Where's the beef? Not on Mouse Buffets.

[epcotWSC]

Quite frankly, I don't expect great food when I go to a buffet. Also I was never really a fan of the prime rib that was served at them either. If you compare the so called prime rib served at any of the buffets and compare it to the one served at Cinderella's Royal Table, it's no contest.

If you want good food you go to a real restaurant with a waiter/waitress and such, not a buffet. I'm more concerned with the crap quality food at Tutto Italia than no Prime Rib at the Buffets.

 

[amjt660]

Hello all
Long time lurker (about 5 years)
First time poster (had to add my two cents on this one)

I will not make any direct reference to anyone (want to play nice)

I work as a mfg engineer for an overseas automaker and our continual focus is kaizen (continuous improvement).

Disney does kaizen but not always well. I agree with the majority that they are focusing on reduction of cost but are sacrificing on quality.

I have been taught/brainwashed to focus on the following:

1) Safety : Healthy and happy makes for an excellent start
2) Quality : Produce a Quality product and your create a strong reputation is the next step
3) Productivity : Work / produce efficiently and avoid waste
4) Cost : Reduce cost to produce and maintain but not increase selling cost to increase profit

Disney is cutting cost on the food services side of its business but at the same time quality/selection is down and cost are going up.

Over the past 7 years I have visited WDW 5 times with my family of 4. We have been using the DDP during the last 3 visits because of convenience. However due to falling quality we will not use it again.

I would love to get a shot at analyzing there business plan and really drilling down on their costs/waste streams to make truly good kaizens.

 

[Wilt Dasney]

Hello all
Long time lurker (about 5 years)
First time poster (had to add my two cents on this one)

You've spent five years hanging out here and the prime rib argument is what finally draws you into the ring? :lookaroun

Maybe I underestimated the resonance of this controversy.

(Welcome aboard, though. I tease. A little.) :wave:

 

[HauntedPirate]

On one hand, I find the removal of prime rib another knock against WDW and a continuation of the lower-quality-for-higher-prices dining nonsense that's only accelerated since the introduction of the DDP. As was posted earlier - I don't want an apple or carrots with my burger, I want fries. Stop trying to force "healthy eating" down our throats, pardon the pun - I'm on vacation, darn it, I'll make the choices of what I do and do not eat. Half of the "healthy food" they serve is most likely sprayed with pesticides and chemicals and isn't even half as good for you as "the experts" claim.

On the other hand, I don't really care for prime rib that much. Now and then it's nice, but overall it's not my cut of beef. Now, a Kobe New York strip? I'm alllllll over that.

 

[Phonedave]

Would you expect to pay the same price for a hanger steak as a filet mignon though?

From the same cow, in the same restaruant, no

In any other case, it really depends. You can get filet that is from canner grade beef (well, no you can't, becuase it's not released for general sale, but you get the idea)

There is also the skill of the chef and kitchen to consider. The hangar steak and fries I had last week was $25

http://www.oldemillinn.com/documents/GrainHouseAutumnMenuAmendedDEC2008.pdf

Notice there is also a filet on the menu for $32, but it comes with a potato gratain and spinach

I had a strip loin this Thursday (at a different place) that was $35 and all it came with was a baked potato (but it was a 16 oz strip)

It all depends on the quality of the meat, the overhead of the place, and what they can get for it.

That's why places like Sizzler offer prime rib with potato and veg for $8.99

-dave

 

[WDW1974]

I wonder if any of you guys really have a clue about quality. You seem content to accept each cut WDW makes with a smile. You may think I as well as others have a Chicken Little attitude, and you're welcome to your opinion. At least some of us refuse to accept lowering standards. I plan on crying the sky is falling until people understand that it just might be. Let me ask you a question. At what point do you suggest that people complain about the cuts being made at WDW, since folks with a que sera, sera attitude like yourself, intend to say nothing.

So true ... you are da bomb here.

I believe some where in the recent past (eight years maybe?) people have become conditioned to ... for lack of a better term ... 'defend the man.'

When even the Disney chef is telling the writer that there is a cost savings involved ... well, you can take that to mean there is likely a SIGNIFICANT cost savings involved.

And how much has Boma gone up in seven years. I believe when it opened it was $15.99 for dinner ... now it's $28.99 ... now, I fully expect people to jump in and talk about Disney's costs yada, yada, drivel, drivel ... and stuff like that just allows Disney to further diminish its product.

People here keep missing the point.

It isn't about prime rib. It's about the BEEF in Disney's product. Where's the quality gone? And do people even realize what they've lost?

Like I said, you've got people who insist on playing 'Know Your Cuts of Beef' home edition like it somehow validates their points.

The frigging prime rib was a staple of buffets (and is still at non-Disney ones) for decades for a reason. Disney has cut it for a reason -- to save money.

It is disgusting and disengenuous that the Mouse spins it that out of all the complaints Disney gets the one they just had to act on was people because the prime rib was too thick and it prevented them from trying other offerings.

