Vegetarians – so who needs 'em?
On the night the BSE outcry broke, back in the early summer (I'm sorry to mention a subject that has been done to death these past few months but please bear with me) a customer asked early on in dinner service where our beef came from.
Having earlier checked with our chef about what we should be doing in the light of the horrendous press the poor cow was receiving, we announced with good grace and a fair amount of barely suppressed pride, "It's Argentinian, sir".
In fact, that night we had Argentinian and some Scotch beef available.
We waited for approval from the customer - fulsome praise or, at the very least, a tap on the side of the nose or the slightest of winks, as if to signify "Jolly good, you're on the ball here all right, a chap knows he's safe eating cow meat here then."
Instead, after a slight pause, and a hint of a smile, the customer said: "Pity. If you were serving British beef I would have gone for a steak. Never mind, I'll have the duck please."
I was reminded of this recently when I happened to answer the phone to a customer who wanted to book a table for two for the Friday of that week. The diary looked pretty full. I took his reservation.
Special treat
He sounded as if he was in his early 20s. Then he asked if we catered for vegetarians - his fiancée was a vegetarian and he was treating her to a night out.
Now, I am the first to admit we have never gone after the vegetarian market at Towle's. We haven't had to.
We fill quite easily with more than 200 a session who prefer eating meat and fish. So why try to attract those extra few who choose to eat in another way?
I told him we always had two or three vegetarian dishes. He asked what they would be.
I said they were changed each day and I didn't know what they would be for Friday but there would be a pasta dish, a filo vegetable bake, and, er, did the vegetarian eat fish?
Fish Dish
"Vegetarians don't eat fish," he reminded me. And then the conversation went something like this: "Yes I know," I replied, "I used to think that too, but some people who call themselves vegetarian do.
"They come in and they say ‘Yes but haven't you got some fish as well'. I used to reply: ‘But you said you were a vegetarian.' Now I say: ‘Oh, do you eat fish?'
"Some reply: ‘Yes, that would be nice, what fish do you have today' and some react as you did."
They were in on the Friday night. We were busy - with our 200 meat eaters. As far as I can remember I had no contact with their table.
Two days later we received by post a politely written, typed letter expressing their disappointment at the lack of vegetarian choices.
Unfortunately the woman didn't eat pasta, so that knocked out one of the choices. She plumped for a platter of steamed vegetables with pilau rice, which we make look quite good, but they considered this boring.
In all other respects their letter was really one of praise rather than complaint.
The letter acknowledged they were welcomed warmly and politely, they were seated promptly, their order was taken swiftly. Service was friendly and efficient, the atmosphere was delightful.
In almost all respects they had enjoyed their evening. Everything was as they heard it would be - except for the lack of imagination in the choice of vegetarian dishes.
Couldn't we see we couldincrease our turnover if we tapped into the non-meat eating public in a more adventurous way? the letter suggested.
Little point
Conscience forces me to admit I have not replied. Actually he didn't indicate he looked forward to hearing my comments. But he is right, we don't especially go after the vegetarian market.
But when I see that August's turnover this year is 38% up on last year, and September looks to be 15% better, are we really missing out? It's surely a case of keeping the market you happen to have around you, rather than going for a new one.
After all, we wouldn't want to risk confusing some of our older customers. They have yet to get used to steam-cooked vegetables al dente, never mind the chargrilled sort.
