Final Word: All you can eat is rarely a healthy meal option
Jul 7, 2014, 9:13 PM | Updated: 9:13 pm
I have bad news: for the rest of the summer, you can eat basically all you want at TGI Fridays.
Appetizers, that is.
The restaurant chain has instituted an unlimited-appetizers plan. Choose an appetizer from the list of favorites (yes, that includes the potato skins,) boneless wings, and mozzarella sticks and get unlimited refills.
Sharing is officially discouraged, but the chain said its servers “aren’t policemen” so in actuality, you can bring eight friends for all the wings you can throw down.
You should probably bring all the friends you have, too, because this will be the undoing of that better eating plan you had been meaning to begin.
That’s what I mean about bad news. We in America cannot handle the responsibility of free food.
We will ride this free-refills train right into the ground and we won’t think twice because of all the potato skins we got for $12.99.
I know, there are some people who can walk by the office party where they are serving cake and say no thanks, but there are too many Americans who can’t.
Those Americans should probably avoid TGIF til October.
The amount of sugar and fat in the typical restaurant meal is already in the danger zone, so if we upsize our appetizers, we are clearly headed for trouble.
Friday’s tried this plan out in Cincinnati a few months ago and managers there said few people took advantage of the promotion by sharing or over-ordering. But sales at the restaurant went up nearly double digits.
I rest my case.
This might seem like an oversimplification, (OK, it’s CLEARLY pretty simple, but …) all-you-can-eat policies often lead to people eating all they can.
And that’s the last thing we need.
