Premium casual dining (PCD). Not familiar with the term? Well in this job I've started to encounter it more and more in recent years, sometimes dropped into conversation by analysts and on other occassions used by proud restaurateurs as short-hand for quality.
Regardless, there's a tangible shift occurring in the casual dining market with the maturing sector undergoing a sort of brand stretch (think of the emergence of the premium lager a few years back and you get the idea).
Consumers with money to spend that are either put off or too lazy to go the fine-dining route but want more than Pizza Express, now have the PCD to meet their very particular needs.
I had my most recent PCD experience last weekend when my wife and I plus two university friends hooked up and took the short trip to Piccolino's in Wimbledon Village, a not unpleasant part of South London that is sadly devoid of Wombles.
The food at the Individual Restaurant Company-owned eaterie was great and the restaurant interior -on the first floor of the building and dominated by a lovely skylight that flooded the handsome room with light - was a very pleasant environment in which to dine (although what are those pictures on the wall?).
So you'd think Piccolino's would have it licked. That I'd be a PCD convert, excitedly telling everyone that would listen it's worth the extra cash. Treat yourself (and your Wombles). Sell unnecessary organs to go! Er, no.
The problem - simply put - was the service. Our bill with a 12.5% " discretionary" service charge and drinks was close to £180, or £45 a head. While our waiter wasn't exactly bad, he delivered a level of service that could only be described as indifferent (it was 5pm on a Saturday also, so diners actually outnumbered staff at this point).
Now I don't want to come over all Michael Winner here but if I'm paying twice as much as I would at my casual dining restaurant of choice - be it Pizza Express or a Vintage Inn - in a beautiful restaurant with fabulously presented food. So is it not unreasonable to expect a corresponding step up in service standards? Am I a loon to hope for attentive, warm service rather than "who-cares" indifference?
Surely if PCD is to succeed and justify itself the whole package - food, fashion and service - has to be in place. The great British public are indeed stupid. But we're not that stupid.
After the meal we headed off to hunt Wombles on the common but before donning our night vision goggles my friends thanked me for making the booking. Gracious as ever they complimented the food but said if they were honest thinking of what we'd paid and the experience we'd had they weren't certain they'd rush back.
This sort of indifference strikes me seems as a dangerous feeling to engender amongst a paying public spolit for dining options, especially with pub groups and supermarkets gobbling ever more more of the traditional restaurant market up like a demented Pac-Man.
Comments (3)
Your guests were too impolite in assessing the value of the food. If it was me I would have said the whole experience was good value for money, including your company! Please feel free to invite me next time. :-)
You mention the service charge. The problem with having a service charge is that it automatically draws attention to the quality of the service, and detracts from the dining experience as a whole. Oh, how I ache for the day when 'service' is no longer an adjunct to a restaurant bill and I don't have to judge its value separately.
Or perhaps there should be a blank space on my annual Caterer subscription form, allowing me to judge the quality of your writing and adding a little something for you personally? You could put it into a tronc, sharing it out with the sub-editors and proofreaders!
Posted by Andrew | May 17, 2007 12:01 PM
Posted on May 17, 2007 12:01
Well I always accept bribes!
Thanks for your thoughts Andrew, debate is what I'm after, afterall. To be fair to my guests I prompted them (with my Caterer hat on), they're not that sort. But on a serious note they are the typical professional young couple with a decent disposable income that PCD outlets are, I presume, gunning for. As ever this is out one-off experience but it is a highly and increasingly competitive market out there for food spend.
Posted by Chris Druce | May 17, 2007 12:12 PM
Posted on May 17, 2007 12:12
Hello. If anyone is looking for an fha refinance, please let me know. I have been in the mortgage business for 15 years and am a specialist when it comes to an fha refinance and I can get you a great deal. I know this might be a little off topic, but with the economy, I think that we all need as much help as we can get to lower our payments.
Thank-you,
Justin
Posted by fharefinancenowmyturn | December 25, 2009 6:22 AM
Posted on December 25, 2009 06:22