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Restaurant Prices Got Out of Hand | Here's Why · Stay Outta My Fridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There's a moment that happens to all of us. Eventually,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you walk into a restaurant. You're excited, you're hungry, and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: maybe you've been thinking about this meal all day. You
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: sit down at the table, the menus arrive. Everything feels good,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: but then you open the menu. Suddenly things feel different.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: The burgers eighteen bucks, fries another six, soda four bucks,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: and somehow the menu has words like artisan, house crafted
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and locally sourced aola. Now, listen, I love restaurants. Restaurants
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: are one of the greatest inventions humans. Well I've ever created.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Someone else cooks, someone else cleans. You sit there eating
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: mazzarella sticks, doing a cheese pull like royalty. That civilization
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: working exactly as intended. But lately restaurants have started doing
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: some things that make your pasmid bite and think, huh,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, what exactly is going on here? Because
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: restaurants today they've gotten weird. And what do I mean
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: by weird? And I'm a weirdo, so I'm allowed to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: call somebody else and something else weird. So I'm talking
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: like twenty dollars burgers, mandatory service fees, QR code, menus,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: condiments that cost money and stakes, that cosmar and a
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: car payment.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: So today on.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Stay Out of My Fridge, We're going to dive into
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the wild world of modern restaurants, real stories, real restaurants.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Real news headlines.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: By the end of this episode, we're gonna answer one question,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: have restaurants officially lost their minds?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: What's up? Everybody?
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to another episode of Stay Out of My Fridge.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: The voice you're hearing it's me. It's mad, it's Beard
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Laws and joining me as always is nobody this week
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: turns out kids super busy. I'm super busy, wife, super busy,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: So I don't have anybody right That's where you're wrong.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So what I'm gonna do throughout the episode, I'm going
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: to bring in the co host of the Triple T podcast,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Luther Grimwood, in for a couple of segments, just to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: kind of mix things up, have a little bit of
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: a banter, so you don't have to listen to my
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: voice for the next twenty minutes. But with that being said,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: there is something that I would love for you to
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: do is to maybe check out the friends of the show,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: because without them, the show wouldn't go on live. Bearded
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and obviously you see this beard, and if you're listening
• 2:31
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  Speaker 1: eyes and picture this beard. You've seen it once, twice
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• 2:41
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  Speaker 2: All right.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I got the beard oil, the beard butter, and the
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  Speaker 1: beard wash, and the beard conditioner, and maybe the deodorant
• 2:55
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• 2:59
  Speaker 1: like it today.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Do I mix them up?
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I want to smell the same every day, even though
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• 3:32
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• 3:45
  Speaker 1: com slash Beardless. All right, let's let's talk about something
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: or know what?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Luther, are you.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Ready for this? I feel like you're backtage and you're
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: ready to go. Luther, My dude, I was just telling
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: everybody how amazing Live Bearded was, squatch Juice was, and
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: we got a crazy episode. So thanks for joining me.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Man, Oh you know, just hanging backstage adjusting my beard
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: for maximum volume. And hey, when you namedrop legends like
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Live Bearded and squatch Juice, you know it's about to
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: get wild. I'm ready for whatever crazy ride you got
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: in store. Let's rock this.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: So what we're gonna do today is the goal, I
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: guess is to leave everybody, meet you and anybody listening.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: The answer to a question, have restaurants officially lost their minds?
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: Oh now that's a delicious question pun intended between pickle
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: flavored milkshakes and fifty dollars deconstructed salads. I'd say some
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: definitely took a detour into madness. Let's dig up some
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: wild examples and see if we still have our sanity
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: by the end.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: All right, let's start off with the story that went
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: viral around the world. Now, sure if you've seen it,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and I'm gonna butcher some names, so I'm gonna really
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: lean on you as this.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Is closer to your part of the world, Luther. All right, We're.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Gonna start with a little bit of a steakhouse in
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: London called Nesres Steakhouse.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: How do you really say it?
