Do not ask for concessions when buying food

 A few days back I was delivering a lecture in Friends Club organized by All India Vaish Federation. There were many people who owned a car worth over 25 lakhs. 

When asked how much they spend on the car, the answer was on an average 3 lakhs per annum which included 60000/- for insurance, 2 lakhs for driver and the rest on annual maintenance. It amounts to over 10% of the car value being spent to look after its maintenance. 

When asked how much they spend on their body, the answer was less than 25,000/- per annum. The worth of the body from the above calculation comes out to be less than 2.5 lakhs. I called the chief hotel chef and asked him how was the food prepared? He said the food was prepared in soybean oil and the sweet dish in vanaspati ghee. 

When asked why did he chose them he said that oils like olive oil and desi ghee are costly. This means a chef whose income is less than Rs.25,000/- per month has a perception that people who own a car worth over Rs.25 lakh cannot afford food which is costly, and therefore by default he has to make food using tin based cheapest soybean oil or panghat ghee which is the trans-fat full vanaspati ghee. When asked how he presumed that these people could not afford he said that every day he has been watching people coming and negotiating about the prices of food when they book for any evening. 

These people who book do not realize that the hotel will pass on any concessions to the people by supplying cheaper oil and other ingredient of the food. They will never reduce their personal margin. So next time you go to a restaurant or a hotel and ask for concessions you will get it but at the cost of inferior material. When you eat out you pay double or triple the amount you would have spent if the food was made at home then why compromise on the quality.