All You Cannot Eat

Swiss Restaurant Penalizes Diners Who Don’t Lick Buffet Plates Clean

Finish it! (Or pay the price.)
Finish it! (Or pay the price.) Photo: iStockphoto

Starting this week, the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet at Patrizietta in Losone, Switzerland, comes with an optional add-on: a punitive 5-franc fine ($5.65) if you don’t want to eat everything you plopped on your plate. According to Swiss paper 20 Minuten, it’s “down in black and white on the menu,” so customers who leave remnants of the 12-franc buffet shouldn’t be startled to find an almost 50 percent surcharge on the bill. “I wanted to send a strong signal,” says chef Giovanni Tafuro, who couldn’t believe how much food lunch patrons were leaving on their plates when he took over the kitchen last month. The waste-reduction policy, which now has the local restaurant association’s backing, is certainly a bolder strategy than composting, and one that’s best left in portion-size-appropriate Europe. American waistlines probably don’t need a financial incentive to eat more, after all, right? [The Local, 20 Minuten]

Swiss Restaurant Penalizes Diners Who Don’t Lick Buffet Plates Clean