Swiss restaurant fines diners for not finishing plate

By Mariam Digges

Swiss restaurant fines diners for not finishing plate

Have a habit of not finishing your meal when dining out? Like to order a bit of everything, without the stomach room to accommodate?

Lucky you don’t live in Switzerland then, friend. Over there, it’s legal to charge diners for leaving food on their plate at restaurants. For real.

As reported by Swiss publication 20 Minutes (translated), a restaurant by the name of Patrizietta in Losone now charges patrons 5 Francs for failing to clean their plates.

It came about because the all-you-can-eat restaurant was experiencing an influx of “buffet pigs” – that is, diners, who loaded up more than they could chew (Eric Carmen wrote a song about it. It was called Hungry Eyes and featured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing).

“I wanted to send a strong signal … It made me sick to see so much food being thrown out,” said Patrizietta’s chef Giovanni Tafuro.

While the menu clearly states that patrons will be charged if they don’t eat up, Tafuro says the move is largely symbolic, and part of his mission to make people aware that food waste is a global problem.

What do you think of Patrizietta’s rules? Do you think the law should be introduced locally too? Let us know in our comments section below.

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