- Messages
- 12,005
- Location
- East of Los Angeles
For as long as I can remember (and surely before that) some restaurants existed on turnover--get you in, get you fed, and get you out to make room for the next customer(s); more customers equals more money. One now defunct restaurant chain even went so far as to upholster their booths with orange and purple naugahyde, allegedly because the color combination subconsciously made the customers uncomfortable and less willing to stay longer than they had to. By contrast, some restaurants believe they can get more money out of their customers by providing a welcoming and comfortable environment; i.e. the longer they stay, the more they'll spend. I don't know which is more profitable, but I'd rather frequent the latter.Regarding HoJo's-- one of my most missed things to have disappeared would certainly be the lounge--and the popularity of lounging. Places designed with a focus on hanging out, with or without food or drink. Today's restaurants and bars don't cover it-- too single-purposed, not relaxed, certainly not the same atmosphere...
Many years ago when most restaurants still had some form of a "smoking section", a friend who was a server at a local Marie Callender's restaurant told us he refused any shifts that required him to work in the "non smoking" section because their non-smoking patrons were almost always far more demanding, rude, and nit-picky, while their "smoking" customers were relaxed and friendly. Now, at this specific restaurant the "smoking section" was also the bar, but he said the addition of alcohol to the equation didn't make much difference and that the non-smoking drinkers were almost always more of a problem for him than the smoking drinkers....Perhaps indoor smoking was in some way essential to their survival, although we know that people just don't socialize in those ways any longer, like the sad extinction of the dance hall.