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Ah, you're talking about nussa At steakhouse, you know, the
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: one owned by the salt sprinkling legend himself, Salt Bay.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I'll put your back on the name. And I'm already curious.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: What on earth did they do?
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Oh if you're curious, now you wait, buddy, because yes
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you're correct, owned by the one, the only Salt Bay.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I honestly wasn't sure who it was, so I had
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: to look up Salt Bay. If anybody else wants to
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: see what he does, go ahead, look at the screen
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: right now over on the YouTube, and uh, this is
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Salt Bay in four k.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, look at that? Do you see that?
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  Speaker 3: That was good?
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Oh? I saw it, and I swear the salt sparkles more.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: In four K, the man turns seasoning into a performance art, right,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: So what did this steak caust do? Jarge extra for
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: the salt toss theatrix. I'm bracing myself.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: For anybody that doesn't know too, there is the meme.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: He's the salte does like the little what is it
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a goose neeck thing with a little bit of sprinkle?
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Is some sull How would you describe that?
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'd call it the salt cascade of flair. He
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: does that swanlight bend of the elbow, flicks his wrist
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: and lets the salt rain down like it's glitter at
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: a concept. The man turns seasoning into a trademark move.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: What a legend, Yeah, what a legend.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Indeed, So for anybody that is not able to see
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Salpe in four a K, you've probably seen him. He's
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: got the sunglasses, he's got the tight white shirt and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: like Luther said, the dramatic salt sprinkle. Now this restaurant,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: which is what's the name of it again, luthor, Nussir, nussir.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Et, You've got it, nusa Et steakhouse. Just think NUSA
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: like his name and at like evoila, here's your steak.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: But let's be real, whether it's the name or the
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: salt they sprinkle in some drama, you aren't kin.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: So it's located in knights Bridge, London. How do you
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: think they came up with that name?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Knight's Bridge?
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: What I like to think is where knights went across
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: a bridge on their way to dinner. I mean, if
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: you've got a steakhouse that fancy, you might as well
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: imagine a night in shining armor crossing over to get
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: a gold plated tomahawk steak.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds epic, right, does sound pretty epic.
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  Speaker 1: And it's one of the wealthiest series in the city,
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  Speaker 1: I do believe. And in twenty twenty one customers they
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: started to post their receipts online and well Luther, one
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  Speaker 1: of them went viral. The bill for dinner was eighteen
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: hundred euro, which is what like twenty four hundred dollars
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and American US dollars.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, that is one pricey sprinkle of salt For that
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  Speaker 3: kind of cash, I'd expect the cow to personally thank
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: me for eating it. But hey, when you dine in
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  Speaker 3: Knightsbridge with salt, by you're not just paying for dinner,
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  Speaker 3: you're paying for a front row seat to edible theater.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Edible theater twenty four hundred dollars for dinner. I couldn't imagine.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I almost have a heart attack when we go to
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: fast food chains and it's about fifty to sixty bucks.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: But the most expensive item on this was a golden
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Tomahawks steak, which was priced at roughly eight hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty US dollars, which is six hundred and thirty euro.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, if that Tomahawk steak didn't come with a
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: personal gold mine, I'd be a little disappointed. But hey,
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: you're not eating just a steak, chewing on luxury though, honestly,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I'd probably ask for a doggie bag just to frame it.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Ooh, you're telling me a restaurant this fancy. There's no
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: way they have doggie bags, right? What are they used
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  Speaker 1: to take out the food?
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  Speaker 2: Here?
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  Speaker 1: Some fancy biodegradable They should actually bring it home like
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: a delivery service, and like bring you home, it home
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  Speaker 1: twenty four hundred dollars.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: They should fly you home.
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  Speaker 1: They should fly on me all the way back to America.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: For that bill.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: Honestly, for twenty four hundred. I'd expect them to wrap
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  Speaker 3: my leftovers in a tiny gold parachute and gently drop
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: it into my fridge. Honestly, though, if they ever start
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: offering a flight home with the steak, sign me up
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  Speaker 3: first class with extra salt. Please.
