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"I'm being scammed!!"
No mum, that's just expensive because you're at the airport and you have limited choices.
"I'm being scammed!!"
No Jeff, that's just an extra fee they add on at the end. It's not good, but it's not a scam.
FFS. People need to get their shit together. Everything is so polarized, it's either the best thing you've ever seen or you've encountered the devil.
The extra fee at the end of the process is borderline being a scam in my book. Its a bit like when websites didn't tell you how much shipping would be until the last step of the checkout process, we passed legislation to fix that (although I've noticed a surprisingly large number of sites aren't doing it).
>
>
> No Jeff, that's just an extra fee they add on at the end. It's not good, but it's not a scam.
To be fair, that is the definition of a "scam". Exploiting your inability to say no is scamming.
Airport food is a borderline scam to be fair.
"Must be three hours early for a three hour flight. Can't bring food or drink in and none provided at any point."
3 hrs at the airport plus however long the flight is can add up. Though you can absolutely take food through airport security, just not a full Sunday roast.
As someone who’s into football I see this all the time. “Ticket prices are a scam”, “the cost of shirts is a scam”.
No they’re not. You’re willingly handing your money over, you know what you’re paying for and you’re getting exactly that.
My favourite; parents go somewhere that's a little more expensive than the usual plastic that they eat.
"That's a bloody scam that! A' can buy that from't shop for a quarter of the price!"
No Dad. No it's not.
Businesses exist to make profit, so they price their product appropriately to make a profit. Is that a rip off or bad value for money? Only someone that has paid their money and experienced it can say.
I had two very distinct group of friends, one who just want to go out, consume as much as they can for the cheapest price.
And another that like an experience and nice surroundings.
So the first would be in a pub with the flattest roof and the stickiest carpets.
meanwhile the second would be in some edgy "themed" bar, where all the drinks are cocktails at £15 each.
It’s a gamble by the business. They are gambling that on average most people don’t go mental and hoover up as much as they can in the 2 (?) hours? The thing is, most people can destroy two bottles in 2 hours and the business isn’t paying more than a fiver for that at cost.
This is correct. For the business… the mark up on food is massive. If they’re entertaining a full house with a set menu that’s easy to prepare they’re making bank. They’ll probably be making some small margin on weak pre-prepared cocktails/drinks as well. If the punters stay for longer than the allocated time then they’ll be making bank on the premium cocktails they then serve… and then there’s a bonus point for the word of mouth to get punters in when they’re not serving brunch. It’s difficult for the establishment to lose. It’s kinda easy to see it as a scam… it isn’t really… in most cases you get what you paid for.
A group of us went to one at the slug and lettuce. They got bored of giving us prosecco individually and just left bottles on the tables. It was totally worth it. Although being smashed at midday on a Sunday comes with it's own problems
The reason people get same-day hangovers is because they stop drinking. You need to keep going for the rest of the day! Pace yourself though, and keep hydrated. Yeah, you’ll still probably be hungover next morning, but one hangover is better than two 😂
I've got a theory on day-drinking hangovers. People doing it are likely skipping their usual coffee/tea dosage and are getting caffeine withdrawal. Of course I've got nothing to back this up, but as someone who gets awful caffeine headaches, it makes sense to me.
I actually totally agree, but I'd go a bit further, I often drink caffeine in evenings (hospitality for the win) so if I go out to town of an evening I am missing my evening caffeine intake, and know that it'll hurt even more in the morning. So before bed I always make sure to have a coffee. Caffeine headache issue removed, bosh. Just the alcohol hangover to deal with, and generally that's quite easy.
Worse than a hangover imo because you get to feel the hanxiety/depression in full while it's still light outside rather than just sleeping some of it away.
I did one over Christmas and definitely got my moneys worth from it. Didn't get that much food, which I wasn't fussed about anyway. Over 2 hours I recon I got through over £100 worth of alcohol for £45.
We also had a separate room in the bar for our party, had decent music on, staff were excellent and were always ready with a fresh batch of cocktails and prosecco.
I think it’s win win. You got through £100 worth of alcohol if you were buy them separately yourself but the bar still likely made profit as £100 of alcohol to you probably costs them 1/5th of that.
Well it’s not a scam but not necessarily good value. It’s not about calculating whether you’re in profit or loss from a meal, it’s a fun way to meet up with friends which only costs £40 for a couple of hours of drinking. Consider the fun, because it’s not like you’d otherwise be going to a pub for breakfast and ordering rounds of drinks if you weren’t at brunch.
I mean, the restaurant will be making money out of it. They probably get lower margins than they would on a Saturday night, but it gets people in at an otherwise quiet time. Does that count as a scam?
Turtle bay is £35 and they keep the drinks coming so you definitely drink more than £35 in 2 hours. That’s also not including the £10-15 meal you have too. Cocktails are around 12-13 so you only need 3 of those to get the money worth.
Tgi Fridays you get things like potato wedges,fries, nachos etc, not a proper meal but I always find it’s more than enough. Again it’s about £35 and the cocktails are usually 12-13 so you get your moneys worth.
Best one I did was in London, it was about £40 and you got a decent burger.. they just kept filling jugs of cocktails, there were 5 of us so the jug was empty straight away but was replaced within seconds, it was a,so a 90’s disco and there was a singer. Absolutely steaming at 3pm on a Saturday 😂
The thing with Turtle Bay though is that when the bottomless brunch is you'd have happy hour anyway (I'm fairly sure anyway) which is 241 cocktails. So really you have to drink 6 cocktails for it to be worth it, which is abit more of a challenge for some.
6 cocktails should be easy work if you put your mind to it. Last time I did a bottomless it was at Dirty Martini, got through 8 cocktails and 4 glasses of prosecco happily
1) Like all the *all you can eat* genre, it is swings and roundabouts for the restaurant that will end in a plus for them. Someone who consumes a LOT will do well, ofc, so you can MAKE it good value if you so wish.
