WHY DO SO MANY EATERIES LEAVE PRICES OFF THEIR WEBSITES???

While trying to figure-out what to write about for my first non-holiday article of 2024, I decided to clear my mind a bit by…ordering a lunch delivery!

And in doing so, I got all upset again that, in the last several years, few of the menus I peruse on-line have prices! So that naturally became the topic of my first rant of the year.

After many of us have used beaucoup bucks on the recent holidays, being a tad thrifty right now is most likely on our minds. And nobody wants to just order food, or eat at a place, without knowing what kind of money they’ll be spending to do so.

We’re not just checking to order a delivery, but even more often, to decide where to eat that day or night. Or possibly in the near future.

As a formerly-full-time, now-occasional restaurant critic, (because, with over forty categories in this e-zine, there’s just not enough time for critical eating anymore!,) with so many choices of where to eat, both here in Los Angeles and wherever I travel, I want to know everything about a place: type of cuisine, dishes on offer, atmosphere, fancy or casual or in-between, seating, etc. And of paramount importance, to just about everybody who dines out, is the prices.

In my case, that’s not just when Mr. X or I are paying. For instance, when my friends take me out to birthday lunch, (which is coming up quickly, on January 14, hint hint,) I don’t want them going into debt to celebrate me! They always ask me to choose the place, and, from the get-go, I eliminate the places that don’t give the prices on their site. (Yes, there are a couple of auxiliary websites, such as menuprices.com, that list the menu items for many restaurants, including the prices, but it’s often not the complete menu. And not every place is on them.)

Why do they keep the prices a mystery, anyway? Just whom do these establishments think they’re duping? Don’t they realize that people check-out their sites to see not only what’s on offer, but how much it will all cost?! If the eatery’s excuse is that perhaps the prices will change, then they can just amend them on the site when that happens. Duh. Or are they that embarrassed by what they’re charging?

Just so you know, it’s not just the pricey eateries that keep their customers in the dark—it’s even the low-end ones! I kid you not.

And it’s not just the prices that are frequently left-out; it’s often the descriptions of the items, as well. For example, Mr. X does not love Asian food, in general, (outside of E-word Foo Young,) so when I was considering ordering from Panda Express for the first time ever, I suggested that he might like their shrimp. So we went onto their site, so he could see the details of the dish, and…there were none!!! So they not only wasted our time, but they lost a sale, and perhaps repeat customers!

And I know this one is too much to hope for, but why can’t all on-line menus include the nutritional information?

Occasionally you can see the prices, but not until you give them your address and time of delivery or pick-up! That is sooo manipulative of them.  How about letting us see what we could be getting into, and then we’ll decide if we want you to have our info?!

By the way—Mr. X and I have never used any of those independent delivery services—I’ve read and heard, (and even seen, on the news!,) waaay too many horror stories about them. For example: deliveries going to the wrong houses, and the companies refusing to remedy the situation; items missing from the already-paid-for order; and a tie for worst of all—the news has shown some drivers chowing down on the customers’ food!, (ewww,) and we just saw a Ring video of the delivery guy stealing a package from the house he was delivering to! Disgusting. So Mr. X and I have to order from the few places left that deliver on their own.

And did you know that the menu prices for outside delivery services are often higher than for the actual eatery? Mr. X and I often pick-up pizza from Joe’s, which we’ve always loved, even though it’s soooo expensive to begin with. But when I recently called them, the guy who answered must have just not wanted to take the order, because he told me we had to do it on-line. Even when it’s for just one pizza! (I found-out later he was lying, of course.) So I ordered and paid on their site, and when I went in to pick it up, I noticed each item was one to three dollars less than what I just paid on-line!

When I pointed that out to the guy, he said, “Oh, you must have paid the delivery prices!” When I reminded him that I had ordered for pick-up, not delivery, and therefore I have a small refund coming to me, he told me they don’t do that!  I’ve never heard of such a thing!  That’s not the way to do business.

None of any of this is the way to do business, actually. But I don’t know how to get restaurants to post their prices and make it easier for potential customers, outside of the obvious—we all should not frequent the establishments that keep us in the dark! There are soooooo many places to eat these days, so we need to just choose one that practices transparency.

They need us–during the pandemic, we customers were all about helping-out neighborhood eateries. The pleas on Nextdoor, for example, were coming in at a maddening pace.

So now it’s the restaurants’ turns to help us, the consumers, out. And in the easiest way possible—just put your prices on the page! Duh.

If any of you can think of another way to get them to do the right thing, please let the rest of us know, in the Comments below. We need basic things in the world to get easier right now. And putting the prices on on-line menus is a small thing to ask.

[Final Note: When the concept for my article came to me, I honestly thought it was a unique one. When I finally finished it a week or so later, and it was all proofed and drafted, I went on-line to look for appropriate images for it. And what I found astounded me—this no-price situation has been going on for much longer than I had thought! A few others had written about their disdain for it, as well. So, no—I definitely did not get my idea, nor any of my words, from what others had written before me. But I do appreciate, especially in this case, that great minds really do think alike!]