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  Speaker 1: Eight hundred and fifty dollars for one steak.
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  Speaker 2: And here's the wild part.
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  Speaker 1: The steak was covered in edible gold leaf.
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  Speaker 3: Gold.
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  Speaker 1: Now gold might look impressive, but scientifically speaking, gold doesn't
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: have any flavor. It tastes like absolutely nothing. So what
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  Speaker 1: you're paying for is essentially a steak wearing jewelry.
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  Speaker 3: A steak wearing jewelry, Now that's fashion forward dining. I mean,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: who doesn't want their meal to be red carpet ready.
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  Speaker 3: But let's be real, if I'm paying for edible gold,
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  Speaker 3: I at least wanted to come with a free treasure map.
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: Otherwise I'll stick to the flavor and leave the bling
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to my wrist.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Watch yeah, and listen. I like staking, you know what,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: I love steak.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: But if I'm paying eight hundred and fifty dollars for
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  Speaker 1: a steak, that cow better have personally written me a
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  Speaker 1: thank you letter before it made its way under the table.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: I mean at that price point, I just don't want steak.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I want childhood photos at a cow.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I want to know it's hobbies. Did this cow play sports?
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: To go to college?
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Because if I'm found an eight hundred and fifty bucks,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: the cow and I we should have a relationship where
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: we should have a friendship.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: We should.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: I don't even know what I'm going in here. I
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: mean I go to the I go to the store,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm the guy that's looking for the quick reduced
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  Speaker 1: sales sticks and they're gonna cook it that night. Eight
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars for a steak with some gold, unbelievable.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I'm with you for eight hundred and fifty. I want
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: the cow's life story, it's favorite song, and maybe a
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: heartfelt goodbye. And yeah, I'm also that guy stalking the
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: discout meat section like it's a treasure hunt. But hey,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: at least we know our steaks are more about flavor
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: than fashion. Gold is for jewelry, steak is for eating.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, eight hundred and fifty dollars for a steak, that
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: cow better have one beautiful, impressive lengthdin profile. Not gotta
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: be fair to be fair if you're eating at a
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: place like this or any I don't even know if
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: you can call them luxury restaurants. They gotta be more
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: elevated than that. Like Luther mentioned, you are gonna pay
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: for the experience, you know, the present day in the atmosphere.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: But it raises a serious question, at what point does
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: food stop being food and start becoming performance art? Because
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: a lot of restaurants today feel less like dinner and
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: more like attending a culinary theater show.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Right exactly when you need front row tickets to your mail,
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: you start wondering if you should clap between courses. Don't
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: get me wrong, I love a little flair, But when
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: the steak costs more than my monthly bills, I'm thinking,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: can we at least get a halftime show? I guess
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: in the end, we just want that perfect balance, a
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: little razzle dazzle. There's still something you don't need to
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: unction off your car to enjoy.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we just want a little bad bunny while we're
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: eating some steak. Right, anyways, let's go from steak to burgers,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: all right, because burgers used to be the most dependable
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: food in America. They were cheap, they were simple, they
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: were reliable. But that era is gone. Let me give
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: you a quick little example here. There's a few amous
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: restaurant in New York City called Minetta Tavern. It's been
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: around since the nineteen thirties. It's a classic French style steakhouse.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: They serve a burger called the Black Label Burger, and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: it's widely considered one of the best burgers in America.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: But the price thirty eight dollars thirty eight bucks for
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: one burger.
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Thirty eight bucks for a burger. That thing better sing
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: me the national anthem before I take a bite. But hey,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: if it's been around since the thirties, maybe that burger
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: comes with a bit of historical wisdom. But still thirty
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: eight dollars. I hope it least solves one of my
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: life problems on the side, which problem do you think that?