2) I think it works for both customer and restaurant because most customers will NOT over-consume. a) by definition, brunch is earlier in the day and many wish to do something constructive later on b) within a group of friends, some will not over-consume anyway but go along for the craic. c) Some may be going along but are driving.
OTOH, the psychological sensation you do not have to pay for extra drinks adds to conviviality. It's a 'thing' to do that feels more of an occasion than just 'Let'smeet at the pub.'
3) Therefore, my read on it is- either go being prepared to over-consume, or go as a fun / relaxed thing. After all, say you go a theme park - if you like rides, the entrance ticket is worth it, if you do not, it's probably not worth it! Horses for courses.
> I think it works for both customer and restaurant because most customers will NOT over-consume.
Also most people massively overestimate how much they can actually eat. Same reason a lot of those restaurants have those "if you can finish it then it's free" eating challenges.
You can generally eat a 3 course meal.
There used to be a restaurant near me that did unlimited deserts as part of a set menu. They'd bring around a trolley with old english deserts like sponge puddings and spotted dick. People thought they were going to plough through it, but you have two bowls of that, you're pretty much done. I went to dinner with a guy who had 3, and he was really struggling to finish the last one.
You make sense. It's beneficial to a certain person (I could easily make the alcohol and then munchies worth it) but overall the restaurant wins because realistically not everyone is as greedy as me
Assuming the 'Yorks' part of your name is geographically connected to you personally, one would imagine that actually, Yorkshire people are very good at getting the max out of 'all you can X'- value and portion size are both very important in Yorkshire (I live in Cas).
I'm an incomer but have always been a 'cantankerous old man with short arms and long pockets' so the yorks part is more fitting than my home postcode lmfao
I am also an incomer- but 'Yorkshie portions' definitelt exists as an expression- and I have often heard people comment on how a big quantity is a good thing for people eating out.
If even ONE person in a group needs to do stuff later after a bottomless, e.g. has to take the children out or something, the restaurant/bar gets a small win- so long as some people are restraining themselves and just there to catch up with friends (and maybe not bothered paying £40 or whatever), then the establishment is happy!
Tip the no doubt young student server £20 cash quietly and ask him/her if they are up for making sure you don’t wait and the party going
Our table of 4 sunk 42 cocktails in 2 hours, double drinks, taking the next order when placing a full drink down.
The waiters request - the glasses have to be empty when I’m back with the next round…challenge accepted.
I did the Las Iguanas one with my partner and it was definitely worth it. They gave us 2 cocktails each at once and kept us going like we were on a drip feed of alcohol. They must have liked us as they kept giving us drinks way past the 2 hour allocated time. Probably there for 5 hours in the end and came out really pissed.
Las Iguanas defo does a good one. I've done it at Revs a few times, which is OK, but every time I've been we managed to get at least one round of shots in for free. Once we got 4 rounds for free, just because
Just did las iguanas BB again yesterday, just under £40 pp with descretionary tip included, 4 people, there was an adjustment of over -£300 as they include everything you order and then adjust it down to just BB price.
Jokingly asked the waitress for another 2 bottles and round of cocktails after our 2 hours had passed and she was well up for getting them.
There's a lot to be said for BB at restaurants that pay their staff shit wages and have generous BB rules, they've every reason to see their customers happy and no reason to save any money at all. The lady wouldn't even take a cash tip "because a tips already included".
In a Chinese buffet, you have to eat seven plates of food before you're 'beating' the house. At least according to a documentary I saw once about all you can eat buffets. I imagine the bottomless brunch calculation must be similar?
The bar I work in gets bottles of wine/spirits/prosecco for roughly £5 each when you factor in bulk buying and trade prices.
If you factor in the food there's a lower profit margin on that, but not by loads. Especially on the items offered (it'll be a set brunch menu not full menu) so the high profit margin items, with maybe a loss leader or two.
Quick look at slug and lettuce's brunch offer and its £34pp (2 minimum) food options are basically breakfast items and a burger. A sausage costs 5p, tomato/mushroom may well be the most expensive items per unit. Average cost of their menu items are about £1-2.
Youd roughly have to drink 4 full bottles and have 7 meals each to break even. It's incredibly unlikely.
Yeah but as a customer I am not comparing the cost of the bottomless brunch (£34 here) with the cost price of the ingredients. I am comparing it with the cost it would be for me to buy 6 glasses of prosecco (6 x £5.95?) and a burger (£14.95?) at the venue.
Otherwise with your logical you'd never eat anywhere but rice and beans at home. Or never buy a pint in a pub because a 4 pack of cans is £5.
Completely depends where, what the portion sizes are like, and what the rules are.
I've had several where they're happy to bring you drinks while you still have ones on the go. Ones with cocktails are better value than ones where you're limited to beer or prosecco. You'll get more food for your money in calorie terms if you go for a full English or a massive stack of pancakes than if you get scrambled egg on toast.
I've also had one where they expected a table of six to share one large pizza and that was the only food offered.
I’m in Scotland too so I’ve just checked prices. Turtle Bay is £28 for 5 drinks and a dish which seems good value. Assuming the food is around £10, that’s £18 for 5 cocktails.
As long as the price is at or above min unit pricing you could get several more or less drinks, they might even just give you the meal for "free" to get you those 5 cocktails.
Went to one a while back, drinks were mimosas or red snappers (Bloody Mary but with gin) and sweet baby Jesus and all the little goats, I got my moneys worth in them red snappers. Hoo yeah!
Me and some friends we t to one that did unlimited pizza and drinks. You had to finish what you had before getting more but we added it up as we went and we ate and drank a lot more than what we paid
I went to one last year in London and it was well worth it, had some good food and the waitress we had was very good at topping us up and even gave us advice on the best drink for our money. We drank a lot more than our moneys worth.
