Waitrose telling me how many calories I can have!

Wow! I've never heard that before. I'm surprised they don't make you stand on the scales before you choose your food. And what if someone who looks like a beanpole wants to order pie and chips....they may need more calories!

OMG I thought this was a free country where you could choose for yourself what you want to eat, we are not babies that have to eat something that someone else chose for them.
I would be going elsewhere to eat in future

That sounds ridiculous! I quite like being told on a menu how many calories are in a dish, but only so that I can make a more informed choice - the emphasis on "I" as it's not anything to do with the person serving the meal.

That's absurd! Perhaps they should provide a questionnaire for you to fill in to show that you eat a healthy diet most of the time, so a 'treat' now and then is OK?! (I'm not being serious BTW!)

It comes to something when you can't choose what you want to eat. I frequently ask for a jacket potato instead of chips.

As someone who loathes mash potatoes, I also usually swap them out and usually the only alternative is chips, which is fine by me.

I shop in Waitrose, but our local one only has a cafe. But if someone in any shop did that to me. I would demand to see the manager and I would kick up an unseemly row. I would threaten to contact the local paper - and do it if pushed.

How dare they! Whatever happened to freedom of choice?
It is not their place to tell you what you can or can't eat. I would complain, loudly, to anyone who will listen.

I can’t find any link to this anywhere - can anyone else? It just seems so odd, my antennae went up

I can't believe this. It's got to be a joke! Do they make you run around the car park if you buy too many calories?

I’m sorry OP if this is true but my general rule is a)does it sound likely and b) can I collaborate it elsewhere. The answer to a and b at the moment is no.

It’s true. It happened at the restaurant in Salisbury.

Where there signs up about it ?

Is it to do with these 'proposals'? (I'm pretty sure that they are still proposals, though):

news.sky.com/story/calorie-limits-for-restaurant-and-supermarket-meals-11591442

The most this could be is guidance - perhaps it’s a local pilot?

Hetty58, I think you might be right, they are still proposals and maybe someones jumping the gun.

I am sure it would not be long before customers will find ways of getting round them. You could order the sausages pay for them go out and walk in again and order the chips, claiming it is a separate meal. I am sure others will come up with other much more ingenius ideas.

The next thing will be ration cards where restaurants are meant to tick the number of portions of fruit and veg we have consumed (marks deducted if you leave them on the plate).

I find this hard to swallow!

I hope you both walked away without buying anything!

It seems to be a local plan pilot scheme then. I'm so sorry that I didn't believe it Ohmother. I'm sure that you understand why!

No, it’s not you OhMother. I find this equally bizarre and infuriating..

Should this crazy idea reach my local Waitrose in Scotland (I notice this one is Public Health England), my first strong complaint will be, the vast amount of sugar laden shelves need attention, of which choice I could purchase a trolley load of calories so defeating the purpose of a ‘nanny’ cafe/restaurant

Also, with their idea of a ‘healthy’ diet dictat my BP would be through the roof. You really couldn’t make this up!?

I left our local Waitrose as you have to bring your own cup for coffee. I'd have paid a bit extra for a paper one or even washed a china one if necessary. I was just doing my shopping, met a friend and decided to have a coffee and catch up. Needless to say we went elsewhere.

Ohmother , did you ask to see the store manager?

Why don't they just sell healthy options. No pie. No chips. Just salad. And err something else that I can't think of right now!

When our local Waitrose first opened a large note book was put in place for customer’s suggestions. I think the suggestion book lasted a month as they were being filled rapidly?

My first visit to the cafe, I ordered coffee and a cheese scone. Drank the coffee but left most of the scone. My entry in the book, scone was dry and tasteless, would have been nice to actually taste any cheese!

I don't much like chips so I would choose mashed potatoes every time.
I acknowledge pie and chips is a staple choice, although Waitrose does not seem to have realised that.

It's not up to Waitrose to police what people eat!

Latte anyone? Or does it have to be black coffee if you order chips?