English Made Simple For Crazy UK Restaurants Ep 785
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Hi there, and welcome to this podcast. Here's an interesting question for you. Do you ever share food in a restaurant? Do you share a pudding maybe? And do you order wine with your meal? Or are you content to drink tap water? And do restaurant owners have the right to expect customers to spend a certain amount on their lunch?

There was a post this week from an angry restaurant owner in London complaining that customers were not spending enough in his new restaurant. This has provoked a lot of discussion, some people supporting him, some against. What do you think? While I'm discussing this issue, you will be learning some important words and vocabulary to do with restaurants and eating out.

Terms like per head and sitting. So are you lavish, L-A-V-I-S-H, with lunch? Or do you try to keep an eye on costs?

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even better. So this week, British chef, that's C-H-E-F, and restaurant owner, Hugh Cochran, posted on Instagram a complaint about his customers not ordering enough food in his restaurant. He opened his restaurant, The Yellow Bittern, and

A bittern, B-I-T-T-E-R-N, is a type of bird. So his restaurant, The Yellow Bitton, he opened only 18 months ago with just three staff. And the restaurant serves lunch only and has table space for fewer than 20 people. My immediate reaction to that was that this restaurant doesn't seem to have space for many diners.

and three members of staff seems quite a lot to support, and they only serve lunch. Maybe Hugh Cochran's business plan is a bit optimistic, I thought. But anyway, this chef complained on Instagram about his customers. What did he say? Well, he said, and I quote, there was at one point an etiquette in restaurants that if you booked a table in a nice place at

the very least, you had to order a main course and possibly even a starter and a dessert and drink wine in order for your table to be worth serving. The word etiquette, E-T-I-Q-U-E-T-T-E, means polite.

unusual. It's the done thing, in other words. That's etiquette. So he's saying here that if you come to a restaurant for lunch, you ought to drink wine and you must order at least two courses of a meal. A course here, that's C-O-U-R-E.

SE means a stage of a meal. In the UK, typically these are starter, main and dessert or pudding. So Hugh Cochran is insisting that diners in his restaurant should eat more than one course. He went on, we go to the effort of dressing the table of pickles.

and arranging the flowers, of polishing the glasses, etc. And we reserved the table for someone to order a meal, which costs £25 a head. So clearly this is not enough of a restaurant bill for Hugh Cochran. £25 a head

or per person, means that his diners are not spending enough money in his restaurant. He said that if people take up space but do not consume, the restaurant makes no money. It's as simple as that. And he told his followers that customers should justify their presence.

by ordering more than one dish each. He continued, restaurants are not public benches. A bench, B-E-N-C-H, is a seat, something to sit on for more than one person. So he's saying to his customers, if you don't want to order a lot of food at lunchtime, go and sit on a park bench instead of coming to my restaurant.

Basically, he's complaining that people book a table in his restaurant and take up space, but they only spend £25 per head for each person, that means. So he'd like each person to order more than one dish and it's not okay to drink tap water.

It's etiquette. It's polite to drink wine or some kind of alcohol with your lunch so that the bill comes to enough money. And of course, Hugh Cochran hates the idea that his diners might share dishes. While I understand where Hugh Cochran is coming from, and I know that it's difficult for restaurants to make sufficient money these days, I think he's severely out of step with the times.

I think he imagines that his 18-seat restaurant is going to be full of people having a boozy lunch. That's boozy, B-O-O-Z-Y, and means with lots of alcohol. And that people are going to eat three courses of restaurant food each at lunchtime. I just don't think that that's the way that people live anymore. And I think

And I think the days where people would return to the office, having had a few alcoholic drinks at lunchtime, they're long gone. People don't do that anymore. And if his restaurant is meant to appeal to those people who don't work,

We're talking mainly retired people, older customers then. If they go out to eat at all, probably many have health problems or at least are health conscious and overeating and drinking alcohol at lunchtime doesn't suit them. The idea that customers must order wine is so out of date.

especially at lunchtime. I love wine, but I can't drink it anymore. It makes me ill. So the idea of not being welcome at a restaurant because I don't drink wine or want to consume alcohol at lunchtime, well, that's pretty disappointing. Also, I say, if they don't want diners to ask for tap water, that means water that's straight out of the tap that you can't charge for, then I

don't charge such ridiculous prices for soft drinks. Soft drinks means non-alcoholic drinks. We are constantly urged to watch our weight and our diet. So three courses of rich food washed down with lots of alcohol is not very 2024. I would suggest that this chef and restaurant owner, Hugh Cochran, is very out of step with the times and he needs to update his ideas of what customers want.

rather than dictate to customers how they should behave. He's complaining because customers don't fit his restaurant model. One food critic who visited his restaurant observed that there was no wine list, so no prices displayed. Instead, the chef, Hugh Cochran, asked the critic what kind of wine she liked.

and the cheapest bottle he offered cost £67. So not only are you obligated to drink wine, but you have to order a whole bottle and it's going to be quite expensive. And this restaurant only serves a choice of two main courses. Again, a sign of the insistence he knows what's best for his customers.

Neither of the main course options are vegetarian or vegan, so it looks like that's another group of people who are not welcome at this restaurant. I think this restaurant is attempting to be retro, R-E-T-R-O. That means of the past, of a past era. And my feeling about this particular restaurant is that it might have worked in a past era. Other rules of the restaurant. You

You can only book by telephone or letter. You also can't book the time that you want. The restaurant operates two sittings, one at 12pm, one at 2pm. So you must arrive at one of those two times and all the diners sit down together. That's a sitting, S-I-T-T-I-N-G. That's such an old-fashioned idea. That's like a school cafeteria pass.

And the restaurant does not take cards for payment, only cash. I feel as if this man Hugh Cochran is trying to make a point. Something like, let's all wish it was the 1980s again when people over drank and over ate.

Well, it isn't the 1980s, and if he can't make enough money to keep his restaurant afloat, maybe he needs to revise his business plan in the light of people's eating habits in 2024. In particular, he has a go at sharing dishes. He says that sharing plates has ruined dining, and that if you don't drink because you have done so to such excess before...

that it cannot be permitted any longer, you should order more food to make up for this. Unbelievable. He also says that any member of the working class should be able to afford a £40 to £100 restaurant bill at least once a month.

What amazing entitlement this man has. Telling people how to spend their money and what they should be able to afford. Who is this man? So, an interesting angle for you today. A chef who is blaming his customers because his idea of how a restaurant should work is outdated. By about 40 years perhaps. I know restaurants have to make money, but

complaining about your customers and their eating and drinking habits is not the way forwards. Surely it's better to accommodate how customers want to eat and drink in 2024. I think this opens discussions about what restaurants are for and what our expectations of eating out should be. People like to share because they like to share the experience.

What's wrong with that, for instance? I don't think I'll be rushing out to dine at the Yellow Bittern anytime soon. But let us know what you think.

Am I being unfair or unreasonable? I'd be interested to hear. In English, please. Enough for now. Have a lovely day. Speak to you again soon. Goodbye. Thank you so much for listening. Please help me tell others about this podcast by reviewing or rating it. And please share it on social media. You can find more listening lessons and a free English course at adeptenglish.com.