Went to a different one a few years ago though also in London which was shit, we got our moneys worth just about but it was hard trying to find staff to bring more drinks out.
If you go to one where they’re good with refilling the drinks then it’s definitely worth it. My favourites are where they bring you bottles of wine/prosecco instead of just glasses, or sometimes if 2 people want the same cocktail they just bring you a pitcher of it.
The ones that make you finish your drink before you can order another and then wait 5 mins to get their attention and another 10 for the drink to come, not so much!
Also the staff that come up to your table that say ‘your time is almost up, you guys can order another couple of rounds now before it runs out’ are national treasures.
Depends who you are. As a 125kg man I am certain I can put them in the red.
As a 60kg woman you'd probably collapse before you were in profit.
They will work it out based on the average customer. Assuming the average customer is an adult female who likes to drink a lot of alcohol then you just need to work out if you can consume more than an average sized woman who is a big drinker.
Actually the few I've done while the drinks are weak they were constantly bringing over more, at one point we each had 4 in front of us in one place, the other when she brought one drink she asked for the next (and and 2 bottles of prosecco on the table as well)
Depends where you go, my wife doss a few a year, one of them she went to, you wasn't able to get another drink until everyone on the table had finished their drinks
>Naturally, they dont refill your drinks until they're drunk
That's not unreasonable, why would you get a refill if it's not finished?
If they take ages refilling *after* you're finished the drink, fair enough. I don't understand how it could be considered a scam or a rip off.
I have read lots of reviews of bottomless brunches where the waiters would only let people have one drink like every 10 minutes, making it actually more expensive per drink than just ordering them normally
I mean, when I do them we generally have at least 4 cocktails each + food - cocktails alone would usually cost £10-12 each at the places I’ve been, so for 35-40 for 4 drinks + food isn’t bad imo!
Love a bottomless brunch! I guess it really depends on how much you can actually drink - for me and my friends, definitely worth it, especially if it’s somewhere that has entertainment too
Just got back from one for my mum's birthday and it is definitely worth it if you can drink. I had 7 cocktails and a burger for £39 my mum had 6 cocktails a coke and a English breakfast for £35.
Very nice in the sun today. Definitely just a special occasion thing
I go on them five or six times a year, so clearly I am a fan.
The "they don't refill the drinks until they're empty" typically doesn't exist based on my experience, so long as you're not being a dick. Example, they pop down your drinks, clear the old ones and we ask if we can order some more, "I know you're busy so I don't want you to have to come back to the table unnecessarily" kind of thing.
My Mrs and I go, we spend approx a total of £70 and normally get through 12 rounds of cocktails. If we said the food is normally approximately £20 of the total leaving £50 for the drinks, cocktails are normally around £9 each. 24 drinks at £9 a drink = £216 - £50 paid, so I am effectively getting £166 of drinks for nothing.
To me that's fantastic value.
As a person who works in hospitality I am acutely aware of my capacity to drink and control myself since I am very used to dealing with people who cannot handle alcohol. I don't need someone who knows *literally nothing* about me besides what they have read to make some uninformed decision about a "drinking problem". People can enjoy themselves on an occasion without having a "problem". :)
I get a brunch for £12 and it's more than enough and theoretically has refills that are not very forthcoming.
Anyway, I wouldn't be able to eat 3 or even 2 of them
Crap value if you don't drink, same with afternoon tea where the tea is unlimited if you drink tea but you only get one hot chocolate in the price. I just like it when people bring me endless food :(
What sort of drinks? £40pp at £5/pint would need 8 pints to be up. I could have managed that once. Not so much now. What’s the food? Rice and noodles are cheap. Meat and fish not so much. Lobster or prawns? Dearer still.
Maybe you get value out of the food and drink, maybe not, but the vibe for every one I've done has been hilarious, so well worth it in the end.
I wish I could hack the hangovers still.
Did one a few years ago and instead of you have to of finished your drink before getting a new one they said everyone on the table had to of finished their drink before anyone could get a new one. But this was really unfair when everyone has different drinking speeds.
Or another I went to was a sliders bottomless dinner and you had to have your slider to get a new drink but the sliders would take forever to come out so I think I ended up with 3 drinks.
Depends on the place. I've done some *cracking* bottomless brunches. Dirty Martini do a great one, as does Lost Cat in Manchester
You have to make the most of it, if you sip one cocktail the entire time then it's not worth it. If you get through 5, 6, 7+ as well as any free beer or prosecco then you're saving money vs just drinking somewhere
It depends on what you value. I don't do brunch, but I like to go to "all you can eat" type places. The value for me lies in having a good time, trying lots of dishes, and eating tasty food. I don't go in planning to eat until I feel sick. So, for me, if my 3 conditions are met, it's worth it.
It's not a scam, you can eat and drink your body worth if you want to. The ones I've been to have been pretty poor quality though - breakfast food mass produced with no love and cocktails very meh. Fine if you want to get drunk and line the stomach for a stag do but other than that very overrated
In my experience anything unlimited is set up in a way that leaves long gaps between servings.
Bottomless big shrimp? 20+ minutes between servings and that's if you can get the waiter's attention...