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Hell, you only have one life problem. That must be nice.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And I know we just went from an eight hundred and.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Fifty dollars steak to a thirty eight dollars burger. You're
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: probably want thirty eight bucks.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: On that bad well compared to eight hundred and fifty dollars.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: But it's also not at Salt Bay Restaurant with gold right.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: True, no edible gold insight, just classic good old NYC hustle.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: But at thirty eight bucks, that burger should at least
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: tell me I'm doing great in life. And yet just
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: because it's not eight fifty doesn't mean I'm ready to
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: frame the receipt. But hey, at least we know the
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: burger is probably pretty down tasty.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: That's true, and I'm sure it's delicious. I'm sure it's incredible,
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: But I mean, burgers there used to be the thing
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: you ordered when you didn't really want to spend a
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: lot of money, and at thirty eight bucks it seems
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: like more of an investment now. And it's not just
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: fancy restaurants, because according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: restaurant food prices have increased about twenty five percent between
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: two thousand and nineteen and twenty twenty four. And that's
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: why Burger's everywhere they well, they jumped in price too.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: It's true, burgers used to be I'm treating my wallet
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: kindly meal Now I half expect a finance one. But hey,
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: in this economy, even burgers are getting an ego still,
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: whether it's five dollars or thirty eight dollars. Let's just
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: hope it still comes with that classic, greasy, delicious satisfaction
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: and maybe a side of fries that don't require a load.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and even I guess not that I'm thinking about
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: thirty eight bucks. Yes, it's a pretty wild price. But
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: when you're going to like, you know, the King of
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Burgers or the Donalds of Mick in places like that,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I mean I was looking at the menu and Utica
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: New York recently and there was burgers on there for
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: twelve thirteen. I mean even the value menus and stuff
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: like that. At these other fast food restaurants, they're almost
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: fifteen to twenty bucks of meal. So maybe thirty eight
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: at a New York City high end restaurant really isn't
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: that terrible. I mean, let's be honest, a burger he
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: used to be fast food. Now at thirty eight bucks,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: it's almost like it's a financial decision.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Exactly. These days, you don't just pick a burger. You
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: run a cost benefit analysis. You're sitting there asking do
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: I want fries or do I want to retire someday?
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: But hey, whether it's a golo menu or a fancy tavern,
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: as long as that burger hits the spot. I guess
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: we'll occasionally accept the financial drama just you know, keep
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: the gold leaf on the side.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's only going to be when Luther's buying,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: because when you buy, dude, we'll go to that restaurant.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: When I'm buying, well, we'll just have like fried bologna
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: or peanum butter and jellies are cool.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: Honestly, that sounds like a plan. You bring the peeb
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: and j's, I'll bring the laughs. And if we're feeling
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: fancy all upgradest to some DeLux grilled cheese. Who needs
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: gold leaf when you've got good company and bologney?
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: There we go in.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Let's adding over this story. We're not really heading anywhere,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: but we're shifting.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: Gears because this just flows. Right. There's a there's.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Another story that hit the internet that made people furious,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: and you're thinking, well, everything makes people furious these days,
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: even puppies. For some reason, somebody's not home the puppy. Right,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, that puppies collars to tell you, why
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: does that? Anyways, there was a restaurant in Saint Louis,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Missouri called Crown Candy Kitchen. It's fun to say that
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: went viral in twenty twenty three. Why because they started
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: charging customers twenty five cents extra for ketchup a quarter.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: A whole quarter for ketchup. I mean, what is this
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: the ketchup stock market? But hey, maybe they're onto something
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: next thing you know would have a mustard futures exchange. Honestly, though,
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: if a quarter gets people that worked up, I guess
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: we've officially reached peak ketchup drama.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: You're right, in a quarter.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: It doesn't sound like that big of a deal, right,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: But ketchup is just one of those things that people
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: feel should just exist, like napkins, like chairs, shit like gravity.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Charging for ketchup it feels like almost like somebody's charging
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: for oxygen. Right, And the restaurant explain they did it
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: because of rising food costs and obviously kind of in
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: prices have increased supply and cheese were weird. Everything costs
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: more customers.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: They don't care.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: People online lost their minds.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Let's be on a ketchup. We talked about it.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: I think last week it's almost secret territory. I mean,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: I'm almost with it. If you really do need to
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: change a quarter, just maybe add it into the price
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: of the food, right, don't charge a quarter for ketchup.
