On a recent trip to Chicago I had an opportunity to eat at the Berghoff Café. Th

Question

On a recent trip to Chicago I had an opportunity to eat at the Berghoff Café. This famous restaurant was founded in 1898 by Herman Joseph Berghoff and was still run by the Berghoff family. We entered the restaurant at 3:10 P.M. were escorted to a table and presented with a menu which said, "Saturday Luncheon Menu." Apparently dinner begins at 4:00 P.M. at the Berghoff. Thinking that the prices were lower than I had remembered for past dinners at the Berghoff, I requested a Saturday dinner menu and compared some prices with the following result. The luncheon menu had prices for Sauerbraten, Weiner $chnitzel, and Johannisberg Riesling by the glass with the following prices respectively $11.75, $12.50, and 5.25. The dinner menu had the same items for $12.95, $13.95 and $5.50 respectively. Assuming that the service, food, portions etc. are the same at lunch and dinner, how can you explain the price difference between the lunch and dinner menus? (Since this question was originally written, The Berghoff was closed for family reasons, not for lack of success as an outstanding restaurant.)

Explanation / Answer

There are several reasons for the differences in price, besides simply portion size. Primary is the length of the meal and thus the seating of a table -- at lunch it is MUCH quicker. There are places where lunch is their main meal and intended for patrons to linger, but these are few. At dinner the dining experience is forefront and the primary entertainment, while at lunch customers usually need to get in and out and even if it is a business lunch they are focused more on the business than the food.

The more I think about it, however, it seems more a rationalization than a reason for the significant difference in prices. At dinner the diners are more likely to add an appetizer and/or a dessert to their main entree and also drink wine or cocktails, thus increasing their check to compensate for the length of seating. I guess a lot has to do with customer expectations -- dinner is assumed to cost more than lunch.

Hence the reason for Dinner rates being more than lunch are

1) Lunch is quicker as people tend to not spend much time at lunch and often take away food due to office timings also.

2) At diner people tend to stay at the restaurant much longer and thus occupying the restaurant for much more time than lunch and hence more time at the table.

3) Customer Expectations Dinner is expected to be costlier than lunch.

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