An otherwise enjoyable meal at Serafina, the ritzy new Italian restaurant at Palladium mall in Mumbai, ended with me having a little tiff with our waiter. He refused to give me a doggie bag for an entire uneaten pizza saying it is restaurant policy not to pack leftovers. Why? Because they wouldn’t want to bear the cost of packaging. What would they do with the food? Trash it.
I’d just had my Tanuja moment! The veteran actress’s doggie bag demand was similarly trashed a few months ago by Hakkasan, another fine dine place (a globally renowned Michelin starred restaurant) in Bandra. While the restaurant accused the actor of being abusive and misbehaving in her inebriated state, its COO Ajay Beri admitted to the company’s global policy of not letting guests walk out with leftovers.
"This is to ensure that the food does not harm anybody as there are different temperatures in which the food is cooked and consumed at the restaurant. We are not sure of when and how the food will be taken outside the restaurant” Beri told a newspaper after the episode hit headlines.
Both these incidents demonstrate one thing. No matter what the state of your finances (very modest in my case, and presumably loaded in the case of Tanuja), Indians in general would take offence to the idea of food being wasted, especially when one has paid through the nose for it. It may be a cultural trait in a country where millions go without a square meal, or the fact that our post- socialist mindset is yet to fully reconcile to the ‘use and throw’ ideas of western capitalism.
Whatever maybe the case, global restaurant chains setting shop in India need to sensitize themselves to the idiosyncrasies of the region in which they operate. In the country of jugaad, ‘global policies’ on leftovers need innovation.
Don’t want to bear the cost of packaging? – ask the customers to pay for their doggie bag. We do it at supermarkets; we’ll most certainly do it in snooty restaurants.
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Worried that food, once taken outside might get adulterated? Put in a disclaimer saying ‘we are not responsible if you fall sick after consuming our food, once outside the restaurant’. Chances that Indians, with their beachside pani puri and road side vada pao immunity will not fall sick in any case. Also I can’t imagine why something like say a packet of egg fried rice would spoil? If some of the exotic dishes on the menu won’t indeed be able to swallow Mumbai’s sultry weather, inform customers in advance that XYZ cannot be packed.
Finally, if you must still enforce this debauched rule, enlighten your customer before hand, so as to let them make an informed choice.
Americans throw away nearly half their food (worth $165 billion annually). Let’s not standardize such profligacy the world over. Definitely not in a country which has close to 20% of its people undernourished.
Bon appétit!