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: Exactly. It's not the quarter, it's the ketchup principle. You
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: don't want to feel like you're negotiating condiments, Just quietly
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: add it in, like, hey, this burg is twenty five
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: cents more, but you get all the ketchup your price
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: can handle. It's about the vibe. People won't catch up, peace,
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: not catch up war.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I wonder how many rest or you know, how many people,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: how many irate customers who are being charge twenty five
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: cents for ketchup ended up stealing the bottle?
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: You know, I bet a few folks left thinking I'm
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: getting my quarters worth. This Ketchup's coming home with me.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: But hey, if we start a catch up back market,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: you know we've gone too far. In the end, it's
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: just catch up. Let's keep it off the ransom list, right.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, is irritated as I would be.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: The bottle of Ketchup's not coming home with me, right,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: And hopefully you guys don't go start stealing bottles of ketchup.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: That's just crazy.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But speaking of crazy, COVID twenty twenty restaurants everywhere they
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: switched to QR code menus.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: Let's be honest.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: The idea is simple. There's less contact, less germsy for dining.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: But now people are starting to revolt a little bit
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: because it's getting a QR code for a menu. It
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: sounds super easy, right until you actually try to do it.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Now you're sitting there, you're at the table, you're holding
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: your phone, and you're zooming in on a little teeny
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: tiny PDF. You're scrolling, you're zooming, you're backing, you accidentally swipe,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: you go over here, and you're just trying to find
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: an appetizer. And then your phone brightness is wrong, the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: Internet's slower doesn't exist. Then you've got to try to
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: jump out of the Wi Fi. Oh crap, the kid
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: was on the phone on my batteries of six percent.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: It's unbelievable.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: It's like trying to practice secret code just to get
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: a sandwich. Sometimes you just want to hold a menu.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: No tech gymnastics. I mean, I came for dinner, not
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: a software out day, so I get it. Sometimes old
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: school piper just wins. No battery required.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: According to the Teconomic Restaurant Survey in twenty twenty three,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: nearly seventy eight percent of diners say they prefer physical
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: menu seventy eight percent.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: That's a huge percentage.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: That's practically a menu revolution. I mean, when all my
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: eight out of ten people are waving their napkins like
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: surrender flags, it's a clear sign we want to pick
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: what we ate without feeling like we're hacking into the Pentagon.
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: So yeah, let's bring back the classic non scrolling menu
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: and let my phone stay out of my dinner.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: Listen, I'm a nerd.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: I like innovation, I like technological stuff, right, but I
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: don't go to dinner to try to troubleshoot a website, right, And.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Let's be real, it's just so much easier.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: And it's part of that tradition, that dining experience to
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: have somebody come up to you say, hey, how's it
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: going today?
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Anji? Your menu?
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Can I get you anything to drink? And that's just
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that just feels right, that feels like what you're paying for,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: or that's why you're leaving a tip. If you've got
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to look up your own menu, probably go get your
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: own glass of water. Who knows, Maybe go clean the toilet's,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: wash the dishes, and cook your own food. Hopefully not
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: in that order.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Then why are we even gonna tip.
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: Exactly? If I have to do a whole it consultation
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: just to order a sandwich, I'm gonna expect a paycheck,
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: not a bell. The charm is in the old school hospitality.
