Come Back, Veggies!

A restaurant not only faces internal issues, but also external issues, such as the economy, natural disasters, and vendors. Since a restaurant does not magically make its own ingredients, it needs to buy them from vendors. It can buy ingredients locally or out of town, as long as they are fresh and maintain their colors. If anything bad happens to the vendors’ products, the restaurant’s business may be in jeopardy.

How do vendors affect restaurants? In Erin Skarda's article, she explains that the cold weather in Texas, Florida, and Mexico currently causes a shortage of vegetables, so vendors may not meet most of the demands. This is a problem for restaurants because they need a certain amount of ingredients to make their foods. This article also describes how restaurants handle the situation by increasing the prices or posting notices about their limited supplies of vegetables.

I think some of the restaurants’ solutions may work, but it depends on the customers’ perspective. When a restaurant does not get enough ingredients from vendors, it may increase its prices to pay for the increased vegetables. By increasing the prices, the restaurant may scare away its customers because they do not want to pay more for their foods. Regular customers may come back because of the quality of the foods and services. For instance, customers may still eat at McDonalds, Chili's, or other fine dining restaurants because they enjoy eating the foods, even though prices have gone up.

I don’t think a restaurant should post a sign about their missing or limited ingredients; it is not attractive to the customers. If customers who are vegetarians know that their favorite restaurants stop serving certain vegetables, they may not go there anymore and find other restaurants.

I think the best solution to solve this issue is to substitute the ingredients or the foods. Non-meat ingredients, such as tofu, can be substituted so there are still balances of diets for the customers to stay healthy. The restaurant also can change its menu items that match the limited ingredients that they have. If a restaurant decides to change anything in its foods, it should write down on the menu, so the customer may be aware of the changes.

I hope that more vegetables come back because people want to eat their favorite foods, such as pizza and salad, with vegetables. Personally, I like to eat tomatoes with my sandwiches or burgers; they provide a juicy and sweet flavor. So, please come back, delicious vegetables.