Food For Thought: 3.18.09

"Our average check is lower, but transactions are up 10 to 15 percent." (John Hurley, owner of Garibaldi's Restaurant in Oakland, CA, on the value of a prix-fixe menu. According to Nation's Restaurant News, fine dining restaurants are increasingly turning to multi-course, set price dinners to combat the recession...a trend we've seen over the past month in Dallas, as well. The comment reflects what many local wait staff report: people spend less when they eat out these days--but they are eating out.)