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: So yeah, give me that menu, let me enjoy my mail,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: and I'll tip happily if I don't have to rebeat anything.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: I mentioned water.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: And here's something I always find fascinating restaurant water service,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: because there are two types of restaurants in this world.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: Restaurants where your glass is never empty. They see a
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: little bit, server comes by, roop fills it right up.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: Then there's restaurants where the waiter disappears into another dimension
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: or there's so short staff that they're legit the only
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you know server or waiter there, and you get it right.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: And sometimes your water glass gets refilled every two minutes
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: into me. When that happens, I feel like royalty, I'm hydrated,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I feel respected. And those other restaurants, if you ask
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: for water once, get an eye roll and that's it.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: You probably are never seeing your water again. Your waiter
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: vanishes like they've entered witness protection, and you're sitting there
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: staring at your empty glass, chewing the ice cubes, trying
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: to make on eye contact.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: With anybody who works there.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Right, and man, we've all been there, I feel and
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: again it's not always their fault, but I mean, keep
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the customer happy, right, happier customer, higher tips.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Put it on a bumper sticker.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you that bumper sticker would sell out. Absolutely.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: Hydration is king, and a full glass is like a
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: little hug from the restaurant. When it's empty, you feel
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: abandoned in the desert. And yeah, sometimes staff as stretched.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: They're no judgment, but consistent water refills that's hospitality. Gold.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Let's be honest. A happy, hydrated customer is a tipping customer.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, hey, you just said it. Tipping.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about it because tipping it used to be simple.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: You tip your waiter, that's it. Now I feel like
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: everything I asked for a tip. Coffee shop, hey pressed
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: a little button. You want to leave the tip?
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Food trucks, Hey want little tip?
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Dike out containers, a little tip? Dikeout counters?
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Hey, can we get a tip? Self checkout? Kios Hey
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: can we get a tip?
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: That person that simply just handed you your pizza, well,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: everybody else cooked.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Hey do you want to leave the tip?
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: It's like every screen now asks do you want to
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: donate to my vacation fund. I mean, tipping is great
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: for service, but when the robot checkout wants a tip,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: I'm like, buddy, you didn't even make eye contacts. It's
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: tipping inflation. Pretty soon I'll be tipping my own fridge
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: for just holding the ketchup bottle.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a Pew research I believe in twenty
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: twenty three that found that seventy two percent of Americans
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: say that tipping culture has been well, it's just plain confusing,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I guess at this point, and I'm not gonna lie
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: to you.
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: I agree, I'm with you. It's like a tipping obstacle. Course.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: These days, you order a coffee and suddenly you're trying
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: to calculate percentages like it's a math test. Honestly, clarity
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: would be nice. Tip when there's genuine service, not when
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: the self checkout is silently judging me. Let's make tipping
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: thoughtful again. Not a pop please.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I mean, I went to a place just yesterday where
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: I wanted a cup of coffee. I legit grabbed the cup, myself,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: poured the coffee, myself, walked up and went to pay
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: for it. I mean the person pressed the button. I
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: had to grab the cup, fill the car, put the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: sleeve on it, put the top on it, walk over,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: tap the card, and then be on my way and
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: asked for a tip. Now the person apparently was having
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: a really bad day, all right, The wife wanted to
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: refresh it. They were out, wanted this were out, they
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: were out, they were out, settled for another cup of coffee.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: So again we made our own coffee. Which whatever, that's
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: how the setup is not complained about that. But apparently
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: the dude was having a rough day. Somebody threatened him
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and things weren't going his way. So there was like
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: one of the few times that I felt, hey, oh
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: boy needed a tip, and they flip it around ten percent,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: eighteen percent.
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: It was a five dollars charge.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: The old boy got five bucks on me because he
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: needed it. And I think in those scenarios, you know,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: sometimes you just gotta put a smile on somebody's face,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: you know what.
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: That's the kind of tipping I respect when it's not
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: about the coffee, but the human moment. Sometimes the tip
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: isn't for service, but for giving someone that tiny win
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: and how you made that dude's day with that five bucks.
