What, Exactly, Is a Comp?

[Chris Amirault]

This reminds me of something that made me feel special indeed during my meal at Alinea, where the servers regularly topped off the amazing wines accompanying each course. A regular sort of "comp" for non-regulars.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I usually don't even notice or think about the comps that other diners are getting. While I can understand the impulse to pay attention to such things as a matter of research, to figure out whether one might want to develop a relationship with a particular restaurant, someone who gets so upset that they walk out upon noticing that someone else is getting something better than what they have has deeper problems to worry about.

[Fat Guy]

I like to think that, for some of those people, the explanation has to be that nobody has told them how easy it is to get special treatment: just go back to the restaurant a few times, be nice, be interested, and in most well-run restaurants you'll be getting all that same stuff too. There are exceptions, but that's the standard procedure. So, not knowing that it's nothing personal, standard procedure, easy for any repeat customer to get, they make other assumptions, they take it personally, they hatch conspiracy theories, etc., when in reality it's just the way restaurants work.

[slkinsey]

Ironically, the example from Alinea wasn't even a comp. It was just part of their regular development/implementation cycle. Which makes the woman who left in tears all the more ridiculous.

Another interesting side of the equation may be found in the comments to the column. One JBKramer remarks that he was a 5-time visitor to Per Se (and at least a 1-time visitor to French Laundry). He says:

I have to admit, I stopped going to Per Se after I read a "review" from some precious food blogger that detailed all of the extra courses they were sent and how great the experience was, and, when I asked how much extra they paid for an experience that sounded substantially more enjoyable than what I'd describe as my previous meal there, which was, honestly, really good, but pedestrian compared to the outrageous treatment of the entitled, I found out that all they did was contact someone (who?) at the restaurant and say that they were coming and they were from whatever foodblogger blog they blogged from, and they paid list. Yeah, I felt I got fair value from my $ there, but if they can pull a profit charging both of us list, but providing me less, I'm not going till the service levels are equalized, or randomized.

In other words, he didn't feel that his repeat business was adequately compensated by the people at Per Se, at least in comparison to this one-time visitor who he apparently thought was not VIP-enough to merit the special attention he received. Presumably he wouldn't have minded seeing, say, Jacques Pepin getting the super-duper soigné treatment, but bristled at reading it had happened to "some precious food blogger." Of course, one wonders who the blogger was...