I thought it was a place that only sells bras.
Let's redefine the word "restaurant"!!
- Thread starter Middle Earther
- Start date
They prefer to be called "little people restaurants" show some sensitivity!
You're eating in the wrong fast food places. Over here, we have chains that use only fresh ingredients that are brought in everyday and not prepared until you order. There's even one here that won't cut the potatoes to make your fries until after you order.
They do a booming business and some units have half hour waits for your food.
Fast food joints are technically QSRs - Quick Service Restaurants, which is I think the lowest rung of the ladder (the lowest of the low is, I think, QSR Snack, which is the kind I think Carrie, Count Zero and I are discussing earlier in this post). Next up is Fast Casual, then Casual Dining, then Upscale Dining, then Fine Dining. I think that's roughly right, though my memory is hazy and I'm sure there are multiple definitions. And then within fine Dining you have plenty of increasingly rigorous levels leading up to 3 Michelin stars at the very pinnacle. Of course, how much credence you give to the classification is up to you, but the caste system already exists!
Over here it's not quite so simple as there are a few more rungs to the ladder (cafeterias, diners, and dives for example). But you do have the basic premise.
How can waiting a half hour for your food be considered "fast food"?
By the type of restaurant that you're at. Most of the units of that chain that I've seen that kind of wait for are in Southern California, where the chain is from.
Here in Phoenix, the longest wait I've had at one of their restaurants has been in the 20 minute range. Though when they first opened here, there were many, many news reprots of 50 - 100 cars in line in the drive-through and having to have off duty cops direct traffic.
Worst I saw was the one that opened up in my neighborhood that had the cars for the drive through lane backed up onto the freeway three blocks away on opening day.
It was quite convenient when McDonalds could deliver the food within about half a minute of the customer ordering it. To a great extent that was possible because just about everyone that walked up to the window* was there for a hamburger or cheeseburger. No need to be concerned about things like McNuggets, Quarter Pounders or Big Macs because they hadn't been invented yet. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries (one size), coke, orange soda, coffee and a couple flavors of shake was all that was on the entire menu.
*There wasn't a counter, drive thru or dining room. All orders were delivered in white paper sacks through windows in the front of the building. If your familiar with the typical Rally's, imagine one with a slightly larger building without the drive thrus. With the big metal arches protruding through both sides of the building if you looked from the right angle the arches and sign resembled the now famous logo.
*There wasn't a counter, drive thru or dining room. All orders were delivered in white paper sacks through windows in the front of the building. If your familiar with the typical Rally's, imagine one with a slightly larger building without the drive thrus. With the big metal arches protruding through both sides of the building if you looked from the right angle the arches and sign resembled the now famous logo.
J
Jetfire
Guest
A guy, his trunk and a hibachi along side the intersate.
Oh yes.
Also, sitting on the floor of a supermarket with a glazed look on your chocolate-smeared face surrounded by half-eaten produce that you've dragged off the shelves should count - even if you get dragged off by the rozzers while the minto/cola combo you've just had is still foaming out of your nose.
Err...not that I've ever done that, of course. Just sayin'.
No that just means the restaurant is trying to hide the fact that they are too cheap to buy Heinz.
No that just means the restaurant is trying to hide the fact that they are too cheap to buy Heinz.
But then again if it's a posh place they would called it tomato sauce
By that definiton, most snack stalls with some tables in front of it where you can eat the food would be restaurants, Holdfast.
If they actually own/rent the area with the tables, they are technically restaurants (either of the fast food or cafe variety). The kiosk type places where you buy something and eat it in a shared public place with seating? No, because they don't own that area.
My local 7/11 sells hotdogs and nachos and has it's own seating area with tables, does that make it a restaurant?
The original French word was imported into Danish with the meaning of 'restoring yourself' -having a rest and replenishing one's energy supply.
These days the definition of a restaurant is:
In other words; if you cant order at the table it isn't a "restaurant".
These days the definition of a restaurant is:
In other words; if you cant order at the table it isn't a "restaurant".
I have always found it odd that a place like mcdonalds, which isn't known for having healthy food is a sponsor of the olympics
ThePlumsofWrath
Commander
I live near Vancouver, BC, which will host the coming winter olympics and I've noticed that McDonald's has been promoting itself as the "official restaurant of the 2010 Winter Olympics".
I refuse *stamp foot* refuse to think of McD's as a "restaurant".
If I take my wife on a date night and get a babysitter and say "Let's go out to a restaurant." I would be in serious doo-doo if I pulled up to a McD's!!Her response would be "That's not a restaurant, you fool!"
So, let's say the new definition of restaurant cannot include any place with plastic trays or squirt your own ketchup or stuff like that. Anyone else with me?
McD's - the diet of champions !!
That said, doesn't Usain Bolt like nothing more than chowing down on some chicken McNuggets after a race?
By that definiton, most snack stalls with some tables in front of it where you can eat the food would be restaurants, Holdfast.
If they actually own/rent the area with the tables, they are technically restaurants (either of the fast food or cafe variety). The kiosk type places where you buy something and eat it in a shared public place with seating? No, because they don't own that area.
My local 7/11 sells hotdogs and nachos and has it's own seating area with tables, does that make it a restaurant?
Sure, if the seating area with tables is designed to be used specifically by those doing the eating, and not a public area for people to just sit in. I'd call it a restaurant-area, since the rest of the establishment is clearly not a restaurant, but that bit of it would be, yes. We have restaurants in supermarkets here too, if that's the sort of thing you mean.
The point is, the food service industry has moved past the definitions some people are using. The way they define their business these days is internally consistent, accepted industry-wide, and actually makes some degree of sense. It doesn't detract from the important differences between good vs bad restaurants, or from quick service vs full service restaurants, or from casual dining vs fine dining restaurants, nor does it argue against the price differentials that exist between these places. It just pulls all food-serving establishments where you eat on-site in a dedicated area of the establishment, all together under a restaurant banner.
It's also recognised under UK taxation law, for example. If you serve hot food, you're required to add VAT (value-added tax) irrespective of where it's eaten, as the act of cooking/heating adds the value. But if you serve just cold food, you only need to add the VAT if it's eaten on-site, as it's then deemed to be a restaurant. If the cold food is taken away, the vendor is not required to charge VAT. So the tax code here acknowledges that in the former setting, you have a value-added by the service of eating in a restaurant; whereas the latter situation is not adding value, so is exempt of VAT. My memory is hazy on the exact details, but I believe this is still correct. So state also concurs with the industry standard. Together, that's a pretty powerful argument in favour of the modern definition of a restaurant.
*shrug* I'm not sure I really get why it's so revolutionary a concept either; it seems quite fair and reasonable to me. The cost & quality differentials aren't based on whether it's a restaurant or not, but on what kind, and how good, a restaurant it is.