The business of food is a great enjoyment and yet a big responsibility. Now a days, society demands you put holes in your pockets for a great food experience but I personally disagree.
The funny thing about food and the prices that go with the food choices we make when we step into a restaurant, a cafeteria, a cafe really all depends on the person purchasing the food. Yes, there are rank and files and classes of whom a restaurant/ cafe markets to but in all honesty, the judgments we make on the worth of the food we order reflects on the characteristics of the person purchasing the food.
I own my own restaurant and I have had trouble with the customer's reactions towards our prices for years now. My restaurant's market is a mix of different classes of people. I believe that there is really no such thing as the class A, B, and C's or even D's. My restaurant markets to people with big families, the corporate ladder, singletons, couples, tourists and foreigners--backpackers and business travelers. Expectantly, you would think a class C could complain about the price of a single "rice meal" that comes as comfort food/slow food rather than a class B complaining about the cost of the food. The impression people make of ordering an item on a menu depends on the level of exposure and experience one has had in restaurants and the kinds of restaurant one has been to. Today, the variety of restaurants has gone from 5 cuisines to about more than 15. Traditionally, a cuisine would be idealized as a. Fine Dining, b. Family Style, c. Fast Food, d. Fast Casual, e. Casual Dining the variations of these types of restaurants have now become even more than we would expect. That is, here in the Philippines. Because my restaurant caters to a variety of different people and classes, most have many different surprising reactions towards the cost of a meal. In restaurants such as Dencio's or Gerry's Grill, a Filipino Cuisine style restaurant that is marked as either a Type D or Type E, most meals aren't meals unless they are known to their market as "budget meals." A menu item, for example, Lechon Kawali is available on their menu priced at around Php 195.00 without rice, soup, or a salad. Then, they have a section in their menu labeled "budget meals" which has the above mentioned entree, Lechon Kawali with a cup of rice and a side of beef soup priced at Php 200.00. In my restaurant, we have our own style of Baguio Bagnet served with a cup of balatinao rice and a side of laswa (soup) priced at about Php 280.00 to 300.00. There is about an Php 80.00 difference with the two. Although, my restaurant serves each meal (not a budget meal) as a full and complete meal. We don't cut down the pork into tiny pieces and make sure a customer makes up for it with the ton of rice on their plate. If ever you would want to order a complete set of lechon kawali equal to the amount of rice that was given in the budget meal, you'd have to order their side order costing you Php 195.00. In conclusion you had just spent more in Dencio's by filling up your appetite the way it should. The funny thing about this fact is that the market that flock to a Dencio's is some what the same market that flocks to my restaurant and they expect the same service as Dencio's. What needs to be known about their style is that they cater to people who think they are on a budget but in all actuality, they don't get their money's worth but when they look at my restaurant's menu and see the food parallel to the price, they freak out and react negatively (people pay more than Php 1,000.00 for a meal that sits in the middle of the platter that is barely 2 inches in diameter, and no, that's not just French Cuisine). They bring their closed mentality to my restaurant, complain about the "over pricing" and then mention, "ang mahal naman eh" then go back to your fast casual dining and fast food! I don't cater to people who don't appreciate their food the way it is wether it's expensive or not.
People need to be more open to the different variations of food and food service they expose themselves to and you don't need to be a Class A, B+, or B to be able to appreciate food and its styles the way they should be appreciated. I blame the television shows and it's "literal" boxed in portrayals of the Filipino lifestyle. Your life isn't just like the telenovelas and Filipino drama, it's way bigger and we don't live in a script. Open up your minds, people. The cost, be it cheap doesn't mean it's worth your money. Sometimes, prices ranging from Php 280.00 to Php 550.00 can be worth your money and your while.
