Pub charges customers for 'excessive' leftovers

The Star Inn Food left by customer at the Star Inn Vogue in St Day. The partially-eaten square plate looks about three-quarters full, containing some poultry, roasted vegetables and half a Yorkshire pudding. A knife and fork are placed near the remaining food.The Star Inn
Customer who leave leftovers deemed "excessive" by the pub face the charge

Customers at a Cornwall pub are being charged for leaving too much food on their plates.

The Star Inn, in Vogue, near St Day, is charging people if they fill their plate at their all-you-can-eat carvery and leave "excess leftovers".

One customer said she was surprised when she was charged £2.40 a plate for leaving waste food on two plates.

Landlord Mark Graham called the amount left "pure waste" and said it was clear from signs in the pub that "excessive waste may be charged for".

The Star Inn Sign at The Star Inn at Vogue in St Day. It says: "Please only take what you can eat. Visit as often as you like (excluding meats). Excess left overs may be charged for, no takeaway containers allowed (including your own) tin foil can be supplied for meat. Thank you."The Star Inn
Signs warn people that they could be charged

A customer wrote on social media that she paid £24 for two meals at the pub "and when we got our bill it had got an extra £4.80 added".

She questioned it and was told it was "a charge for not eating all our meal".

"I’ve never heard anything like that before," she said.

She said she had read the signs warning of leftovers but "thought it was a joke".

Mr Graham replied to the customer's post: "If you leave a few spuds, etc, there is obviously no problem. Where the problem arises is just pure waste.

"It's just not practical to allow such wastage when the margins in business are so tight.

"If everyone did the same as you. I would have to prepare enough food for 200 people just to serve 100."

He said the policy was "rarely enforced" but "yours was excessive in the extreme".

Mark Graham, landlord of the Star Inn. A slightly older, clean-shaven man with brown and grey hair.
Mark Graham said one leftover plate had food so high "you could put a ladder and a flag on top of it"

He told BBC News that incidents were "happening more and more".

He said: "That's why we brought the policy in play, just to slow it down, to stop the waste, to stop the excessiveness of it.

"When we looked at this plate, they piled it high so you could put a ladder and a flag on top of it.

"The only problem we've got is people come in, take a plate, eat it, come and load the plate for a second time, then either just leave it and waste it, or try and take it home.

"It's an all-you-can-eat buffet, not all-you-can-carry buffet."

The Star Inn. It is a traditional two-storey English pub by a road, with a rendered exterior in a pale green colour and a slate roof.
The pub has seen an increase in food waste

The post prompted more than 50 comments, most in support of the pub's policy.

One wrote it was an "excellent idea to stop greedy people", adding "fair play to them".

Another comment said that a sign "clearly stating" there was a charge was "a fab idea" to stop "those who take far more than they can eat".

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