, require less customer service, and mean the cafe/restaurant could actually serve more customers overall.

We have a lovely local cafe which I'm tempted to go to today. The question is, do we order it for take away for full price, or exactly the same food for half price, but with the risk of increased transmission risk? The cafe wouldn't suffer from us eating it in the park. It feels like I'm being offered a bribe to make the less safe choice.

@howfarwevecome

I don't mind keeping people in jobs via the furlough scheme.

But I don't think we need to subsidize people who can already afford to eat out anyway by paying for them to do so.

I literally just said the same, I feel funny about it!

All the simple answers are unsatisfactory, any targeted help gets harder to implement. It's pretty tricky.

DD and I went to our local Costa yesterday. I warned her it might be a bit busy and we might have to go elsewhere. But I needn't have bothered - it was virtually empty and just a handful of people wandered in whilst we were there. Maybe it hasn't caught on in our town yet but I'll definitely go back. It was clean and felt as safe as it could be.

Our local Waitrose has just reopened its café too. That was also very quiet.

Incentivising people to go and sit indoors together, even with some extra sanitary arrangements, doesn't seem in itself like a great idea to me
Exactly. Measures for the economy are good, measures for the economy at the direct detriment of public health are wrong!

The question is, do we order it for take away for full price, or exactly the same food for half price, but with the risk of increased transmission risk? The cafe wouldn't suffer from us eating it in the park. It feels like I'm being offered a bribe to make the less safe choice
Yes! Exactly my feeling.

But I don't think we need to subsidize people who can already afford to eat out anyway by paying for them to do so.

Its not really about that though is it ? It's about trying to kick start the economy and get the hospitality industry up and running again.

It is, though. and I imagine any restaurant that decided not to participate is having even more of a downturn in customers as they migrate to restaurants that are. And I imagine weekends are no longer busy; people are just booking Mon/Tues/Weds instead, not in addition to.

Spent an hour in Pret this morning. Sadly the discount doesn't appear to be helping, only four tables taken all the time I was there. It has a large eating area behind counter so you don't even have to worry about people queuing for takeaways nearby.

We're in an area with very low numbers, but even so many locals are still being extremely careful. Also, the town used to attract coach trips/visitors just for it's shopping.

The landlord of a pub near me, who would ordinarily be booked solid on a weekend told me he's struggling to fill tables this weekend.

With all the massed ingenuity of Mr Cummings and his think tanks, could they not come up with a plan to get people spending that didn't involve encouraging specifically risky behaviours?