News from Singapore this week made it all over the internet. A group of five diners were charged S$1224 (AUD1039) for a steamed fish at the new Resorts World casino. They had earlier ordered a different fish (which was presumably less expensive) but the waiter suggested a substitute without identifying the price. The diners later complained and received a 15% discount. But there are lots of people complaining online that the fish usually costs $6 per 100grams instead of the $60 per 100g charged by the restaurant.
It may sound a bit harsh, but in my opinion the diners exhibited a lack of bargaining skills. I would have refused to pay any more than for whatever fish it was the substitute for, after all it was the restaurant’s fault for running out of stock. It is also evident that the restaurant manager needs to do an MBA. It is a failure in marketing if people are complaining about your firm’s prices based on the cost of the raw materials used. My former MBA students would have learnt that in a well-run restaurant, customers would be happy to pay for the skills of its chefs, quality of the dining experience, and the ambiance. After all, if you’ve dropped by a high-end restaurant in Japan and eaten fugu (poisonous pufferfish), a price like US$100-200 per head is not unreasonable.
Singapore, June 30, 2010- THEY feasted on a fish named sultan – and were made to pay a king’s ransom for it. Well, not quite a king’s ransom, but a whopping $1,224 for that single steamed fish dish. And the bill left a sour aftertaste. The diner, who only wanted to be known as Mr Liu, 35, had taken his four friends to Resorts World Sentosa’s (RWS) Feng Shui Inn restaurant on June 12. The group had initially wanted marble goby, better known locally as soon hock, but the waiter said there was no stock for the fish. The waiter suggested the white sultan fish instead. The group agreed, without asking how much the dish would cost. They were stunned when the bill arrived. The single sultan fish, which weighed 1.8kg, set them back by $1,224. Source: http://soshiok.com/article/12333
ps: remember to ask the price before ordering at a restaurant.
Core Economics 
I wonder how dear the originally ordered fish was. And if the waiter is paid on a commission basis.
LikeLike
Richard, good questions. Well, even at the Tung Lok Signatures you can get a good meal for ten people for around $1000 (http://www.tungloksignatures.com/pdf/set-menus.pdf).
I don’t know about whether the waiter is paid on commission. But don’t worry, I will drop by the restaurant and find out the next time I’m in Singapore and charge it to my “research budget” ?
LikeLike
i guess this is where in the law of contract, a ‘liquidated amount’ really applies. the restaurant owner or waiter may purposely not want the price known as the law of averages may suggest that most pay up silently. this is short-term thinking, but thinking nonetheless.
LikeLike