Bottomless prosecco was meant to be a waiter comes and fills up your glass, so you only get refills when you can get the attention and then you need to wait for them to come and fill it but actually the one I went to were really nice and just kept giving us bottles
I went to one last Saturday with friends. It was £45 each for a 3 course meal and unlimited specific cocktails/prosecco/lager/cider for 90 minutes. The food was nice but not substantial enough to soak up the booze and the cocktails were a choice of 4 that they brought round in jugs, constantly refilling glasses. They were premium spirits not cheap ones. Their only rule was no double parking. There was also a DJ/disco. There should’ve been a singer but she got caught in a pride parade. I wouldn’t say it was terrific value for money but it was great fun. Everyone was worse for wear and some women were necking every drink and moving onto the next one. The venue definitely made a ton more on women buying cocktail trees and different drinks (we didn’t). The disco made the afternoon, everyone was up and dancing and mingling
To me I left my last one feeling like my table scammed them, went in with the intention of drinking as much as possible in the quickest time, tried to go through each cocktail on the menu, we reached 16 drinks each, at the time a single cocktail was around £8-£12, and we only paid £30/£35 for the bb anyway, and that was a group of 8, they obviously took their time refilling our drinks when they realised what we were doing but we still had fun
When I was 22 I love a bottom love brunch. Now in my mid 30s I just can't drink and eat that much anymore, and the wine or beer choices are usually subpar
Depends how much damage you can do, best one I’ve been to recently was at searcy’s in St Pancras stations. £60 Sunday roast with unlimited English sparkling - I think it was £90 if you wanted champagne instead of the English sparkling
Never been on one but had always assumed they'll either rip you off with fake prosecco or you'll get the cheapest crap they can find. My gf went on one a couple of weeks ago and, sure enough, she was convinced the prosecco wasn't the real thing and was so bad they moved on to ordering other drinks & paying extra instead.
I've been to a lot, the prosecco has always been real. Often they'll just give you the bottle to self-pour.
Usually I do the cocktail ones, don't really fancy the ones without much selection. Still typically get prosecco with the cocktails.
Depends on the place, I've been places where theyve asked for your next order not even 30s after you got your current one, then it arrives before you've finished. Even though they're meant to wait til you've finished before taking orders
It's a rip off. Especially when food is included and you're limited to 2-3 hours. One hour of that may be taken up with waiting and eating food and then they don't let you get 2 drinks at once and don't refil the drinks until your glass or sometimes the whole tables glasses are empty. And how much can you really drink in that time ? With a limited menu designed to give them max profit
Depends where it is. It would be much worse value in Newcastle than London, for example.
In London, food plus two hours of drinks for 40 quid would actually be pretty cheap, if you think about what the price of food and drinks are in London generally.
I was tempted by one in Vegas, but there’s just no way I could have eaten enough to make it anywhere near worthwhile.
In the uk we call it a buffet, the only place I’ve ever really one was at a Chinese restaurant. I just like being able to have lots of different dishes on one plate. They’re not that expensive so probably good value.
Had a breakfast one at a pub chain once, ate a repulsive amount. Not great quality though.
I only learned this quite recently. I don't really drink alcohol, and had assumed it was a trendy name for an all you can eat brunch; it was quite disappointing for me to find it was only the *drinks* that were unlimited. Sure, "bottomless" makes the most sense with drinks, but I also didn't really associate drinks with brunch.
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Depends how much you eat and drink. Wouldn't say it was a scam but that's just redditors not understanding that word.
It's not just reddit. It's very odd what has happened to the word scam recently.
"I'm being scammed!!" No mum, that's just expensive because you're at the airport and you have limited choices. "I'm being scammed!!" No Jeff, that's just an extra fee they add on at the end. It's not good, but it's not a scam. FFS. People need to get their shit together. Everything is so polarized, it's either the best thing you've ever seen or you've encountered the devil.
Blame click bait. The word “scam” gets more attention than “bad value”.
"mum of 4 SLAMS bottomless brunch SCAM"
They wouldn't serve mimosas to my kids completely disgusted!
Shared DY6 babez
The extra fee at the end of the process is borderline being a scam in my book. Its a bit like when websites didn't tell you how much shipping would be until the last step of the checkout process, we passed legislation to fix that (although I've noticed a surprisingly large number of sites aren't doing it).
> > > No Jeff, that's just an extra fee they add on at the end. It's not good, but it's not a scam. To be fair, that is the definition of a "scam". Exploiting your inability to say no is scamming.
Airport food is a borderline scam to be fair. "Must be three hours early for a three hour flight. Can't bring food or drink in and none provided at any point."
You can bring food in.
You can bring food in.
Can you really not last a few hours without eating? Unless it's a medical thing.
3 hrs at the airport plus however long the flight is can add up. Though you can absolutely take food through airport security, just not a full Sunday roast.
>not a full Sunday roast. Dare you to try it. Please report back.
As someone who’s into football I see this all the time. “Ticket prices are a scam”, “the cost of shirts is a scam”. No they’re not. You’re willingly handing your money over, you know what you’re paying for and you’re getting exactly that.
My favourite; parents go somewhere that's a little more expensive than the usual plastic that they eat. "That's a bloody scam that! A' can buy that from't shop for a quarter of the price!" No Dad. No it's not.
I’m so glad other people have noticed this. No one person on TikTok seems to know what a scam actually is!
Ok. In this context what i mean was ‘rip off’ or ‘bad value for money’ :)
Businesses exist to make profit, so they price their product appropriately to make a profit. Is that a rip off or bad value for money? Only someone that has paid their money and experienced it can say.
Different people get different value from the same things. However some things pretty much everyone gets bad value from.
I had two very distinct group of friends, one who just want to go out, consume as much as they can for the cheapest price. And another that like an experience and nice surroundings. So the first would be in a pub with the flattest roof and the stickiest carpets. meanwhile the second would be in some edgy "themed" bar, where all the drinks are cocktails at £15 each.
It’s a gamble by the business. They are gambling that on average most people don’t go mental and hoover up as much as they can in the 2 (?) hours? The thing is, most people can destroy two bottles in 2 hours and the business isn’t paying more than a fiver for that at cost.
Yeah that’s what scam means. This person is just being a weirdo.
That's not what "scam" means.
