[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]a lot of good replies, but lets have it right, people are basically taking the piss when they get refill after refill after refill, long after eating their meal when there is a massive queue at the door.
it is really a common courtesy (or lack there of) issue.[/quote]
No, actually it isn’t. This is the business model they’re using. It’s called The Starbucks Experience (check Amazon) and it’s how they redefined the service industry.
The idea is to create an atmosphere where people want to hang out and do exactly what you’re blaming them for doing. That’s the whole point.
As to the business model, you and many others were queing to get inside, correct? Why? Why didn’t you just go to the breakfast shop on the corner? Because you wanted to go to THAT place, right? See, it worked.
And this is why these places have ridiculous prices. Starbucks coffee is terrible. The beans are so cheap they have to burn them to give them flavor. Then they have the balls to charge more for iced coffee (less actual coffee, more water in the form of ice) and even more for frappees (the least actual coffee of all) to make up for less turnover at the tables. Plus, they sell takeout.
Starbucks sells an experience as a product, the coffee is just part of it. Many places are trying to do this now. Expect to see more of it.
I would like to see ONCE a Return on Time / Investment plan from ANY “Premium” store with an assumption calculated inside how much they would earn more when asking people drinking their OWN brought 10NTD water to leave while making space for others.
Many many times - I said NO to a 130NTD Java Chip temptation as I despised not having a space for 30 minutes.
Well, I most likely still do not understand TW culture
No, actually it isn’t. This is the business model they’re using. It’s called The Starbucks Experience (check Amazon) and it’s how they redefined the service industry.
The idea is to create an atmosphere where people want to hang out and do exactly what you’re blaming them for doing. That’s the whole point.
As to the business model, you and many others were queing to get inside, correct? Why? Why didn’t you just go to the breakfast shop on the corner? Because you wanted to go to THAT place, right? See, it worked.
And this is why these places have ridiculous prices. Starbucks coffee is terrible. The beans are so cheap they have to burn them to give them flavor. Then they have the balls to charge more for iced coffee (less actual coffee, more water in the form of ice) and even more for frappees (the least actual coffee of all) to make up for less turnover at the tables. Plus, they sell takeout.
Starbucks sells an experience as a product, the coffee is just part of it. Many places are trying to do this now. Expect to see more of it.[/quote]
a few problems:
1 - the place around the corner doesn’t do eggs Benedict or bacon and eggs with bagel. So you have to queue.
2 - 220NT for brunch and all you can drink is NOT over-priced.
3 - while your knowledge of Starbucks’ MO is impressive, you completely whiffed with your parallel.
1 - the place around the corner doesn’t do eggs Benedict or bacon and eggs with bagel. So you have to queue.
2 - 220NT for brunch and all you can drink is NOT over-priced.
3 - while your knowledge of Starbucks’ MO is impressive, you completely whiffed with your parallel.[/quote]
You’re missing the point. They’ve used this business model to create a place you and other will queue to get into. They know what they’re doing and the customers like it.
Agree with the OP. If I saw scores of people trying to get in and we’re well finished I would move on. There’s no universal rule to this or getting a “thank you”, just seems like common courtesy. If I’m paying 3,000NT at Ruth Chris’s of course that’s a different story.
[quote=“Deuce Dropper”]a lot of good replies, but lets have it right, people are basically taking the piss when they get refill after refill after refill, long after eating their meal when there is a massive queue at the door.
it is really a common courtesy (or lack there of) issue.[/quote]
The restaurant is what it is. You are your own problem.
They are selling something. You seek to buy something else. You are frustrated because … it looks soooo much like what you seek, but in truth it is not, and you don’t seem willing to accept facts as they are presented.
So I’ve laid you some crumbs. Go and seek your nirvana grasshopper. Or continue chasing your tail and whining to everyone about it.
It just another example of the Chinese/Taiwanese ‘I hate everybody that’s not me’ mentality. They simply don’t care that people are waiting to use the tables. Common courtesy for the hungry people doesn’t even enter their minds. It’s all about me me me.
I have vivid memories of going out to breakfast every Sunday when I was a kid. The small town had one popular breakfast joint and there was always a wait. I remember my parents always saying we need to get going because other people were hungry and wanted to use the table. I guess this mentality of thinking about others was ingrained into me and I take it for granted. While I am thankful I learned this, I often have a very difficult time living in this highly selfish culture. If I am full and satiated why wouldn’t I want others to feel the same way?
The truth is, we are not going to change it, and selfishness will always be accepted here. The best we can hope for is to not have the lack of courtesy and selfish ways slowly creep into us.
[quote=“Homey”]It just another example of the Chinese/Taiwanese ‘I hate everybody that’s not me’ mentality. They simply don’t care that people are waiting to use the tables. Common courtesy for the hungry people doesn’t even enter their minds. It’s all about me me me.
I have vivid memories of going out to breakfast every Sunday when I was a kid. The small town had one popular breakfast joint and there was always a wait. I remember my parents always saying we need to get going because other people were hungry and wanted to use the table. I guess this mentality of thinking about others was ingrained into me and I take it for granted. While I am thankful I learned this, I often have a very difficult time living in this highly selfish culture. If I am full and satiated why wouldn’t I want others to feel the same way?
The truth is, we are not going to change it, and selfishness will always be accepted here. The best we can hope for is to not have the lack of courtesy and selfish ways slowly creep into us.[/quote]
It depends what you think you’re paying for. For me, filling my belly is only one part of eating out. I eat out a lot with friends, and we take our time. We know we’re done when we don’t feel like staying anymore. I don’t care if there are people who are waiting. They should have made reservations. Jeez, try eating anywhere good in North America without making reservations. Once you’ve got your table, any establishment worth its salt will let you stay as long as you want. If they’re a proper business, they’ll know how to make money off of you by either jacking the prices (fine by me), or by having set sittings (very common in fine dining). Coffe shops often have minimum purchases and time limits as well.
Now, if you’re at a UN refugee feeding centre, I agree - get your food and get out of the way. Otherwise, restaurants will continue to charge for the time, ambience, service, etc, as well as the food, and customers will get what they pay for.
Wrong, only very expensive joints don’t mind … others need table turn-over to make money, and in the west, waiting staff hopes you get out as fast as possible because it could mean more tips if they can do more tables …
And yes, in Taiwan some places do too, they put a cap on the time you can spend there … about 90 min. … because they know that guests here don’t spend on additional purchase of drinks, food …
Oh, and bottomless drinks is never a good idea … make it one refill, that’s enough …
My
As has been posited before, in restaurants where turnover and tips are the motivation for the staff and the owner then time limits or incentives are put into place to get patrons in and out quick.
Starbucks and their ilk are NOT motivated by these. They are motivated by selling product (cakes, expensive drinks, that travel mug you must have, etc) and they make up for any decrease in volume of sales by moving these products.
Finally, Taiwanese restaurants are also not motivated by these. The staff, mostly, couldn’t care less if a seat is filled or not. And the owners, for the most part (and yes, I am aware how much I am generalizing here!) are not in it for the volume of sales but mostly just to stay afloat. No tips, no high turnover, revolving turnaround of cheap labor, enough revenue to pay rent=owner is happy. Oftentimes, the owner never steps inside his own establishment and has no clue what goes on! I know this from experience.
The result: low quality CS, long waits, general atmosphere of dissatisfaction. And yet the people and the money still rolls in. It will not change. Ever. Not in the last 4000 years and not in the next.
(Irony: the best food I’ve eaten in TW was at a small shop run by a couple so take that for whatever its worth.)
