A restaurant that serves no dessert

[gfweb]

Border Cafe, a southwestern chain , doesn't serve dessert. Not even a scoop of ice cream. They turn down the extra sales for some reason. <br /><br />Is the idea that they can then turn the table faster to make more money ? Or that by the time dessert rolls around all the drinking is done and that's where the money is?

[scubadoo97]

About 20+ yrs ago a little Japanese restaurant opened in our area. Run by a women who went by Hydie. This was not a sushi restaurant. Japanese home cooking. Anyway no dessert on the menu but Hydie would come around and give dinners a back massage instead

[liuzhou]

There are millions of restaurants in China that don't serve desserts. It's normal.

[Twyst]

Dessert is big money with margins much higher than even alcohol in many cases when it's made in house. That $12 dessert souffle at a nice restaurant? Its well under a dollar in materials. Im not sure what the margins are on prefab desserts though, Ive never worked anywhere that has used them.

[quiet1]

I ate at a place over the summer where I did wonder if maybe skipping desserts might have been a better plan. Small place, small kitchen, really good Italian food, overpriced decent but not spectacular purchased desserts that just did not stand up well to the quality and care of the rest of the food, so the meal ended on a bit of a down note instead of everyone going home raving about the meal.

That said, I can see how there would be a demand for something to finish off the meal, so how to respond to that if making proper desserts in house isn't an option?

[dans]

It is rare for a restaurant in the North End of Boston to serve desert. Most of them are small places that are trying to stay alive serving dinner. If you want desert, go to Mike's, etc.

[Ammy]

If I were you, I would have asked for it… it is customer’s right. I’ve already heard things like that but it never happened to me.

[dcarch]

"-------- but Hydie would come around and give dinners a back massage instead ----"

That is not legal in NYC.

You have to be licensed to give massages.

dcarch

[gfweb]

If I were you, I would have asked for it… it is customer’s right. I’ve already heard things like that but it never happened to me.

Not sure one has a right to something not on the menu

[Honkman]

If I were you, I would have asked for it… it is customer’s right. I’ve already heard things like that but it never happened to me.

It's a customers right to have dessert ? It's the right of a business to use every business model they want - the market decides if it is the best one (or at least a sustainable one)

[Mjx]

"-------- but Hydie would come around and give dinners a back massage instead ----"

That is not legal in NYC.

You have to be licensed to give massages.

dcarch

If there was a charge for the massage it was illegal; otherwise, as long as the the customer is fine with it, it shouldn't be an issue.

[lindag]

Personally it wouldn't bother me in the least if a restaurant had no dessert menu. I never, ever order dessert. I'm just not a 'sweets' person most of the time.

[dcarch]

Personally it wouldn't bother me in the least if a restaurant had no dessert menu. I never, ever order dessert. I'm just not a 'sweets' person most of the time.

Most of the time restaurants don't make their own desserts. They buy desserts from the same places as you.

You will be paying a lot more ordering in a restaurant.

dcarch

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Very very few Ecuadorian restaurants offer dessert as a menu option; when they do it's rarely something made in-house (and I can tell you this from personal experience - I supply desserts to a couple of the very few in my city who do offer them). It's normal.

This said, if you can produce desserts in house, they're crazy profitable. However, that profit declines in accordance with how much of a given dessert diners will consume before it becomes un-serveable (viz a 16 piece cake; this will be good for about 3 days and god help you if nobody orders cake!)