Every restaurant it seems drops a basket of ‘bread’ on your table, willy nilly, free of charge.
Since restaurants are very cunning and out to get your money, what is the deal-i-o? Why free bread? Even at pasta based restaurants, the concept of starch overload doesn’t seem to cross their minds.
Is it to fill you up to have smaller portions? Yet portions are still supersized.
To shut you up? Why not encourage appetizers (paid ones) or drinks instead for that?
Bread is cheap. As you’ve already noted, it help fill you up even before the meal comes, so their generous proportions suddenly seen ginormous! And meager portions seem adequate.
Also, it gives you something to do, so if something goes wrong in the kitchen or the scheduling manager doesn’t have enough staff on hand to deal with the house, you don’t notice the long wait until your actual food arrives. Again, bread is the cheapest “keep 'em busy” appetizer there is, so it’s the one they give away.
In addition to Whynot’s points, I also expect that part of it is simply that it’s traditional, and if all the other area places do it, the one that doesn’t will seem cheap. The complimentary breadbasket is a huge “tone” indicator: it says “nicer than Applebee’s”.
It’s also because people like getting something for “free”. Even if they’re being massively overcharged for their order, they’ll still feel like the rolls were a gift.
I love bread before the meal, especially if it’s warm.
What I don’t get is the trend of putting a lemon slice in glasses of water. I don’t remember this much earlier than 5 or 10 years ago, and it annoys me. I always end up with soggy lemon on the tablecloth next to me.
There was a social psychology study I read cited in one of these Nudge/Blink/etc books which compared people’s reactions to getting “free” bread, with the extra cost added to the price of the rest of the meal, against a restaurant that charged for the bread and made the rest of the meal slightly cheaper.
Needless to say the study found that people were more inclined to view the restaurant favorably if they’d been given a “free gift”, even if the cost of that gift had actually just been added to the rest of the bill.
Personally I don’t see free bread baskets at restaurants very often any more though.
They only drop off unsalted salsa chips when I go out and I hate them.
Please don’t bring me chips and salsa.
But they’re free.
But then you’ll just be throwing all of it in the garbage mam.
They may not be explicitly charging you, but you can be sure that you’re paying for the bread.
At places like Red Lobster, where they often offer all-you-can-eat deals on the crab legs, the idea may be, if you are full on bread, you don’t have room for ‘free’ crab legs.
Thousands of years of human history
It’s fairly easy to keep some bread or rolls in a warming oven, and rotate it so that most diners will get bread that’s not terribly stale. Putting some bread or rolls or tortilla chips on the table will reduce the PERCEIVED wait time between sitting down and ordering and actually getting the meal. And it’s the perceived wait time, not the actual elapsed time, that’s important, unless you have a diabetic who has foolishly injected her insulin without having food in front of her*. Bread and other grain products are very cheap to make and keep warm. And most people like bread and tortilla chips.
Salads used to be served near the end of the meal. However, a salad can be prepared more quickly than most non-microwaved entrees, so restaurants started serving salads before the entree, and claimed that it was for the convenience of busy diners.
A lemon slice is mostly garnish, but sometimes it can help perk up water that is tasteless, or cover up the taste of nasty but still potable water.
*Theoretically, I’m supposed to inject my fast-acting insulin 15 minutes before I eat, and this is fine if I’m eating at home. I’ve learned to only inject the fast acting insulin AFTER I’ve been served and found that my food is edible in restaurants. Low blood sugar episodes are absolutely no fun, and dangerous besides.
Moving to Cafe Society from GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I suppose it works on a macro scale – it’s not like I have any experience running a restaurant – but, in my case, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone in thinking I might top things off with a piece of cheesecake, only to wind up not bothering because of all of the bread in the early going.
Mostly Italian places do this. All Mexican places give chips and salsa.
Bringing me bread without vinegar just pisses me off.
Not all of them do.
To be more specific, all our local Mexican places give chips and salsa - except fast food like Taco Bell. Maybe it’s not common nationwide.
This is probably very close to the facts. There is a lot of human factors engineering going on behind those seemingly random prices for things. Ever wonder why there will be one or two steaks on a menu that go for $40, while everything else is $25? Because it makes you ignore the fact that $25 for a steak is also outrageous.
Or $150 for a bottle of wine? Does anybody really think most restaurants keep a cellar full of that product? No, they keep a cellar full of the $35 wine, because that’s what you’ll think is a good price after seeing the $150 bottle, even though you can pick up the same thing in a grocery store for $14.95.
The human brain is a funny thing.
Beyond everything else mentioned, it’s a cheap way to keep the cattle happy while they wait. Nobody likes to deal with whiny, irritated, impatient customers and their children. Give em some bread to munch and they are content to wait.
Two local places here are pretty chintzy with their bread. One serves an amazing cornbread, the other, croissants with a honey-butter glaze. You get one before your meal or with your salad. Period. Want another? You pay. And these are two of the pricier places in town. Go to the cheapie steakhouse, and they’ll keep bringing the bread.
Actually, it’s probably a good thing the cornbread and croissants aren’t endless - they are addictive!