Food left is relative. Full house every guest has cleaned their plate(s) this weekend. 100%! Some times, and yes it will be the same meal people pick at it. I guarantee it is NOT THE FOOD. Last week I had a lady who wouldn't eat anything, not one bite and declared "This is an amazing breakfast" huh?
My experience - the biggest poeple eat the least, the smallest the most. Biggest feel embarrassed so won't eat much, smallest may have gone for a jog around town pre-breakfast and lap it up! So there is no way of telling, ever. Serve it up, let em at it!.
Different complement of guests today, totally different reaction to breakfast. Everyone wanted everything. And cleaned their plates. Except the 4 who didn't show up. 2 of whom I have no idea what they are doing in their room but I keep hearing the water slamming on and off every 5 seconds. (Another problem we have to figure out. Why the pipes do that only in that room.)
2 guests were so delighted they booked for next year on their way out the door!
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Served it up plated, rarely had a problem. So few that I can actually remember the specific guests with issues.
For example, one guy couldn't have onions at all but forgot to mention it and I had made skillet new potatoes with rosemary, herbs, and onions. I whipped up a batch for him without the onions while they were working on their fruit course with the baked goods of the day and they chatted up other guests. They were some of our first guests and left a generous tip. Only once when I had a full house of guests (mostly international) who were here for a specific university event and they sat down and started giving me their breakfast orders. I reminded them of our breakfast policy but they just wanted something light that day. I had planned on omelets so no big deal. It worked out fine, I can be flexible. By the third day, they were converts and requested and ate the whole "innkeeper's choice" deal. haha.
I think what worked for me was that "innkeeper's choice breakfast" was posted on the website, confirmation, etc. and during our check-in spiel we re-confirmed any food issues and reminded them of how we did our complimentary breakfast. Along with that, we had folks commit to a breakfast serving time during our breakfast time range so I
knew when people were scheduled to show up for breakfast. I also had a wipe off calendar board in the kitchen to keep track of the guests by room and their food allergies, brekkie time, special packages, special occasion, etc. It was a back-up to my rez system info.
Every innkeeper has to figure out what works for their crowd of guests. My type of service worked great for me because it was different than the other B&Bs here and that's part of what brought people to us. They were tired of either getting a bad, small breakfast or having to serve themselves from buffet style. I've noticed that several larger inns with totally open serving times from say 7- 9:30 am have gone to a small menu option type of breakfast. Something that part of it can be cooked to order based on what the guest picks. This probably works for places that have issues with more wasted food, too.
There are so many options to choose from, that you can try to change things up to see if something else would work better in any given situation. If that doesn't work, you can mix it up again. Good luck!
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I will always remember an inn that I really liked, but had an open breakfast time, when we rolled over to the breakfast area there was a coffee pot set to burn, as there were two drops left in, and no more coffee was made. I was not happy. I was there in the middle of the allocated time frame too.
We went to our local Mexican restaurant which now has a lunchtime boofay and I looked around at all the new people who had never been there, or not regularly, and the waste of food on their plates and it turned my stomach. I hate waste. We tried the boofay but next time I will just do the menu. I was unable to enjoy my meal, I am not anti boofay at all, I used to especially love a nice salad bar, but I hate the piles of plates of wasted food, plus they have to FRY everything to bring in the locals.
But around here could fry up a dog terd and people would eat it.
This weekend, "Loved the place next door" "Awful next door, poor service" I reminded them that if they ignore you that means they like you. doh
"Horrible Italian restaurant" Uh you are from Chicago, need I say more.
"Loved The Vibe" yes I knew you would Southern CALF, had a home made Phad Thai where in lieu of noodles they were long skinny sliced of zucchini. But, the southern greasy fried couple would have hate the Vibe.
There is no way of ever knowing someone's taste, or price point. Where one says "I am not here to eat local food" others say "I am not here to eat Mexican food!" They get mad at you for even suggesting it. If they ask ME WHERE I WOULD EAT< which they all do, I tell them, and they get mad. APPLEBEES! Quality is consistent, food is flavorful and service is BETTER than the rest. Otherwise we have our local mexican place for lunch.
Oh wait there is the roadhouse type steak place where our guests get ill every time they eat there, they go there, even tho it is NOT on my list and tell me "Why isn't it on your list" then the next morning come downstairs GREEN.
Make what you think they will enjoy and then do what you do. That is the best solution. If something never works, change it.
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