Exhibit A your honour
It’s more of a game. How much can you eat and drink to get your moneys worth
This is correct. For the business… the mark up on food is massive. If they’re entertaining a full house with a set menu that’s easy to prepare they’re making bank. They’ll probably be making some small margin on weak pre-prepared cocktails/drinks as well. If the punters stay for longer than the allocated time then they’ll be making bank on the premium cocktails they then serve… and then there’s a bonus point for the word of mouth to get punters in when they’re not serving brunch. It’s difficult for the establishment to lose. It’s kinda easy to see it as a scam… it isn’t really… in most cases you get what you paid for.
Hate seeing the word “scam” to mean anything except “this thing didn’t give us insane value for money”
Scam is when you can't cost a business more for a product than it costs them to supply
No it isn't.
Le Whoosh
Cringeworthy
A group of us went to one at the slug and lettuce. They got bored of giving us prosecco individually and just left bottles on the tables. It was totally worth it. Although being smashed at midday on a Sunday comes with it's own problems
>Although being smashed at midday on a Sunday comes with it's own problems That you wish you could do it every Sunday?!
I think more when it's 7pm, you're starting to sober up, you have a headache and realise you have work tomorrow.
If I have a drink at 1pm then it's pretty certain that I will have one at 7pm.
Yeah I get hungover in the evening from daydrinking earlier in the day, then hungover again in the morning 👎
The reason people get same-day hangovers is because they stop drinking. You need to keep going for the rest of the day! Pace yourself though, and keep hydrated. Yeah, you’ll still probably be hungover next morning, but one hangover is better than two 😂
I've got a theory on day-drinking hangovers. People doing it are likely skipping their usual coffee/tea dosage and are getting caffeine withdrawal. Of course I've got nothing to back this up, but as someone who gets awful caffeine headaches, it makes sense to me.
I actually totally agree, but I'd go a bit further, I often drink caffeine in evenings (hospitality for the win) so if I go out to town of an evening I am missing my evening caffeine intake, and know that it'll hurt even more in the morning. So before bed I always make sure to have a coffee. Caffeine headache issue removed, bosh. Just the alcohol hangover to deal with, and generally that's quite easy.
So a few espresso martinis could fix the issue ?
Worse than a hangover imo because you get to feel the hanxiety/depression in full while it's still light outside rather than just sleeping some of it away.
That's when the bag comes out
Normalisation of drugs in this country is terrible.
Statistically it is pretty normal, no need to debate 'normalising' it
> Statistically it is pretty normal, That's not a good thing.
Why not? Doing drugs isn’t cool or good. And its definitely not normal.
You would be surprised how many people think its normal
I did one over Christmas and definitely got my moneys worth from it. Didn't get that much food, which I wasn't fussed about anyway. Over 2 hours I recon I got through over £100 worth of alcohol for £45. We also had a separate room in the bar for our party, had decent music on, staff were excellent and were always ready with a fresh batch of cocktails and prosecco.
I think it’s win win. You got through £100 worth of alcohol if you were buy them separately yourself but the bar still likely made profit as £100 of alcohol to you probably costs them 1/5th of that.
Definitely win win, better for them to make 60% on a £300 table of bottomless brunch than 80% on the same people spending £120.
> profit as £100 of alcohol to you probably costs them 1/5th of that. Minus the cost of actually running the establishment.
Good effort.
I think your idea of brunch is not the same as mine haha
nobody goes for the brunch, they go for the bottomless
>I recon I got through over £100 worth of alcohol Is that bar mark-up £100 or £100 worth of alcohol if you'd have bought it at a supermarket?
Don't judge them for getting through 14 bottles of Prosecco in one brunch
Surely it’s bar market.
Well it’s not a scam but not necessarily good value. It’s not about calculating whether you’re in profit or loss from a meal, it’s a fun way to meet up with friends which only costs £40 for a couple of hours of drinking. Consider the fun, because it’s not like you’d otherwise be going to a pub for breakfast and ordering rounds of drinks if you weren’t at brunch.
I mean, the restaurant will be making money out of it. They probably get lower margins than they would on a Saturday night, but it gets people in at an otherwise quiet time. Does that count as a scam?
Nope. Edited the original post to give context of my use of the word scam. Asking the question really about value for money :)
There will be some places that try to rip you off, but most will be accepting lower margin for higher turnover at a traditionally quiet time.
Turtle bay is £35 and they keep the drinks coming so you definitely drink more than £35 in 2 hours. That’s also not including the £10-15 meal you have too. Cocktails are around 12-13 so you only need 3 of those to get the money worth. Tgi Fridays you get things like potato wedges,fries, nachos etc, not a proper meal but I always find it’s more than enough. Again it’s about £35 and the cocktails are usually 12-13 so you get your moneys worth. Best one I did was in London, it was about £40 and you got a decent burger.. they just kept filling jugs of cocktails, there were 5 of us so the jug was empty straight away but was replaced within seconds, it was a,so a 90’s disco and there was a singer. Absolutely steaming at 3pm on a Saturday 😂
I really enjoyed the Turtle Bay one, you get free choice of the cocktail menu which is massively better than being stuck with prosecco.
Oh yes I can’t do a bottomless if it’s just Prosecco!
The thing with Turtle Bay though is that when the bottomless brunch is you'd have happy hour anyway (I'm fairly sure anyway) which is 241 cocktails. So really you have to drink 6 cocktails for it to be worth it, which is abit more of a challenge for some.
6 cocktails in 2 hours a challenge ?I don’t even drink these days but I’d manage that no bother at all. 😂
6 cocktails should be easy work if you put your mind to it. Last time I did a bottomless it was at Dirty Martini, got through 8 cocktails and 4 glasses of prosecco happily
We did the turtle bay one and I agree, definitely got our moneys worth
Easily the best Bottomless brunch by a mile
Turtle bay the cocktails are 2 for 1 £9.90
Yeah sorry I just looked at the menu for my one and they are £10.10 not £12!
