A popular pub has courted controversy after it started charging customers who leave excessive amounts of leftover food on their plates.
The Star Inn at Vogue, Cornwall, said it was the first time it had ever enforced the clearly stated policy after two customers were charged an additional £2.40 for wasting food.
The pub – which allows you to eat as much as you like for £12 providing you clear your plate and go back for more – explained the rule is very clearly displayed on the carvery station.
But the customers were not impressed by the situation and said they’d ‘never heard anything like that before’.
After being called out on social media, the pub landlords responded by sharing pictures of the customer’s leftover food and said it could have been used to serve at least two people, if not more.
Mark Graham, who owns and runs the pub, told CornwallLive: ‘I say my mind and that’s how it is.
‘That was the first time we’ve ever had to put the charge on and the first thing I did was send my staff back out to ask if everything was alright.
‘[The customers] said the food was lovely and that was it.’
The straight-talking Cornishman told the publication: ‘I don’t care about a couple of potatoes getting left.
‘It’s just stupid, excessive waste that bothers me. If everyone did that I’d have to cook shed loads of food.’
Mark said the small surcharge would only help towards the cost of raw ingredients but wouldn’t cover any costs of equipment used to make the food or to pay the staff.
‘You can take as much as you like, come back as many times as you like and as the old Navy saying goes, you can fill your boots. Do whatever you want, just don’t waste it,’ he added.
‘I tell everyone, I’m in this game to earn a living, not make a fortune. I just like the job. I’ve always been in and out of this job since I was 14 and it’s a way of life.
‘I enjoy it. I’m making a living, not a killing and I’m not ripping people off. We want to help everybody out.’
Pictures shared by the pub showed the two plates filled to the brim with slices of meat, two roast potatoes each, and a heap of vegetables and crackling.
Verity Farmer, one of the offending customers, sparked the row after posting about her experience on a local Facebook group.
‘Just been for a Sunday carvery at the Star Inn, Vogue, St Day, we paid for our meal at £12 each, and when we got our bill it had got an extra £4.80 added when questioned about it they said it was a charge for not eating all our meal.
‘I’ve never heard anything like that before.’
Her post prompted a fierce online debate which clocked up nearly 400 comments in less than 24 hours.
The Star Inn was one of those that replied, and said: ‘We just try and make sure there is enough food for everyone.
‘I’m sure if you were a customer later on in the day and I had to tell you I had no food left for your booking because it had all been wasted and gone in the bin you would not be very happy and would have made another social media post too.’
Mark, who said ‘the news keeps finding me’ also made headlines a couple of years back when fashion brand Vogue threatened to sue his pub.
Condé Nast, the owner of Vogue magazine, sent a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the Star Inn at Vogue, to stop using the name ‘Vogue’ as it is their name – even though the pub is more than 200 years old and the village is older still.
The letter asked publicans Mark and Rachel Graham to stop using the name of the Cornish hamlet because it might confuse its fashionista readers.
The magazine giant later admitted it didn’t do its homework and apologised to the humble pub.
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