Thursday, October 21, 2010

3 Choices with Steam Rice


Why why why do we tolerate paying more for "2 choices with steam rice"?
When you're making your selection from the bain-marie bounty, you're not buying a service - you're buying a product.
OK - there is a tiny amount of extra work involved in slopping out the 2nd or 3rd option (situated centimetres away) but never-the-less, what you are really paying for is quantity - and you ain't getting any more of that just because there's 3 different flavours. 
Sure, in an a la carte situation, this practice is valid.
But every dish forming its tantalising skin in front of you was prepared in advance - there's been no special preparation required and so no reason to justify charging up to 50% more for exactly the same amount of food.
Is this being all hard on those poor, struggling mall caterers trying to make an honest buck? 
Clearly, I think not. 
And the first establishment that promotes as many variations as you want to squeeze into one container for the one price - is going to be popular.