What intelligent person in their right mind believes Disney got more than a handful (like one person's hand) of complaints about that?

I mean ... seriously ... do people really believe this?:brick::brick:

 

[WDW1974]

Yes, you've read me wrong. I don't know WDW1974 from Adam.

Adam is the 17-year-old here who apparently gained some notoriety for helping to organize EPCOT's 25th Anniversary and shame Disney into acknowledging it.

For that, the kid has my respect.

I am someone else.

I really don't know whether I would like him or not should we ever meet.

probably not ... that's OK ... I hate most people. Not exactly the greatest creation, humanity. I mean it is responsible for genocide, global warming, WalMart and American Idol for starters!

I do find him to be overly negative when he posts his opinions and overly aggressive in his defence of them. I have no doubt he has been privy to information not readily available to someone who doesn't spend the time he does at WDW, but he presents things as facts that are opinions and defends them as unassailable. He belittles other posters when they don't agree with his particularly negative presentation, even if they agree with the basic information he's provided. As a result, I tend to be harsh with him where I rarely if ever am with other posters.

I think you may just have a man crush on him.

It may be as simple as I am a "glass half-full" personality and he is a "glass half-empty" type, but I think his issues go deeper than that. :shrug:

Perhaps ... but it seems like many others likely have sizeable libraries of their own.:wave:

 

[yankspy]

So true ... you are da bomb here.

I believe some where in the recent past (eight years maybe?) people have become conditioned to ... for lack of a better term ... 'defend the man.'

When even the Disney chef is telling the writer that there is a cost savings involved ... well, you can take that to mean there is likely a SIGNIFICANT cost savings involved.

And how much has Boma gone up in seven years. I believe when it opened it was $15.99 for dinner ... now it's $28.99 ... now, I fully expect people to jump in and talk about Disney's costs yada, yada, drivel, drivel ... and stuff like that just allows Disney to further diminish its product.

People here keep missing the point.

It isn't about prime rib. It's about the BEEF in Disney's product. Where's the quality gone? And do people even realize what they've lost?

Like I said, you've got people who insist on playing 'Know Your Cuts of Beef' home edition like it somehow validates their points.

The frigging prime rib was a staple of buffets (and is still at non-Disney ones) for decades for a reason. Disney has cut it for a reason -- to save money.

It is disgusting and disengenuous that the Mouse spins it that out of all the complaints Disney gets the one they just had to act on was people because the prime rib was too thick and it prevented them from trying other offerings.

What intelligent person in their right mind believes Disney got more than a handful (like one person's hand) of complaints about that?

I mean ... seriously ... do people really believe this?:brick::brick:

Prove to me that Disney's beef costs have not gone up then you can talk of drivel. For someone who claims to have critical thinking skills, you do not seem to be using them here. Critical thought involves the inclusion of all opinions, not just one. Taking sides and extreme opinions are easy, try seeing it from all angles. I am not saying that this is not a cost cutting measure, however, you assume that it is done to rip people off somehow.

 

[jt04]

Prove to me that Disney's beef costs have not gone up then you can talk of drivel. For someone who claims to have critical thinking skills, you do not seem to be using them here. Critical thought involves the inclusion of all opinions, not just one. Taking sides and extreme opinions are easy, try seeing it from all angles. I am not saying that this is a cost cutting measure, however, you assume that it is done to rip people off somehow.

Personally I think removing prime rib from a buffet line is just good guest relations.

 

[Monty]

Adam is the 17-year-old here who apparently gained some notoriety for helping to organize EPCOT's 25th Anniversary and shame Disney into acknowledging it.

For that, the kid has my respect.

I am someone else.



probably not ... that's OK ... I hate most people. Not exactly the greatest creation, humanity. I mean it is responsible for genocide, global warming, WalMart and American Idol for starters!



I think you may just have a man crush on him.



Perhaps ... but it seems like many others likely have sizeable libraries of their own.:wave:

And so, when you can no longer fashion something you might consider reasonable argument, you descend into the puerile. Pity, even I held out a modicum of hope for you.

Buh-bye! :wave:

 

[PhilharMagician]

Quite frankly, I don't expect great food when I go to a buffet. Also I was never really a fan of the prime rib that was served at them either. If you compare the so called prime rib served at any of the buffets and compare it to the one served at Cinderella's Royal Table, it's no contest.

If you want good food you go to a real restaurant with a waiter/waitress and such, not a buffet. I'm more concerned with the crap quality food at Tutto Italia than no Prime Rib at the Buffets.

This is the main reason quality is continually being reduced. If guests simply don't care then the trend will continue it's decline. This may only be the begining. Maybe I should get ready for a $40.00 buffet with Chix nuggets, french fries and iceberg lettuce salad and for our beef selection this evening we have bottom round roast. Also for our fish selection try our lovely $.99 per lb white fish which has replaced the salmon.:hammer:

 

[One Lil Spark]

Man, the Moderators must love reading all these p i s s ing matches... The common denominator in all of them?

