What happens to leftovers at reastruants

Why should the food go to waste? I don't think restaurant workers get paid all that well do they?

I worked at a VA Medical Center where leftover food was thrown out. After all, they couldn't expect our veterans to eat leftovers, could they? :tongue3: One time they had a 5 pound turkey loaf that hadn't been touched. it had been cooked and not used. It had to be thrown out and not reused. Fortunately, I was in the cafeteria at the right time and got to take it home. The worker could have gotten in trouble over that, but I wasn't about to say anything. I'm not fond of turkey, but for some reason free food tastes better than it normally would. :smilewinkgrin:

Also, at the VA, you can't take stuff out of their trash dumpster and take it home. You could be arrested for theft since it is still on government property--even though it is in the trash. The government throws away a lot of good, usable stuff--including furniture. I always wondered why that furniture couldn't have been given to needy people. They wouldn't care that it was used. They also threw out all their old (but still usable) computers when they bought new ones. Just think of all the people who would have loved to get one of those--myself included. I didn't get one until I was nearly 54.

In my home city is an Archway cookie factory. As a boy I and other kids would go there and rummage through their dumpster and take whole, unopened packages of cookies home. They would be thrown out because of some flaw in the packaging or because the package was slightly damaged, but there was nothing wrong with the cookies. All that was ever in their dumpsters was cardboard and packages of cookies--nothing gross. Eventually, they caught on and put up a very high fence to eliminate liability problems.

 

I've worked in several restaurants in my life and never once have seen anyone eating left overs off a plate.

 

If I were the manager, I would not allow my workers to eat from the customer's plates. It could be unhealthy and a possible liability issue.

When I was a waitress at a small family restaurant, we often had customers who did not touch their homemade rolls. The rolls were served on a separate plate and many times were pushed to a corner of the table and never as much as breathed on. In those cases, some of the workers did eat a roll or two, but never if it had been touched. But, this was in a small town where everyone knew each other and was related in some way.

We saved scraps for one farmer to feed his pigs, and sometimes the restaurant owner would let us take home food that didn't sell that he wouldn't use the next day--like homemade mashed potatoes or navy/pinto/great northern beans.

True story--One time I served a couple of homosexuals and one had AIDS. It was big juicy gossip in our tiny town, and all of us were afraid to touch their dishes. This was back in the late 80's/early 90's when we didn't have as much info. about AIDS and we washed dishes by hand in a big sink because the restaurant didn't have a commercial dishwasher.

The other waitresses and I met in the washroom along with the guy washing dishes, not sure what to do and not wanting to bother the boss. . .the dishwasher took one look at the tray of dirty dishes and chucked everything into the trash. After that, we didn't eat any more rolls off ANYBODY'S table! I guess if we did that in this day and age we'd get called by the ACLU or something. But we were that terrified to wash those dishes.

Sorry for the hijack, Salty!

 

We would have loved some of those leftovers on the battlefield........if only you could see what and how we ate in war.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Food that been ona playe and served to customers is no longer usable, can not be served again, and should never be eaten by anyone else, it could be dangerous. I would not allow either habits in a kitchen I was in. Not to mention serving left overs from one plate to another is illegal.

 

The whole idea of the OP is ummmmmmm-----not eating what was served on a patron's plate that HE/SHE had left(thats considered NASTY here in the great state of Alabama---I mean, we just don't go GRAZIN' on customers plates like that---its nasty----its the idea of eating food left unserved in the kitchen

My MIL use to work at a YMCA camp and we'd get left over bisquits/sausage/chicken tenders and stuff like that----and every now and then the freezer would go on the blink and they'd let her have all the ice cream and frozen stuff out of the freezer

At a Baptist conference center nearby---everything--and I mean EVERYTHING left over goes in the dumpster!!!

 

Sorry, Jim--------its SPAM:thumbsup: and unlabled C-RATION cans for you!!!!:laugh:

My uncle was a mess sarg in WW2---the troopers started a "Trade-ya" program with their rations----"I'll trade ya these Limas for your Apple sauce!!!"----sorta a inhouse black market---the mess sargs got together and started swappin' the labels----Limas for Apples---apple labels go on bean cans---made for an interesting trade