Breakfast

B&Bs always offer breakfast. I used to serve it but found
so many guests got up at crack of dawn (not my thing) or
stayed in bed until 11am! Finally solved the problem.
Filled refrigerator with yogurt, cereal, fresh fruit, and
offered a help yourself whenever you want breakfast! Coffee pot set. They just press button to activate. Tea available.
THEY LOVE IT. I dont have to wait on them or even be
there. Have any of you done this?
Many dont even want breakfast (why come to a B&B?)
but sometimes their spouses or partners or friends do.
They like the freedom of getting it when they are ready
and not the pressure of having to go to breakfast at a set
time.
Your thoughts on this appreciated.

We have a plated breakfast available from 8-9:30. If guests want to leave super early we put a to go bag in the fridge. If they want to sleep late they can have cereal.
Your plan is working for you. Don't mess with success!

We serve a light buffet from 8-10. People like it that it's not a set time and they can come when they want, but they are still waited on since we are in and out refilling dishes, etc. Do what works for your guests best.

At your price point, it works for you, so that's great. We all need to give our guests what works for them. When people are paying more per night, that kind of offering is not going to work. Most b&bs need to offer something hot and home cooked.

Buffet available from 8 - 10 and our guests seem to love it.
If there are people still eating at 10, we let them. We are flexible. If we know someone has to be up and out before 8, we'll put out the coffee cake, milk, cereal, juice and fruit for them.

Because I am small and off the "path", I decided my schtick was going to be service. My guests tell me what time they want breakfast - as long as it is between 4 AM and 10 AM. I have had 3 breakfast times - they all get the same thing, just goes in the oven at difference times. (Guests have changed their time to conform with other chosen times.)
We each do what works for us.

We serve a full multi course hot breakfast. My guests rave about it! and most mention it in their T A reviews. Many have stated they come here because they heard / read about the breakfast!

Know your market and what your guests will expect. We are higher end (thus more expensive) so guests expect a full seated breakfast. In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats.

MtnKeeper said:

Know your market and what your guests will expect. We are higher end (thus more expensive) so guests expect a full seated breakfast. In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats..

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MtnKeeper said:

In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats.

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Omg, yes! And they get peevish when you say you can't. They don't understand that I got to bed at midnight, I'm not getting back up at 3 so they can make their 6am flight with a full breakfast in them.
Did have one family that taught us a lesson - they went in the kitchen, used all the milk, spilled cereal all over the floor and left a mess for us clean up.
Spiteful people. At least they didn't use all the eggs!

Morticia said:

MtnKeeper said:

Know your market and what your guests will expect. We are higher end (thus more expensive) so guests expect a full seated breakfast. In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats..

Click to expand...

MtnKeeper said:

In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats.

Click to expand...

Omg, yes! And they get peevish when you say you can't. They don't understand that I got to bed at midnight, I'm not getting back up at 3 so they can make their 6am flight with a full breakfast in them.
Did have one family that taught us a lesson - they went in the kitchen, used all the milk, spilled cereal all over the floor and left a mess for us clean up.
Spiteful people. At least they didn't use all the eggs!
.

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Morticia said:

MtnKeeper said:

In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats.

Click to expand...

Omg, yes! And they get peevish when you say you can't. They don't understand that I got to bed at midnight, I'm not getting back up at 3 so they can make their 6am flight with a full breakfast in them.
Did have one family that taught us a lesson - they went in the kitchen, used all the milk, spilled cereal all over the floor and left a mess for us clean up.
Spiteful people. At least they didn't use all the eggs!

Click to expand...

All over my website, confirmation letter and policies, it states we deliver breakfast at 9:00 or 9:30 and for earlier needs a continental will be provided. The only way I'll do an early hot breakfast is if I don't have to get up any earlier than usual. That's what happened this morning. Yesterday, a family of 4 adults arrived on bicycles. They took 2 expensive rooms. They're biking many, many miles down our coast. They ordered dinner delivered which is great, but our normal cut off time for dinner delivery is 7:30. Since they were late, it didn't get cooked or delivered until 8:45. Then when I asked them about breakfast time of course they wanted earlier than 9:00. They were told if they had omelets, I could do the 8:00 they wanted. So I delivered their breakfast at 8. I'm ok with that as long as they get the heck out of here early! I hate it when they make you believe they want breakfast early so they can get an early start and then they're still here at 11:00. It's those kinds that make me want to not go out of my way for others.
I really felt like I needed to go out of my way to make this family happy since they were spending $600 for just 1 night. By the way, only the mother of this 3 generation family has said Thank You.

