I have always wondered about the economics of the subject. Some restaurants change the traditional paper napkin dispenser from pick as many at a time that you want to a single napkin at a time.
I guess the single napkin at a time would instinctively seem like a better economic decision for a restaurant. But is it really so ? Or does this bug customers so much so that any savings in napkins is offset by the reduced customer satisfaction/patronage ?
I am guessing there is a factual answer to the above question.
Knowing this board, I am wary of answers that say “it depends…”.If it helps to factually answer the question, consider two Restaurants of a certain Fast food chain, in similar neighborhoods making similar revenue and profits in 2017 (non Covid year). Say in 2017 both used “take as many as you want napkin dispenser”. Everything else remaining same, if in 2018, one of the restaurants changes to “one at a time napkin dispenser”, how do the revenues and profits of the two restaurants compare in 2018 ?
I get your question, but unless someone has done an actual scientific study on this specific topic, all you’ll get is speculation, and I haven’t found any study yet…
Here’s an interesting article on the subject, and some highlights:
With razor thing margins, it makes financial sense to limit napkins. But, one can get custom printed napkins for $0.01/napkin and blank napkins for even less than that. For each unused napkin, a company saves only a penny or two per customer. Unless you’re dealing with millions of customers, the cost savings are pretty negligible.
Customer’s don’t want to wait, and they don’t want to be left wanting. Need napkins and can’t get more? Customers report decreased overall satisfaction, regardless of food quality. In fact, a study from Pacific Research Group found that napkins alone account for 10-20% of overall customer satisfaction at a restaurant.
The linked WSJ article above also has some interesting bits:
napkins account for roughly 1% of their total expenses
Skimping on those freebies clearly is a delicate art. Schlotzsky’s Deli, a 700-unit sandwich chain with headquarters in Austin, began jamming its dispensers to make it harder to pull out many at a time. But in a review of that approach, the chain found that when people applied the brute force needed to extract even a single napkin, they ended up nabbing, on average, 9.25 napkins. That’s about four napkins more than Schlotzsky’s goal, meaning a half-million more napkins, or $2,000 in additional napkin costs per store annually.
Part of our Friday late afternoon routine is 1) doing the main grocery shopping followed by 2) picking up something for dinner from one of the fast food places on our way home. (Just don’t want to face cooking or any real ‘eating out’ effort after the making a list/braving the aisles/waiting in lines of the grocery hassle.)
Anyway, for ages we’ve been making a tiny bet (loser has to do the minimal clean up after the meal) on how many napkins will have been into the bag.
It used to be ‘norm’ – this is for a two people order, something ordinary like burger and fries or sub sandwiches – was four. Then about six months ago it started to be three almost as often. Then often just two.
The last three times that the choice was from McDonald’s, we got ZERO napkins! WTF? Sure, we have our own paper napkins at home, but what if we’d planned to eat the stuff on the road? Hubby was sufficiently annoyed the third time that he actually called the consumer line and complained loudly. This got him an apology, of course, and the girl claimed she’d send us some sort of coupon as an apology… (Nothing received yet, and it’s been a few weeks.)
HOWEVER yesterday we again hit that McD and they gave up SIX napkins! I guess the CS person at least got word of the complaint handed down to the owner of that franchise. Victory! (sorta)
Anecdotally, it’s not uncommon for me to be given zero napkins, but it’s also not uncommon for me to be given significantly more than I need, so I always have plenty of extras in the car when I need them.
I think the default should be to ask if the customer (especially drive-thru) needs napkins, flatware or condiments. Because I’m usually taking take-out home and have all of that already.
That’s become law in California, especially with utensils and straws. The local Taco Bell is still a bit challenged with the idea - if you don’t ask for any sauces at the drive through, you won’t get any, but if I ask for “two Fire” I inevitably get two fistfuls of the packets.