Rule of Thumb for cost of eating out

Here are some rules of thumb that I use. Everyone wants good food…., cheap…... And then there's the service… and atmosphere…. Everything costs…..!

My rot (rule of thumb, that is) is that whatever the price of the meal itself, double it if you drink alcohol (and we all drink sometime?!) and then add 30%, for tax and tips. Unless the govt gets rid of the GST, and that should be the aim!, (not some niddly picking 2% over three years!), there is 15% for taxes, gst/pst, and 15% for tips.

So, a meal of say $10, which is pretty cheap by today's standards, would be $20 with the booze and then $26……., to include what you owe the govt and for the service/atmosphere.

(As an aside, the fish and chips at Chelsea Bis/Pub ended up to be $30 a person for lunch! That’s $14 for the meal ((which was rich)), we all had fish and chips, and a couple of beers, ie, $28, and then with the taxes and tip ended up to be over $30 pp. I did most of the drinking and the others drank less, since I didn’t have to drive. But still $36 a person for lunch…., at a ‘relatively’ good fish and chips place, that is way out of the downtown area, is a little steep!!!) )

I don't normally tip 15% unless the atmosphere and service is great, more like 10% if everything is fine, but that's unfair when you think of the portion the govt takes!

<>(Again I have tipped less than 10%, but don’t want to piss the ‘working class’ off …..!)

So life sucks as a waiter. At least you don't have to declare income taxes on it?!. Again the Govt is the arse. (That’s Brit for bum, backside, ass, asshole, etc).

To live in a Govt town!!!! That is most of ‘your’ employers, I’m afraid! No wonder there are no decent restaurants in Ottawa/Gat and the United Way get so much money. In spite of what Harder is saying.

Anyway, the bottom line is, that say, a $100 per person dinner at a fancy restaurant, which again is not unusual, ends up costing $260.! Per Person!!!!!! That's a lot of mullah and it's about time some of the 'finer' establishments think about 'the cost of eating out' especially if they believe in the mantra of the ‘Consumer Being King’. No matter what you say, to run a restaurant is a labour of love for some, (who knows how to cook,) can manage a cost constraining business and still end up being happy.

Dec 3rd, 2005. Noon.

Lunchtime!

(Shall only date it in the future if it is not within the date of writing….)