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Cornish pub fines diners to cut down on food waste
The Star Inn in Vogue, Cornwall has introduced a charge for those who leave food on their plate after visiting its Sunday carvery.
The pub will be cracking down on those who have eyes bigger than their stomachs, issuing a £2.40 charge on top of the £12 cost for a carvery Sunday lunch for those who are overly-ambitious at the buffet.
A notice on display in the pub reads: “Please only take what you can eat. Visit as often as you like (excluding meats). Excess leftovers may be charged for, no takeaway containers allowed (including your own). Tin foil can be supplied for meat.”
The policy received media attention after one disgruntled punter took to social media to complain about the charge – with an extra £4.80 on top of what they assumed would be a £24 bill for two roasts.
Speaking with The Independent, landlord Mark Graham said: “Any chef in the world would be annoyed or insulted by waste.”
“It’s only for the buffet,” he continued, “I give other dishes on the menu a doggy bag if they are not feeling well. But I tell the ones piling it up ‘You put it on the plate so you should be respectful.’”
“If you are from the older generation like me if I left any food on my plate my mother wouldn’t let me leave the table. We are old school like things used to be,” added Graham. “People now are so entitled. They think if they have paid the money they can do anything they well like.”
According to data from waste management service Waste Managed, each year around 173,000 tonnes of the 873,000 tonnes of rubbish produced by UK pubs each year are food waste, a figure which it calculates is costing the British pub sector £350 million annually. It also suggests that around a third (34%) of this waste is due to diners leaving things on their plates, with the remainder a result of spoilage and food prep.
Two years ago, The Star Inn was at the centre of a dispute with Condé Nast over the use of ‘Vogue’ in the pub’s name.
The media giant sent a cease and desist letter to the Cornish pub, claiming that a connection between the famous fashion magazine Vogue and the establishment was “likely to be inferred”. Condé Nast’s lawyers later acknowledged that the pub had actually taken its name from the Cornish hamlet of Vogue.
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