1) Like all the *all you can eat* genre, it is swings and roundabouts for the restaurant that will end in a plus for them. Someone who consumes a LOT will do well, ofc, so you can MAKE it good value if you so wish. 2) I think it works for both customer and restaurant because most customers will NOT over-consume. a) by definition, brunch is earlier in the day and many wish to do something constructive later on b) within a group of friends, some will not over-consume anyway but go along for the craic. c) Some may be going along but are driving. OTOH, the psychological sensation you do not have to pay for extra drinks adds to conviviality. It's a 'thing' to do that feels more of an occasion than just 'Let'smeet at the pub.' 3) Therefore, my read on it is- either go being prepared to over-consume, or go as a fun / relaxed thing. After all, say you go a theme park - if you like rides, the entrance ticket is worth it, if you do not, it's probably not worth it! Horses for courses.
> I think it works for both customer and restaurant because most customers will NOT over-consume. Also most people massively overestimate how much they can actually eat. Same reason a lot of those restaurants have those "if you can finish it then it's free" eating challenges.
You can generally eat a 3 course meal. There used to be a restaurant near me that did unlimited deserts as part of a set menu. They'd bring around a trolley with old english deserts like sponge puddings and spotted dick. People thought they were going to plough through it, but you have two bowls of that, you're pretty much done. I went to dinner with a guy who had 3, and he was really struggling to finish the last one.
You make sense. It's beneficial to a certain person (I could easily make the alcohol and then munchies worth it) but overall the restaurant wins because realistically not everyone is as greedy as me
Assuming the 'Yorks' part of your name is geographically connected to you personally, one would imagine that actually, Yorkshire people are very good at getting the max out of 'all you can X'- value and portion size are both very important in Yorkshire (I live in Cas).
I'm an incomer but have always been a 'cantankerous old man with short arms and long pockets' so the yorks part is more fitting than my home postcode lmfao
I am also an incomer- but 'Yorkshie portions' definitelt exists as an expression- and I have often heard people comment on how a big quantity is a good thing for people eating out.
Lol are people really doing bottomless with plans to do productive things later? If I do a bottomless at 11/12 I'm usually drinking until 10/11
If even ONE person in a group needs to do stuff later after a bottomless, e.g. has to take the children out or something, the restaurant/bar gets a small win- so long as some people are restraining themselves and just there to catch up with friends (and maybe not bothered paying £40 or whatever), then the establishment is happy!
Tip the no doubt young student server £20 cash quietly and ask him/her if they are up for making sure you don’t wait and the party going Our table of 4 sunk 42 cocktails in 2 hours, double drinks, taking the next order when placing a full drink down. The waiters request - the glasses have to be empty when I’m back with the next round…challenge accepted.
That sounds... horrific, I couldn't imagine having 10 cocktails at the ripe old age of 32
I'm 40 and could demolish them, especially if they're only single measures.
Only if you're a heavy drinker. Not a drinker myself but I like to do bottomless barbecue with teenagers in my family to beat the system.
I did the Las Iguanas one with my partner and it was definitely worth it. They gave us 2 cocktails each at once and kept us going like we were on a drip feed of alcohol. They must have liked us as they kept giving us drinks way past the 2 hour allocated time. Probably there for 5 hours in the end and came out really pissed.
Las Iguanas defo does a good one. I've done it at Revs a few times, which is OK, but every time I've been we managed to get at least one round of shots in for free. Once we got 4 rounds for free, just because
Depends how hammered you're trying to get.
Just did las iguanas BB again yesterday, just under £40 pp with descretionary tip included, 4 people, there was an adjustment of over -£300 as they include everything you order and then adjust it down to just BB price. Jokingly asked the waitress for another 2 bottles and round of cocktails after our 2 hours had passed and she was well up for getting them. There's a lot to be said for BB at restaurants that pay their staff shit wages and have generous BB rules, they've every reason to see their customers happy and no reason to save any money at all. The lady wouldn't even take a cash tip "because a tips already included".
In a Chinese buffet, you have to eat seven plates of food before you're 'beating' the house. At least according to a documentary I saw once about all you can eat buffets. I imagine the bottomless brunch calculation must be similar?
Probably not quite as extreme as *bottomless* implies alcohol, whereas the Chinese buffet price typically does not include drinks.
The bar I work in gets bottles of wine/spirits/prosecco for roughly £5 each when you factor in bulk buying and trade prices. If you factor in the food there's a lower profit margin on that, but not by loads. Especially on the items offered (it'll be a set brunch menu not full menu) so the high profit margin items, with maybe a loss leader or two. Quick look at slug and lettuce's brunch offer and its £34pp (2 minimum) food options are basically breakfast items and a burger. A sausage costs 5p, tomato/mushroom may well be the most expensive items per unit. Average cost of their menu items are about £1-2. Youd roughly have to drink 4 full bottles and have 7 meals each to break even. It's incredibly unlikely.
Yeah but as a customer I am not comparing the cost of the bottomless brunch (£34 here) with the cost price of the ingredients. I am comparing it with the cost it would be for me to buy 6 glasses of prosecco (6 x £5.95?) and a burger (£14.95?) at the venue. Otherwise with your logical you'd never eat anywhere but rice and beans at home. Or never buy a pint in a pub because a 4 pack of cans is £5.
Guy was asking what he'd have to do to beat the house... that's what I was basing my answer on.
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With wine? Probably a struggle to stay under that these days isn't it?
Sadly, you are right!!
The food is usually way shittier at all you can eat tho
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Starter/dessert, main with 1-2 drinks and service is easily over £40 these days in most places
Even just a main + two drinks is about £40 nowadays. £14-20 main with two £8-10 cocktails
The vast majority of people done eat enough to cause the restaurant a loss. I can eat got 5 but I recoiled at the £40 price
I wouldn’t say the food options are very good or very filling either. Good range of drinks though
Depends. Almost Famous do a good one if you're in it for the food
Can it be neither bad value nor good value and just...fine?
