Can a restaurant force you to pay for food prepared but not consumed?

I am a new restaurant manager, and keep having to battle with my chefs over this issue. If food is prepared for a guest, but the guest has changed their mind and ordered something else before the food arrives at the table, is the old food automatically a "return" item or should they pay for it?





Legally, I mean! I know my opinion!

Can a restaurant force you to pay for food prepared but not consumed?
If you ordered it you pay for it. Who else will eat it but the dog. Why should the resturant assume the cost of your mistake? How can they stay in business with customers who can't make up their minds? Business is business and they are not in business to make a loss.
Reply:Well that is to your discretion, I mean legally, what is in your policy? Do you have anything in writing saying that you have to serve an a55hole if they are just being nasty, and being a manager you should be able to tell whether or not some one is being mean,a nd it also depends on if you want that persons service or not. But if you want my opinion you should post a rule clear for the patrons to see, that if for any reason they are unsatisfied with the order they may change but if they just want to change for something different there should be a fee for the preparation,unless you pay your cooks to prepare good food that somebody would be glad to eat.....for free, hey its all in the rules, make one....
Reply:I think if the food ordered HAS ALREADY prepared (on the process), then the guest has to pay for it. Even tho it has not reached the table.





Actually guest is not just paying for the food, he/she is paying for the preparation time, the service, the labour cost, the food itself and all other stuff included. There's no possible way to ask guest to only pay half if its already prepared. They have to pay full for it.





I mean, think about it..If 10 people do this in a day, in a month u r looking for wasting 300 meals then (because there's no way u will keep all the food again, it wont be fresh and it degradate the quality of ur restaurants food which will lead to : no one's gonna come 2 ur restaurant anymore). and by this? u r heading to bankruptcy.





hope it helps
Reply:That depends on whether you want to keep the customer. If you graciously agree to replace the meal at no cost, you will delight the customer, and have probably guaranteed future business (not to mention word of mouth business). Companies that go out of their way to make their customers happy will be rewarded. Customer service is so bad now, people are amazed when they are treated well.
Reply:Customer is always right. I think it's really sorry for people to do this, but if you make them pay for something they don't want, be sure they will not be back.