Senior trends analyst Clay Cary reveals four restaurant habits that cause diners to overspend.
I love eating out, especially as a working mom with two kids. It is so much more fun to have someone else cook for you, clean up afterwards, and do the dishes. However, dining at restaurants has gotten so expensive. Luckily, there are ways to save money. In fact, certain restaurant habits can lead to overpaying for meals. According to Clay Cary, Senior Trends Analyst at CouponFollow, if you are doing these four things, you are overpaying for restaurant meals every time.
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According to Cary, one big way people can easily go over budget at a restaurant is simply not thinking about it. “A lot of people, myself included, tend to immediately go to what we consider to be the most important part of the menu, the special dishes, because obviously those are the best choices. The truth of the matter, however, is that those are probably the most expensive dishes on the menu,” he says. “If people were to take the time to look at the rest of the menu, they would probably be able to find something just as good for a significantly lower price.”
Ordering Drinks
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Don’t drink your meal! Another big way people go over budget at a restaurant is by spending too much on drinks. “It’s not really something that people tend to think about at the time, but drinks can really add up at the end of the night,” he says.
Ordering 3 Courses Instead of Sharing
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Another big way people go over budget at a restaurant is simply because, again, they’re habitual. “A lot of people are just so used to getting an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert, and it has just become second nature to do that at a restaurant. The truth of the matter, however, is that it would be perfectly acceptable to simply share something with someone else, or to have just the main course, and no one would even notice,” he says.
By Not Setting a Budget Ahead of Time
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One easy way to avoid going over budget at a restaurant is to set a budget before they even begin ordering food. “It’s not really a big deal, but it might be able to help people be a little more mindful of their budget, even if it means that they have to have an extra drink, something along those lines,” he says.
Leah Groth
Leah Groth is an experienced shopping editor and journalist for Best Life and Eat This, Not That! bringing readers the best new finds, trends, and deals each week. Read more about Leah
