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Waitrose telling me how many calories I can have!

(116 Posts)
Ohmother Sat 25-Jan-20 14:24:40

I went to a Waitrose cafe/restaurant yesterday. My DH doesn’t like mash so asked if he could have the pie with chips. He wasn’t allowed because that combination was too many calories. ?

He tried another combination without the mash. Sorry, too many calories. ?

Since when has Waitrose turned into the calorie police??? I find this hypocritical because he could have bought a regular meal and stuck a portion of chips or even a sticky cream filled cupcake on the side.

Is it me?

Happygirl79 Sun 26-Jan-20 22:19:46

Those jobsworths get everywhere these days
I agree thats probably what happened here
Needs to get some customer service training and start using some common sense

Ohmother Sun 26-Jan-20 22:26:57

They didn’t refuse to serve him pie and mash...that was on the menu. They said he couldn’t have chips instead of mash. “Too many calories”.

hollysteers Sun 26-Jan-20 22:41:05

That’s not going to go down well here Oop North, pie and chips loved by many.
It’s not going to affect me anyway, I’m an Adl girl (Aldi/Lidl) and don’t bother with Wait for the Rose.?

sallysmum Sun 26-Jan-20 22:47:18

Four of us had a meal in our local Harvester, we then ordered coffee which was served barely warm. When we complained we were told they were not allowed to serve it '"too hot" in case it gòt spilled and burnt someone. Needless to say we did'nt pay for it.

Margs Mon 27-Jan-20 11:41:47

What??? Who the hell do Waitrose think they are?

FGS, what are they like with anyone trying to buy alcohol?

suziewoozie Mon 27-Jan-20 15:25:02

This is Waitrose’s side of the story - I asked them

Thank you for your patience while I looked into your query regarding our cafe menu.

I've spoken to Adrian Martin one of our managers in the branch who has advised that the cafe Partners are not allowed to deviate from what is advertised on the menu, as they need to be able to tell the customers accurate allergen information and calorie counts with the food they are selling

They do not offer Pie and Chips as a menu choice, it is Pie and Mash so if a customer has asked to swap the mash with chips we would be unable to do so due to the reasons explained.

I hope that helps and if you need anything else please let me know.
H

SirChenjin Mon 27-Jan-20 16:33:31

I can kind of see their point, but it does seem OTT. On the other hand, they’ve probably introduced calorie counting in response to customer feedback, and the serving staff are only doing what they’re told.

M0nica Mon 27-Jan-20 16:48:20

I think Waitrose's excuse is rubbish. a pie is one item of food, chips are another, mash another. They can have a seperate allergen list for each. If a customer has no allergies and says so, (possibly even signs so), what is the problem?

In our family we have members with allergies and one has an epipen, so I do understand the problem. At Christmas we all ate out. The waitress asked about allergies the first time she came to the table and then brought us an extra menu that listed all the allergens in every dish. This included side orders, like extra chips, mash, onion rings etc.

We ate confidently because we knew exactly where we were. Our order included me swapping mash for boiled potatoes.

I think Waitrose's explanation was a sign of laziness and lack of constructive thought.

Ohmother Mon 27-Jan-20 19:52:55

To all those who doubted my honesty in this thread...I forgive you.

To Monica , thank you for getting the statement. I was beginning to think I’d dreamt it.

I agree it’s a lazy, feeble excuse on Waitrose’s part. Itemise the calories in each portion and put your customers first!

Callistemon Mon 27-Jan-20 23:29:15

I think they have a very limited menu with little scope for choice.

I now know that if I want a gluten free roll I have to pick up a whole packet on the way through the shop!

SirChenjin Tue 28-Jan-20 07:27:14

To be fair to them, they probably were putting the customer first by implementing this in response to feedback.

You were trying to order off the set menu so they were sticking to the guidelines which showed a calorie counted meal. Does seem OTT for a Waitrose caff though - especially as pie and mash isn’t exactly a healthy option anyway!

M0nica Tue 28-Jan-20 08:52:21

Credit should go to Suziewoozie, not me.

Callistemon Tue 28-Jan-20 09:41:15

To be fair, TillyWhizz posted a similar reply from "Dean of Waitrose and Partners" on Sunday at 16:29:51 if anyone missed it.

Ohmother Tue 28-Jan-20 13:14:00

Ah. OK. Thank you to Suziewoozie and TillyWizz too. ?

GeorgyGirl Tue 28-Jan-20 17:38:37

Whatever next! Nanny state, none of their business, or Waitrose's. I would definitely be boycotting if that happened to me. What is the world coming to!!