 

[Phonedave]

I love how everyone throws the word "quality" around as well, on both sides of the argument. How do you define quality? Here is a little hint (after sitting though umpteen quality management classes, ISO 900x lectures, the "old school" Quality gurus, and the "new flavor" things like NPS, and also getting daily CSI scores). Quality is defined by the consumer. If the majority of the consumers are happy with what WDW is doing, then they are serving their customer base.

I also love how everyone is an expert on the minds of WDW manaagement. It must be great to have access to their profit & loss statements, availability of credit, contracts with vendors, contracts with employees, customer focus group results, meals served by day & month data, fuel surcharge data, the price hedging strategy, usage strategies, and other assorted factors that all go into business decisions. I personaly dont have access to all of that data, so I tend not declare absolutely why they are making the decisions they are.

-dave

 

[One Lil Spark]

I love how everyone throws the word "quality" around as well, on both sides of the argument. How do you define quality? Here is a little hint (after sitting though umpteen quality management classes, ISO 900x lectures, the "old school" Quality gurus, and the "new flavor" things like NPS, and also getting daily CSI scores). Quality is defined by the consumer. If the majority of the consumers are happy with what WDW is doing, then they are serving their customer base.

I also love how everyone is an expert on the minds of WDW manaagement. It must be great to have access to their profit & loss statements, availability of credit, contracts with vendors, contracts with employees, customer focus group results, meals served by day & month data, fuel surcharge data, the price hedging strategy, usage strategies, and other assorted factors that all go into business decisions. I personaly dont have access to all of that data, so I tend not declare absolutely why they are making the decisions they are.

-dave

Very good point, Dave. :wave:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

100 billion flies eat ________, so is that the future :shrug:

 

[Phonedave]

100 billion flies eat ________, so is that the future :shrug:

If you can get the flies to pay for it, yep.

And the half dozen files who are in the corner saying "Hey, leave that ______ alone, I demand prime rib". Well, they can hold out for it, but chances are, as long as there is a copious pile of steaming fly food, chances are the prime rib is not comming.



-dave

 

[pheneix]

I love how everyone throws the word "quality" around as well, on both sides of the argument. How do you define quality? Here is a little hint (after sitting though umpteen quality management classes, ISO 900x lectures, the "old school" Quality gurus, and the "new flavor" things like NPS, and also getting daily CSI scores). Quality is defined by the consumer. If the majority of the consumers are happy with what WDW is doing, then they are serving their customer base.

I also love how everyone is an expert on the minds of WDW manaagement. It must be great to have access to their profit & loss statements, availability of credit, contracts with vendors, contracts with employees, customer focus group results, meals served by day & month data, fuel surcharge data, the price hedging strategy, usage strategies, and other assorted factors that all go into business decisions. I personaly dont have access to all of that data, so I tend not declare absolutely why they are making the decisions they are.

-dave

For what its worth, I have. And after looking the beast right in the eye I STILL don't understand why WDW makes the decisions it makes. They truly live in their own little world.

 

[yankspy]

Man, the Moderators must love reading all these p i s s ing matches... The common denominator in all of them?

I personally prefer chest pounding, the other way gets too messy.:lol:

Seriously though, my original point, which seems to be the same as Dave's, is that no one knows the reasoning behind this cost cutting measure. It could be that they are ripping people off. However, there are a number of other possible reasons as well. It is impossible to judge without knowing more.

 

[Jasonsterling]

It seems odd to me there is such a concern over this prime rib issue. I've never thought of it as a particularly high quality cut of meat- mostly because it is constantly offered on buffets. Even Quiznos has a prime rib sandwich running now at like $4.99. How expensive could it be when a sub shop is carrying it as a special? In reality if enough people let Disney know their feelings and more importantly respond with their pocketbooks by not eating at the buffets that have dropped that or any other item then the management of the parks will respond in kind by returning it to the menu.

 

[Phonedave]

It seems odd to me there is such a concern over this prime rib issue. I've never thought of it as a particularly high quality cut of meat- mostly because it is constantly offered on buffets. Even Quiznos has a prime rib sandwich running now at like $4.99. How expensive could it be when a sub shop is carrying it as a special? In reality if enough people let Disney know their feelings and more importantly respond with their pocketbooks by not eating at the buffets that have dropped that or any other item then the management of the parks will respond in kind by returning it to the menu.

But you don't understand. People will continue to eat at the buffets and enjoy them. They just don't understand that they are NOT supposed to be enjoying it. They are supposed to all be mad and demand that WDW stop cheating them, but they are too much like sheep to know better. You see they "drink the Kool-Aid" and shop at WalMart (which by the way is not about cheap merchandise, but acting in a monopolistic way and making demands to PRODUCERS about the prices and advertising of their products, that producers need to follow because WalMart represents such a large share of their sales. WalMart bulit an empire based on efficiencies, marketing, and bombastic take no prisioners monoplistic methods. Make no mistake, I rarely shop there, and I feel they have killed a lot of the innovation and choice in the consumer space, but I have to bregrudgingly acknowledge their skill at what they do)

-dave