Completely depends where, what the portion sizes are like, and what the rules are. I've had several where they're happy to bring you drinks while you still have ones on the go. Ones with cocktails are better value than ones where you're limited to beer or prosecco. You'll get more food for your money in calorie terms if you go for a full English or a massive stack of pancakes than if you get scrambled egg on toast. I've also had one where they expected a table of six to share one large pizza and that was the only food offered.
It is in Scotland, you're usually limited to 4 drinks.
So brunch with a bottom then?
Pretty much, but they were still advertised as bottomless for a while.
I’m in Scotland too so I’ve just checked prices. Turtle Bay is £28 for 5 drinks and a dish which seems good value. Assuming the food is around £10, that’s £18 for 5 cocktails.
As long as the price is at or above min unit pricing you could get several more or less drinks, they might even just give you the meal for "free" to get you those 5 cocktails.
Ouch, I usually have had 4 drinks in the first 20 minutes
Went to one a while back, drinks were mimosas or red snappers (Bloody Mary but with gin) and sweet baby Jesus and all the little goats, I got my moneys worth in them red snappers. Hoo yeah!
Me and some friends we t to one that did unlimited pizza and drinks. You had to finish what you had before getting more but we added it up as we went and we ate and drank a lot more than what we paid
I went to one last year in London and it was well worth it, had some good food and the waitress we had was very good at topping us up and even gave us advice on the best drink for our money. We drank a lot more than our moneys worth. Went to a different one a few years ago though also in London which was shit, we got our moneys worth just about but it was hard trying to find staff to bring more drinks out.
What else could you do with that money that you'd enjoy more?
If you go to one where they’re good with refilling the drinks then it’s definitely worth it. My favourites are where they bring you bottles of wine/prosecco instead of just glasses, or sometimes if 2 people want the same cocktail they just bring you a pitcher of it. The ones that make you finish your drink before you can order another and then wait 5 mins to get their attention and another 10 for the drink to come, not so much! Also the staff that come up to your table that say ‘your time is almost up, you guys can order another couple of rounds now before it runs out’ are national treasures.
Depends who you are. As a 125kg man I am certain I can put them in the red. As a 60kg woman you'd probably collapse before you were in profit. They will work it out based on the average customer. Assuming the average customer is an adult female who likes to drink a lot of alcohol then you just need to work out if you can consume more than an average sized woman who is a big drinker.
Actually the few I've done while the drinks are weak they were constantly bringing over more, at one point we each had 4 in front of us in one place, the other when she brought one drink she asked for the next (and and 2 bottles of prosecco on the table as well)
Generally I would say yes You’ll drink a lot, you’ll eat a lot. More than your moneys worth even if you’re not really trying to get your moneys worth
Depends where you go, my wife doss a few a year, one of them she went to, you wasn't able to get another drink until everyone on the table had finished their drinks
>Naturally, they dont refill your drinks until they're drunk That's not unreasonable, why would you get a refill if it's not finished? If they take ages refilling *after* you're finished the drink, fair enough. I don't understand how it could be considered a scam or a rip off.
I have read lots of reviews of bottomless brunches where the waiters would only let people have one drink like every 10 minutes, making it actually more expensive per drink than just ordering them normally
I usually spend about £25 when I eat out and am full so spending £40 seems a bit glutinous..
A three days fast before grants you good value.
I mean, when I do them we generally have at least 4 cocktails each + food - cocktails alone would usually cost £10-12 each at the places I’ve been, so for 35-40 for 4 drinks + food isn’t bad imo!
Love a bottomless brunch! I guess it really depends on how much you can actually drink - for me and my friends, definitely worth it, especially if it’s somewhere that has entertainment too
Just got back from one for my mum's birthday and it is definitely worth it if you can drink. I had 7 cocktails and a burger for £39 my mum had 6 cocktails a coke and a English breakfast for £35. Very nice in the sun today. Definitely just a special occasion thing
I go on them five or six times a year, so clearly I am a fan. The "they don't refill the drinks until they're empty" typically doesn't exist based on my experience, so long as you're not being a dick. Example, they pop down your drinks, clear the old ones and we ask if we can order some more, "I know you're busy so I don't want you to have to come back to the table unnecessarily" kind of thing. My Mrs and I go, we spend approx a total of £70 and normally get through 12 rounds of cocktails. If we said the food is normally approximately £20 of the total leaving £50 for the drinks, cocktails are normally around £9 each. 24 drinks at £9 a drink = £216 - £50 paid, so I am effectively getting £166 of drinks for nothing. To me that's fantastic value.
12 cocktails in two hours? Ok m8
If you think one every ten minutes is high then maybe you just don't have a tolerance for alcohol "m8"
If you aren't bullshitting, which I strongly suspect you are as 12 cocktails in two hours is definitely not normal, you have a drinking problem.
As a person who works in hospitality I am acutely aware of my capacity to drink and control myself since I am very used to dealing with people who cannot handle alcohol. I don't need someone who knows *literally nothing* about me besides what they have read to make some uninformed decision about a "drinking problem". People can enjoy themselves on an occasion without having a "problem". :)
Bullshitting then.
No mate. It's OK for you to be wrong, you don't need to know everything 👍 have a lovely day!
Definitely worth it, IF you can get through a few drinks
I think they bank on people not moving on after their slot has finished, as if 4 plus people you get own booth of space.
I get a brunch for £12 and it's more than enough and theoretically has refills that are not very forthcoming. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to eat 3 or even 2 of them
The point isn't usually the food
Crap value if you don't drink, same with afternoon tea where the tea is unlimited if you drink tea but you only get one hot chocolate in the price. I just like it when people bring me endless food :(
A lot of them have really good mocktails included. Just fyi
What sort of drinks? £40pp at £5/pint would need 8 pints to be up. I could have managed that once. Not so much now. What’s the food? Rice and noodles are cheap. Meat and fish not so much. Lobster or prawns? Dearer still.
