Really Taking Advantage of Free Meals For Kids
Financial Management

Really Taking Advantage of Free Meals For Kids

financial literacy

I was at a buffet restaurant yesterday and like most buffets there is a price plan for kids, adults and seniors. For this one in particular the policy was that any children ages 5 and under get to eat for free. There was one family/group in particular that caught my attention as it seemed like there were about 8 kids in the group and so the only people who had to pay were the two adults.

A little excessive don’t you think? While granted if you actually have that many kids then it is one of those great perks to benefit from, but if not I guess you have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to saving money. I am one of those people who hates to keep taking without giving back in that fashion regardless if I would save a bundle.

A person at my table then made a comment on how they must save a lot of money by doing that. Overall, in the end they may not have been saving that much this way when you think about it as the two people must have paid at least $30 and with that you could buy a whole lot of groceries to feed the whole family for more than a day. The price you pay when dining out.

2 Comments

  • joewatch 3/20/2008

    Not only do they make money on the adults, but they also get the kids addicted to restaurant food early (high in sodium, sugar and fat!) The restaurant can expect to make more money on these kids as they grow up. The “China Buffet” near my town has been in business at least 20 years!

  • Posey 3/21/2008

    I bet that restaurant will soon switch to “one free kid meal per adult,” unless as joewatch said, the strategy is to keep the kids coming as they grow up and so maybe the plan really is a loss leader. Also, eight kids I can see if you have a big family and a couple of cousins, but eight kids all under age five? Was this a playgroup or a daycare?

    On a related note, my ten-year-old son already eats like a teenager. But our Gloriously Tacky Buffet charges kids by age, so the bill usually comes to $10.99 for me and $4.39 for him which seems ridiculously low given how much he ate.

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