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: Sometimes it's not about the button, it's about the human touch.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Nicely done, I.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you, And I'm not out here trying to say, oh,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I'm so jo a great gun all that stuff. Its
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: just I feel like, you know, every once in a while,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: if you have the means and you have great service,
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: or somebody just really really really needs that extra a
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: little bit of a tip, then just go forward. What's
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: what's your standard percentage of you know, tippage if it's mediocre,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: not good service, not terrible service, and do you tip
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: the same? I guess if it is good, mid or terrible.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: For me, if it's just a normal, decent experience, I'm
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: usually in that eighteen to twenty percent range pretty standard.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: If it's great, I'll bump it up because I love
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: rewarding awesome effort. But if it's awful, like truly awful,
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: I might drop down to ten percent. But I rarely
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: go lower. I figure, even if it's bad, they're probably
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: having a rough day, and hey, we've all been there.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I ten percent is about as low as I
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: would go, and there's no way I'm ever not leaving
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: a tip even if it's god awful. I mean, because
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: if it's that terrible, I'm leaving before the meal even
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: gets that bad. Been there, done that, moved on. But
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: let's I know we've moved on, But I just want
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: to go back to one more expensive meal. Story all right,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: because one of the most expensive restaurants in America is
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: a sushi restaurant in New York called Masa. Chef Masa
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Yoshi Takeyama probably said her wrong, but I'm pretty confident
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: and I might not have butchered it too bad. Runs
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: the place, and dinner there costs about seven hundred and
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: fifty dollars per person before tax before tip, which means
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: dinner for two is easily around two thousand dollars. And
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: I'm sure the sushi is incredible, but if I spend
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: two thousand dollars on dinner, the sushi better changed my life.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a meal that you don't even have
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: to cook, right, And I'm not a sushi expert.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: I'm rarely eating sushi.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: But I'm gonna spend that money again, maybe a flight,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: maybe a spiritual enlightenment, personal growth, and I want to
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: tune it to tell me my future. Besides that, now
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: I'm broke.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: For two grand i'd expect that sushi give me a
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: pet talk and maybe a life plan. But hey, at Massa,
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: you're paying for edible art and probably enlightenment. Still at
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: that price, I might need a side of financial counseling.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: But hey, if that tune of whispers life advice, maybe
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: it's worth every sin, just as long as my bank
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: account survives the wisdom.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: And here's the funny thing.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: In my opinion, some of, if not the best restaurant
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: experiences that happen at the simplest places. You know. They're
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the local diner, the pizza shop, the small town restaurant where.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: Everyone knows everyone. Those are the.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Places where the food is great, the prices are reasonable,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: and nobody's charging it for catshup. Sometimes the best you'll
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: still come from places where the cook knows your name,
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: knows your parents knows, your uncle knows your friend right,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: and the man you probably hasn't changed in twenty years.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: And dang is it's still good. And I'm gonna be
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: honest with you.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about doing a new segment, a new not show,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: but a segment or a playlist or whatever it is
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: on the tubes. And I want your opinion, Luther, and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: I want anybody listening to give me an opinion. I'd
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: love to start doing some stuff locally. When I go
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: out to eat, when I go to a restaurant, when
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I go to a business, maybe it's not even a restaurant.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: I want to just walk in and I want to
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: give you an experience that I do. I see things
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: a little bit different. I do things at a restaurant.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: Not a lot of people do the way I order,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the way I interact.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And I think it would be a really.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Cool segment to feature some local places. I got a name,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: I got a concept. I just gotta know if I
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: should do it.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: Oh, that sounds like a must do. I mean, local
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: spots have all the heart and you'll neque take that's golden.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: I say, roll with it. People love authenticity, and if
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: you're showing off your town, your quirks, and maybe a
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: legendary catch up policy, people will eat that up figuratively
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: and literally.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: So yeah, go for it.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Make your community this star all right.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Luther's in if anybody out here is listening, watching and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: thinks I need to do it. Please comment three to
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: five comments and I'm doing it.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: That's pretty low. That's pretty easy.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, if you enjoyed
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: this episode, give the show a foul Please leave a review,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: share it with someone who's recently been attacked by our
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: restaurant bill. And remember, if you ever come to my house,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: there's only one rule.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Stay out of my fridge. That's all we got. We'll
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: be back next week.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Take everybody, bye bye knocking.
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: Who's there? It's the podcast, you toys, Stay out of
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: my fridge, ready to store, gotta tail a tale, Gonna
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: make you laugh and make you smile, So.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: It's gonna be long. You're tiving deep into your fits
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: with secret.
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: If you like the show, please take a moment to rate, review,
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.