My “old” students, as I call those that have already suffered through one of my classes, know that I really don’t care for teaching the Uniform Commercial Code. It is boring, esoteric, and unfortunately, quite relevant to all those who will go on to work for companies that sell good. Plus I have post traumatic stress from a really ridiculous year long research product about bills of lading. No, I will not tell you what a bill of lading is. Look up on Wikipedia, like you do everything else.
But I digress. I have finally found a reason to love the UCC. According to this article, a lawyer with way too much time on his hands has used the threat of a lawsuit for a violation of the UCC as a way to force the Cheesecake Factory to publish drink prices. I actually don’t eat there (Way too much quantity over quality, and I don’t mix cheese and dessert, except in cannolis. Who said I was principled in my eating?), but I am all for full disclosure of prices in restaurants. It is so awkward to ask, and let’s be honest, price matters. Not that after a few cocktails anyone will be reading the menu.
10 Comments
Ryan Gee posted on February 17, 2012 at 2:56 pm
I actually have to disagree with this. As beneficial as this may sound for us customers, this government regulation ultimately hinders businesses. It is a key marketing technique to not list prices of meals and drinks in order to create an incentive for customers to buy the most expensive dishes which means more profits.
The common saying goes, if you have to ask, you can’t afford it. Although I do not fully agree with this quote, now a days people can easily do research on restaurants to see the relative price ranges of meals and drinks online. This includes the restaurants online menu and review websites like yelp. I believe that preparation is key and that it is in the hands of the customer to know and to be informed. And if a customer doesn’t know, honestly, I don’t believe it hurts to ask, unless you’re on a date or something.
Yuting-Su posted on February 17, 2012 at 4:37 pm
I totally agree with this. Customer have right to know information about goods, including the price. People may argue that you can still get the price by asking or researching on line. However, as the article mentioned, it’s socially unacceptable. Also, it is ridiculous for customers to ask price of every dish they order or do research every time before going to restrauants. And companies take full use of this. They know people will not ask the price and set up a high price, whick in my opinon is kind of hiding the price and cheating customers.
Renee Schwacke posted on February 18, 2012 at 12:57 pm
I would have to agree with this as well. It only seems logical and fair to the consumers that they should know the price of an item before they buy it. All people have different economical statuses and therefore also have a different “willingness to pay”. Food and drink should be no exception to this basic. principle. Personally, being a college student myself, I determine what to order based on what price is listed besides each item. Although asking the waitress for the prices is an option, it is really only acceptable to inquire about a specific item, as oppose to everything listed on the menu. Furthermore it exposes the customers concern about the prices, which can be uncomfortable depending on the dining occasion. For example I doubt that a young man taking a girl out on a date would want to have to do price inquiry. It could be embarrassing and even cause a bad impression. Doing research is another option, but it is also another inconvenience, and because of this factor it could potentially draw away customers.
Restaurants need to be honest and disclose price information up front on the menu. It only seems to be the right and fair thing to do, and because of this, it will help there business. I’m just not sure how many people enjoy playing “the guessing game” every time it comes to ordering a meal or a drink. Personally, I wouldn’t return to a restaurant that didn’t have their prices disclosed, just because it causes an unnecessary distress during a meal, which is meant to be enjoyable. This causes the dining experience to turn negative and therefore future business will be lost.
Nick Li posted on February 18, 2012 at 10:41 pm
If a restaurant is hiding its prices from you, there’s probably a good reason it doesn’t want you to know (aka it’s way too overpriced and the restaurant knows it). The $275 white truffle pasta is an extreme example but it shows stuff like this actually happens. Ryan makes a good argument about the marketing technique, but I don’t want to be in for a rude awakening when my bill is 1.5 or 2 times what I expected and I don’t think people want to go hunting for price ranges for food on the internet whenever they go out to eat.
Renee Chen posted on February 19, 2012 at 12:44 am
I agree that researching a restaurant beforehand is probably the best thing to do but it is not always possible. Sometimes people go out to eat unexpectedly and may end up at a place they aren’t familiar with.
Yes people can just ask for the price but if they are interested in the price of one item on the menu, they probably would be interested in the price of several others. Not only would it be ridiculous to ask for the price of every dish but it also wouldn’t make sense to have an employee stand around reciting prices when they could be serving other people.
It kind of goes back to question of whether or not not telling the whole truth is considered lying. Is it okay for a restaurant to exclude the price when they know it may be expensive for people? Or is it dishonest?
Yuchen Qin posted on February 19, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Frankly I didn’t realized that Cheesecake factory doesn’t list drink prices on their menu. I was astonished at first; I started to consider if it wants to place price-discrimination on different customers…It’s awkward to ask for the price, especially when you’re dating, for instance. Many people also don’t want to risk ordering things of which they don’t know prices. Moreover, clear disclosure of drink prices is a market-protection procedure. Restaurants should not set prices way much higher than market competitors.
Hope Blalock posted on February 19, 2012 at 9:27 pm
This application of the UCC is spot on. Restaurants owe it to their patrons to fully disclose a menu item. Restaurants should absolutely be required to disclose the price. Failing to do so is like failing to list the ingredients or a description of the dish.
Someone mentioned whether failing to list prices could be considered a dishonest practice. I personally think that a lie of omission is just as bad as a flat-out lie and this, in my opinion, is a lie of omission aimed to take advantage of customers.
Kathryn Chin posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:47 am
I agree that restaurants should disclose prices, but I also think that customers should not allow themselves to fall into a trap, such as with the $275 white truffle pasta. If the price is not disclosed, then the customer may be more embarrassed when the bill comes, as opposed to just asking the waitress before ordering. If a customer goes to a restaurant and feels uncomfortable with not knowing the prices, it may stop them from ordering what they want and even returning to the restaurant again. Restaurants owe it to customers to provide a pleasurable dining experience, and simply disclosing prices can eliminate and awkwardness or anxiousness the customer may feel.
Chin-Yi (Lucy ) Kuo posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:10 pm
I agree with Kathryn on the fact that not disclosing prices prevent customers from returning. It is the restaurant’s lost to not disclose the prices of its products. Hiding prices might be a marketing technique that many restaurants/businesses choose to adopt; however, it is not a valuable technique if it has high potential to drive customers away.
Sophie Park posted on February 29, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Like any knowledgable customer, ask the waiter how much a drink is. There are many restaurants that don’t disclose prices, but what is the harm in simply asking the price range?