Thoughts on "holding" quick service tables?

[jaklgreen]

Pretty sure most of the stuff in QS restaurants is parcooked, so it only needs a few mins on the grill/in the warmer to serve.

I think you completely missed the point. You can still only physically put out so much at one time. It is like the people who call up a restaurant and want food for 30 people in and hour and a half and you tell them that is not enough time. They say, " well it is on 30 people", yes your 30 people plus the 80 other meals we need to make for everyone else who ordered, oh and the actual physical act of putting everything together. Things just take time. Have you ever watched them work back there? They are going full speed constantly putting out food at the busy times. I always say, if you think that you can get stuff out faster, have at it.

 

[donsullivan]

The bottom line of all of this, whether anyone likes it or not is that taking a table before you've received your food reduces the overall hourly seating capacity of a restaurant. For the sake of discussion (these numbers are arbitrary to illustrate a point), if it takes the average party 20 minutes to consume what they've ordered and move on with their day, one can assume that each table has a capacity of 3 parties per hour. If however, someone sits at that table without food for 10 minutes before the food arrives then that table can only support 2 parties per hour. As a result, that behavior has reduced the hourly seating capacity of that table by 50%. When you get dozens and dozens of people doing the same thing it 'dramatically' reduces the hourly seating capacity of a restaurant resulting that annoying walk with a tray looking for a place to sit as people without food are tying up countless tables.

When a restaurant is slow this isn't an issue that impacts guests. However, when it's busy many feel an increased need to rush to 'save a table' which causes the problem and it starts to feed on itself making it worse. This is exactly why places like Cosmic Ray's and Pecos Bill restrict entrances and access to seating areas until your group has their food on busy days.

 

[UncleMike101]

When you eat at a table service restaurant don't you sit down, order your food, then eat the food when it's brought to you?
Or would you rather have the waitress take your order, bring it to you, then you look for a place to sit and eat it??
Consider a party of, oh let's say eight. (That'll be our party size in June)
And let's think of them dining at The Electric Umbrella.
Exactly where should they, and the dozens of other dining parties, wait for a table to open up so they can eat their meal?
There's barely room to walk as it it in that place and if a few dozen parties are patrolling the premises for a place to homestead for lunch it would be impossible to avoid bumping into others with the resulting temper flares.
Imagine the fights that would erupt when two or more parties zero in on an empty table at the same time and all demand "First Right Of Refusal" on the property.
I don't agree that groups should park and spend the afternoon at a table, which I've seen several inconsiderate butt nuggets do, but to keep groups, especially those with small children, from securing a table while one or two adults procure the food is asking for some large headaches.
At least with the current set up people can choose to either go to another place if all tables are taken or adjust their eating schedule to a less hectic time.

 

[xdan0920]

1 person orders the rest go sit. This isn’t difficult. Holding a table for 5 minutes while you wait for your food is hardly a problem. A bigger problem is the people who linger.

 

[Chi84]

This practice is so commonplace and widespread that I don't see what good it does discussing whether people should do it. People are doing it - all the time and in every counter service restaurant. As far as I know, there's no rule or policy against it. The question is what, if anything, can or should be done about it, and that falls squarely on Disney. We go during less busy times when it is not so difficult to find a table (we don't go to the most popular restaurants, though). Disney isn't going to do something to fix a problem that doesn't exist. When it is busy, or for perpetually busy restaurants, Disney can stop people from going to a table until after they've ordered. As far as I can tell, the only problem is that they don't implement this policy as often as it's needed. If there are several people circling with food and no table, then it's a problem and it should be addressed. If enough people contact Disney and complain about it, maybe they will start implementing the no-food, no-table solution more readily.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Even the world’s busiest theme park has unused and under used dining facilities

 

[Chi84]

View attachment 357489

Someone started a thread once during Food and Wine asking for the dimensions of the trash can tops so she could make tablecloths that fit.

 

[larryz]

I think you completely missed the point. You can still only physically put out so much at one time. It is like the people who call up a restaurant and want food for 30 people in and hour and a half and you tell them that is not enough time. They say, " well it is on 30 people", yes your 30 people plus the 80 other meals we need to make for everyone else who ordered, oh and the actual physical act of putting everything together. Things just take time. Have you ever watched them work back there? They are going full speed constantly putting out food at the busy times. I always say, if you think that you can get stuff out faster, have at it.

