Rude? Thoughtless? Or not about me?

[TheBeachHouse]

We have five rooms. Two of them have three people. So I made breakfast for twelve. A few of them are large people. So a hefty twelve. And I spent nearly an hour cutting watermelon into stars for my Memorial Day red white and blue fruit bowl. It is eight o’clock and two of the rooms have checked out. But, but, but.....I made you breakfast! Sigh. We offer an early bird breakfast to go. Not a word.

So it’s breakfast for seven. No worries about portion size. Take as much as you like.

 

[Morticia]

Not about you. But, it would have been nice had they mentioned ‘no breakfast.’ OTOH, almost every guest we’ve ever had has thought breakfast was ‘to order’ so nothing would be wasted if they didn’t have breakfast.

‘Rude’ is walking out the door without saying a word and we watch as you drive away and wonder if you’re just running to the store and will be back for breakfast. A lot of our guests go for a hike before they eat so the running out the door is not unusual.

 

[Morticia]

And, those watermelon stars were cute!

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Today she was worse. Gluten free, dairy free, can’t eat eggs, except I can if they’re cooked into something like gf pancakes, oh! And tree nuts. Can’t eat tree nuts, so your gf/vegan granola is out cuz of the pecans.
Fine. I bought gf donuts and soy yogurt for the continental buffet and made gf oatmeal cookies. Today’s breakfast is “baked omelet “ with cheddar cheese and I made gf pancakes.

Who wants to guess what she took from the buffet? The omelette! Yep. I said, I thought you couldn’t eat eggs. She said, I shouldn’t, but sometimes I do.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

And I used applesauce in the pancakes instead of milk (as I’ve learned here.).

 

[Morticia]

Nope. You get one chance here. Day one tell me something you never thought to mention in the weeks preceding your arrival and I’ll deal with it. Day two you can pick through what’s on your plate.

We stopped posting the menu because of these people! They’d come up with reasons overnight why they couldn’t eat something.

I know I’ve mentioned the guest who told us no caffeine, no gluten, no dairy, no meat, no sugar who explained she drove 1200 miles to get here stopping only to pee and load up on coffee and donuts. We built a whole menu around her restrictions.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

The posted menu for today lists gluten free/ vegan waffles with homemade strawberry syrup, bacon, gf oatmeal cookies and yogurt parfait bar.

As DH is cooking the bacon and I’m stirring the homemade strawberry syrup, I head into the breakfast room to put out the serving utensils and find a note. “Had to leave early. Thanks for a great stay!”

At least I have the knowledge that the waffles are frozen, and we can serve the bacon tomorrow. But, I did go to a lot of trouble for her and the only things she ate were standard fare. One day out of four.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Oh! Forgot one detail. Did I tell you she’s a ‘life coach.’

 

[Eugee2]

I always tell people about bfast and the times I serve and when the coffee is available and some will use that to say they don’t have bfast or “don’t make too much” etc. When they know you are going to the trouble for them it is considerate to say you won’t be having it for whatever reason. Yes it’s rude but it happens occasionally- I have a picture of FDR in my dining room and even that could be a trigger these days altho I avoid politics generally. It could be the buddha carving in another room a friend gave me (altho I’m not buddhist) after all these years tbh I really don’t care but you get a thick skin and bite your tongue a lot working with the public..

 

[KenW]

I really don't know how you do it by giving them options. My take is....Here's what's for breakfast...take it or leave it. Never got a bad review about it.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

I really don't know how you do it by giving them options. My take is....Here's what's for breakfast...take it or leave it. Never got a bad review about it.

It’s a buffet. People love options. But it’s always one main dish. It makes more sense when we have more than two rooms, though.

 

[gillumhouse]

Entrée is cook's choice. They get to choose their meat and country of coffee - both must be done in advance - so I can take the meat out of the freezer and roast the coffee beans. They know what is being done for them. In 25 years, only one couple did not stay for breakfast

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Additional update. She seems to have eaten the chocolate chip welcome cookies in her room. At least we find no eveidenc of them in the welcome basket or the trash.

 

[Jay Curci]

I really don't know how you do it by giving them options. My take is....Here's what's for breakfast...take it or leave it. Never got a bad review about it.

Same here! When it's ham Egg and Cheese - with Ham - No meat - no cheese etc... could end up scrambled egg or egg whites - Same items with options.
And People love our breakfasts also - special diet - no problem but need to know in advance. Pre-Covid we provided English Muffins, bagels etc... self-serve to toast etc.. That provided BULK for those who like a larger breakfast or not interested in todays selection. Overall, People are very pleased to have freshly prepared breakfast.

 

[theinnonthird]

As we are on the subject of breakfast... Has anybody gone back to self serve buffets yet? We have 20 guest rooms and have gotten extremely busy again (thank God). Due to Covid we have been plating everything in our kitchen and then serve to the guest. Granted, our breakfast is only continental, but it still is a ton of work. We are looking forward to returning to the self serve buffet. Did some research online and there are so many news articles saying buffets are a thing of the past... And no other hotel/inn in our area is even doing what we are doing. They simply offer plastic wrapped grab and go options, which is a "cheap" looking option we do not want to do.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Last update. We pride ourselves on anticipating every diet and offering something for everyone. Yesterday’s diet? Leto!
On our buffet? Pancakes, oatmeal, fruit..... BACON! You can have bacon. And yogurt.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

Big yes! We gave up our buffet for covid and plated and served the food. Hot food with a fruit starter. Massachusetts lifted all restrictions as of May 29 and we served a buffet on May 29. No one has balked.

The only change we made is the addition of hand sanitizer on the buffet. I have no idea if anyone is using it. But it’s there if you want it.

 

[gillumhouse]

I just serve "family-style" as I always have. Folks take as much or as little as they want. There is alwys plenty of food.

 

[Jay Curci]

We have five rooms. Two of them have three people. So I made breakfast for twelve. A few of them are large people. So a hefty twelve. And I spent nearly an hour cutting watermelon into stars for my Memorial Day red white and blue fruit bowl. It is eight o’clock and two of the rooms have checked out. But, but, but.....I made you breakfast! Sigh. We offer an early bird breakfast to go. Not a word.

So it’s breakfast for seven. No worries about portion size. Take as much as you like.

We try an interact during check as much as possible in to give them direction and history of the property - Dinner recommendations - best places to visit etc... then we a discuss breakfast - times - allergies etc.. Once they are warmed up and comfortable information flows easier and Guests open up about there morning plans. Smile - It's all good. We live in the best Country on earth. Grateful J IAM

 

[Morticia]

@theinnonthird Buffets are back here. The hotel next door is pushing it on their Facebook page. It’s quite the deal, tho. They have 100 rooms so trying grab and go was tough.

Even though our buffet is only the drinks part of breakfast, it was a relief to me to not have to run back and forth, inside tables and outside as well, with coffee, tea, water, juice. We also have hand sanitizer on the buffet. No one has used it.