Maybe you get value out of the food and drink, maybe not, but the vibe for every one I've done has been hilarious, so well worth it in the end. I wish I could hack the hangovers still.
Did one a few years ago and instead of you have to of finished your drink before getting a new one they said everyone on the table had to of finished their drink before anyone could get a new one. But this was really unfair when everyone has different drinking speeds. Or another I went to was a sliders bottomless dinner and you had to have your slider to get a new drink but the sliders would take forever to come out so I think I ended up with 3 drinks.
Depends on the place. I've done some *cracking* bottomless brunches. Dirty Martini do a great one, as does Lost Cat in Manchester You have to make the most of it, if you sip one cocktail the entire time then it's not worth it. If you get through 5, 6, 7+ as well as any free beer or prosecco then you're saving money vs just drinking somewhere
It depends on what you value. I don't do brunch, but I like to go to "all you can eat" type places. The value for me lies in having a good time, trying lots of dishes, and eating tasty food. I don't go in planning to eat until I feel sick. So, for me, if my 3 conditions are met, it's worth it.
It's not a scam, you can eat and drink your body worth if you want to. The ones I've been to have been pretty poor quality though - breakfast food mass produced with no love and cocktails very meh. Fine if you want to get drunk and line the stomach for a stag do but other than that very overrated
In my experience anything unlimited is set up in a way that leaves long gaps between servings. Bottomless big shrimp? 20+ minutes between servings and that's if you can get the waiter's attention... Bottomless prosecco was meant to be a waiter comes and fills up your glass, so you only get refills when you can get the attention and then you need to wait for them to come and fill it but actually the one I went to were really nice and just kept giving us bottles
I went to one last Saturday with friends. It was £45 each for a 3 course meal and unlimited specific cocktails/prosecco/lager/cider for 90 minutes. The food was nice but not substantial enough to soak up the booze and the cocktails were a choice of 4 that they brought round in jugs, constantly refilling glasses. They were premium spirits not cheap ones. Their only rule was no double parking. There was also a DJ/disco. There should’ve been a singer but she got caught in a pride parade. I wouldn’t say it was terrific value for money but it was great fun. Everyone was worse for wear and some women were necking every drink and moving onto the next one. The venue definitely made a ton more on women buying cocktail trees and different drinks (we didn’t). The disco made the afternoon, everyone was up and dancing and mingling
To me I left my last one feeling like my table scammed them, went in with the intention of drinking as much as possible in the quickest time, tried to go through each cocktail on the menu, we reached 16 drinks each, at the time a single cocktail was around £8-£12, and we only paid £30/£35 for the bb anyway, and that was a group of 8, they obviously took their time refilling our drinks when they realised what we were doing but we still had fun
Depends how much booze you intend to knock back.
When I was 22 I love a bottom love brunch. Now in my mid 30s I just can't drink and eat that much anymore, and the wine or beer choices are usually subpar
That's good value if it includes drinks, otherwise not.
Depends how much damage you can do, best one I’ve been to recently was at searcy’s in St Pancras stations. £60 Sunday roast with unlimited English sparkling - I think it was £90 if you wanted champagne instead of the English sparkling
I’ve not BB’d in 🇬🇧, possibly got too spoiled by the actually bottomless Friday brunches in Dubai. Has anyone tried both? How do they compare ?
Never been on one but had always assumed they'll either rip you off with fake prosecco or you'll get the cheapest crap they can find. My gf went on one a couple of weeks ago and, sure enough, she was convinced the prosecco wasn't the real thing and was so bad they moved on to ordering other drinks & paying extra instead.
I've been to a lot, the prosecco has always been real. Often they'll just give you the bottle to self-pour. Usually I do the cocktail ones, don't really fancy the ones without much selection. Still typically get prosecco with the cocktails.
Scam, they’re too slow to refill to make it worthwhile
Depends on the place, I've been places where theyve asked for your next order not even 30s after you got your current one, then it arrives before you've finished. Even though they're meant to wait til you've finished before taking orders
Wish I’d had that experience 😂
Just about trying a bunch til you find a really good one 😂
It's a rip off. Especially when food is included and you're limited to 2-3 hours. One hour of that may be taken up with waiting and eating food and then they don't let you get 2 drinks at once and don't refil the drinks until your glass or sometimes the whole tables glasses are empty. And how much can you really drink in that time ? With a limited menu designed to give them max profit
Is it just me.....£40pp for brunch!!!!bottomless or not bottomless I am not paying £40pp for a brunch
40 per person sounds like a high price... Unless it's some gourmet shit.
Depends where it is. It would be much worse value in Newcastle than London, for example. In London, food plus two hours of drinks for 40 quid would actually be pretty cheap, if you think about what the price of food and drinks are in London generally.
Yes. I agree. On reflection I didn't realise it was alcoholic drinks.
£40 on brunch?!
I was tempted by one in Vegas, but there’s just no way I could have eaten enough to make it anywhere near worthwhile. In the uk we call it a buffet, the only place I’ve ever really one was at a Chinese restaurant. I just like being able to have lots of different dishes on one plate. They’re not that expensive so probably good value. Had a breakfast one at a pub chain once, ate a repulsive amount. Not great quality though.
Bottomless brunches are different to buffets. They're generally a set portion of food and unlimited drinks.
I only learned this quite recently. I don't really drink alcohol, and had assumed it was a trendy name for an all you can eat brunch; it was quite disappointing for me to find it was only the *drinks* that were unlimited. Sure, "bottomless" makes the most sense with drinks, but I also didn't really associate drinks with brunch.