I was addressing your point about only being able to cook things so fast... they've already figured out how to cook things quicker.

 

[John park hopper]

This practice is so commonplace and widespread that I don't see what good it does discussing whether people should do it. People are doing it - all the time and in every counter service restaurant. As far as I know, there's no rule or policy against it. The question is what, if anything, can or should be done about it, and that falls squarely on Disney. We go during less busy times when it is not so difficult to find a table (we don't go to the most popular restaurants, though). Disney isn't going to do something to fix a problem that doesn't exist. When it is busy, or for perpetually busy restaurants, Disney can stop people from going to a table until after they've ordered. As far as I can tell, the only problem is that they don't implement this policy as often as it's needed. If there are several people circling with food and no table, then it's a problem and it should be addressed. If enough people contact Disney and complain about it, maybe they will start implementing the no-food, no-table solution more readily.

The solution seems pretty simple as the crowds at Disney continue to grow it's not the guests who need to solve this lack of seating ---Disney here is a novel solution --provide more tables

 

[TongaToast21]

Just curious to see which QS restaurants you think highlight this problem the most? Truthfully Casey's (given its location) and Woody's (new option) were the inspiration for this thread.

 

[donaldtoo]

 

[CaptainAmerica]

1 person orders the rest go sit.

That's a tough haul depending on the party size. I'd say:

Party size / 4 = Number of transactions
Party size / 2 = Number of tray-runners

Often I'm in a group of 8 or 9. We split into two groups for ordering so we don't confuse the cashier, and we send two people for each order to help manage the trays, especially now that drinks don't come with lids.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just curious to see which QS restaurants you think highlight this problem the most? Truthfully Casey's (given its location) and Woody's (new option) were the inspiration for this thread.

It's honestly just Casey's and whatever is brand new. Even Satu'li Canteen has settled down at this point. At Christmas it's a problem everywhere, but the CMs won't let you sit without food when it's that bad.

 

[jaklgreen]

I was addressing your point about only being able to cook things so fast... they've already figured out how to cook things quicker.

By my saying cooking, I was using that as a general term for how long it takes to put something out from start to finish. Unless they invent a food replicator, like in Star Trek, it is still going to take a certain amount of time to get your food that nothing can speed up. How many years did you work in food service that you know how things are done? Just curious.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The solution seems pretty simple as the crowds at Disney continue to grow it's not the guests who need to solve this lack of seating ---Disney here is a novel solution --provide more tables

Just adding more tables won’t fix the problem. Kitchens have a ceiling to their output. More tables means more people waiting for food, exasperating the problem of reduced turnover as people wait for food.

 

[xdan0920]

Just adding more tables won’t fix the problem. Kitchens have a ceiling to their output. More tables means more people waiting for food, exasperating the problem of reduced turnover as people wait for food.

Truly, Disney has no desire to solve the problem. They don’t want short lines and easy seating, that implies overstaffing. Disney wants to do the absolute bare minimum, they have no interest in going above and beyond in the interest of the “guest”.

 

[MissingDisney]

Just curious to see which QS restaurants you think highlight this problem the most? Truthfully Casey's (given its location) and Woody's (new option) were the inspiration for this thread.

And the other/same thread, too?

 

[TongaToast21]

the disboard one? I wanted to get as much breadth as possible on the subject. and truthfully much tamer here on WDWmagic

 

[Bartledvd]

Maybe it has just been bad luck on my part but i have had to walk around looking for tables a quite a few spots.
ABC commissary (last time i went you had to have food to get a seat it was great)
Cosmic rays
Pecos bills
Columbia harbour
Flame tree
Electric umbrella
The mara

And im sure a few others but these one come to my mind as often they had tables with people and no food.

 

[eliza61nyc]

I think that if you go at peak time and you see that there are people walking around with their food looking for a place to sit, then you should not do that. If you really need to send the kids with dad and grandma to go sit down, then go and eat at an off time, which is what we did when the kids were young. There were plenty of empty tables free so it did not inconvenience anyone. A little common courtesy goes a long way.

This is us, personally though my family and I try very hard NOT to eat at what we jokingly call "prime grazing hours". We simply don't like crowds. so we'll have a big breakfast and then we only need a snack for lunch or we'll have what we call late lunch/early dinner.

but if the place is packed no I try not to hold seats.