You Waste, You Buy

YumSugar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:00:41 -0800

If your eyes are bigger than your stomach, one restaurant thinks you should pay the price for being too greedy. In an unprecedented move, Hayashi Ya, a Japanese buffet on Manhattan's Upper West Side, has begun adding a 30 percent surcharge for customers who don't finish food on their plate. In other words, the restaurant's $26.95 meal deal is all-you-can-eat - but not a bite more. According to Hayashi Ya's manager Ben Lin, the motivation behind adding a surcharge was twofold. First, it's an incentive for customers to only take what they can eat, thereby cutting down on waste. Second, it prevents the eatery from obtaining a surplus of ingredients, which hurts the restaurant's profitability.

There's been a lot of discussion over this charge, but I think it's legitimate. In this tight economy, restaurants are fighting to remain profitable. Although entire civilizations across the globe are in dire need of food, studies show that anywhere between 30 percent and 50 percent of edible food goes to waste. All factors considered, I think the surcharge is rather sensible. Do you think it's fair?

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