Ericka Kammerer wrote:
>
>
> But its profitability goes down.

What, every diner that walks through the door ought to spend X amount
of money to be welcome?

Profitability does NOT go down. It is GREED that makes people so
petty-minded as to think that if they aren't making money every second,
"profitability" is "down."

My father, the former restauranteur, is a real businessman. He can
turn a nickel into a dollar. It's the Chinese peasant in him (yeah,
you think the hundreds of billions in US-China trade surpluses are due
to unfair competition? Bah!). He's now almost eighty years old. What
does he do in his golden years? Calculating how to turn that dollar
into ten dollars.

Many people find it admirable. I think it's missing the whole point of
life.

Just as y'all here are missing the whole point of providing a service
and enjoying food.

> While the variable
> costs go down, the fixed costs stay the same regardless. You
> have to cover *both* the variable and the fixed costs. Again,
> Econ 101. Too much plate sharing and you can't cover the fixed
> costs.

Apples and oranges -- more like PHIL 101, ethics. The cost of
plate-sharing is imagined. This culture sees time itself as money, so
I concede this thread, this whole thread (but nothing but this thread),
to the reigning culture of green grubby greasy greed, gross and
grasping.

Smiles aren't free, either.

> Best wishes,
> Ericka