We have developed our reputation based on a full, freshly home-made breakfast. Being small (only 3 accommodations) we make one hot entree every day and those who want it know that the hot entree is served between 8:30-9:00. If they want it (99.9% do!) they should be seated at 8:30 am and will be served a fruit course first. There are homemade breads, granola and homemade yogurt available until 9:30.
I find that our returning guests (about 50% of our reservation this year) find this works for them. The newbies enjoy the conversation over breakfast....they find out about all the things they can do during their stay!
But that is our market. You must do what is best for you in your location and price point.

Morticia said:

MtnKeeper said:

Know your market and what your guests will expect. We are higher end (thus more expensive) so guests expect a full seated breakfast. In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats..

Click to expand...

MtnKeeper said:

In fact, even those leaving early who are offered a to go bag still expect me to get up early and make them a full breakfast which I just can't do or I'd be up even earlier. If it's working for you, continue on and congrats.

Click to expand...

Omg, yes! And they get peevish when you say you can't. They don't understand that I got to bed at midnight, I'm not getting back up at 3 so they can make their 6am flight with a full breakfast in them.
Did have one family that taught us a lesson - they went in the kitchen, used all the milk, spilled cereal all over the floor and left a mess for us clean up.
Spiteful people. At least they didn't use all the eggs!
.

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They went into your kitchen? I don't like that!
Early bird breakfast is coffee cake, fruit, juice, milk and yogurt. Cereals are already out.

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

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Turn on the over and let it overcook.

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

Click to expand...

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?

Click to expand...

I don't cook it til I see them. Everything is prepped and waiting. Today I made hashed browns and so once they were enjoying the starter I cooked those and the eggs. I made jalapeno cornbread muffins yesterday, served them cold, not warm. Yesterday they were warm, not cold. As for something like a starter of watermelon and fresh berries, I will keep it in the fridge until I see them, and then serve. I can't stand warm fruit.

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

Click to expand...

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?

Click to expand...

Have an appetizer/starter ready - fruit or a smoothy or yogurt and granola. As they eat that, cook the short order stuff. Anything like strata or quiche can be in the oven on warm.

JBloggs said:

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

Click to expand...

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?

Click to expand...

I don't cook it til I see them. Everything is prepped and waiting. Today I made hashed browns and so once they were enjoying the starter I cooked those and the eggs. I made jalapeno cornbread muffins yesterday, served them cold, not warm. Yesterday they were warm, not cold. As for something like a starter of watermelon and fresh berries, I will keep it in the fridge until I see them, and then serve. I can't stand warm fruit.
.

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We make the fruit salad starters in advance then hold in fridge. Health requirements here demand cut fruit be refrigerated. I don't start the main until they've been served the starter. Everything prepped though.

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

Click to expand...

My toaster oven has a "warm" setting, or even the oven, set at 200 should keep things fresh and warm for 30-45 minutes. Then of course, it really depends on what you are serving also. A piece of casserole will do well in a warm oven. A fried egg will not.

Savoir Faire said:

Question for those of you offering a plated hot meal: How do you deal with feeding the folks who absolutely insist it must be on the table at a certain time (doesn't matter how early or late) and then don't show up for 15-30 minutes or more?
It's not good for food safety and it's not good for guest relations to serve a stone cold meal, but I am at a loss for what to do when this happens. I only have 2 rooms, so often they are the only guests. A couple of times I've had requests to re-cook the meal, which is a royal pain. I have modified my check-in spiel any number of ways to try and impress upon them that it's kind of a big deal to show up at the time *they* request for breakfast, but a good 30% of my guests still totally blow it off and I am at the point of considering not doing hot food anymore.
My solution has been toss the plated food after 20 mins and leave the bread basket out. What do you guys do?.

Click to expand...

Like others, we prep but not cook until guest is in dining room. A fruit and /or muffin starter give you the time to do the egg and bacon or what have you, so they get hot food.
Our guests state a breakfast time, but if they don't actually show up until a half hour later, no worries. Most do show up right at their stated time though.

Gee, I feel like an idiot now lol
I never really considered guests would be tolerant of cooling their heels for 10-15 mins while I cooked. And waiting for them would leave me available to greet them and let them know the appetizer/bread basket isn't the total offering once I disappear into the kitchen.