Continental Breakfast-What do you expect?

Miss L. Toe wrote:


Why not add some bacon eggs and sausages to the list and claim a full
english breakfast ? It shouldn;t cost you too much extra and would attract
breakfast lovers like myself.

Probably because, if they don't have an actual restaurant on
the premises, they don't really have the facilities to
provide one? (I'm with you - I prefer a "full" breakfast,
but can make do with a cold substitute, so long as I'm not
paying extra for it.)

R@L wrote:


It depends on the origin of the guests what you serve to keep them happy at
least in my opinion.

That's probably true, but IMO you can never err on the side
of too lavish! (Guests choose what they want to eat, they
don't have to eat it just because it's offered, but it's
very nice to HAVE a choice.)

"Jan" wrote in message
...
Chris wrote:
Jan wrote:

This is our menu.-taken directly from our web advert.
Enjoy a relaxed start to the day with our Light Buffet Breakfast.
Choice of Fruit Juices. A Selection of over 18 different
Teas/Infusions and 8 Coffees. Large choice of Cereals and Yoghurts.
Cakes/Bread/Toast, Cereal & Fruit bars. Jams, Marmalade, Honey even
Vegemite!!

Would you class this as "Continental"? As we don't want to miss
sell.

......
.........

Thanks Chris for your suggestions
Within our web page ad. I have full details of the breakfast menu. The
company now insisting we complete a checkbox for our breakfast facilites.
The options being

Full English
Continental
Full English and Continental
Room Only

None of which really fit what we offer !!! We feel we are quite clear
and honest in the web page on what we offer, and don't want to imply we
are offering something we are not-you have to be so careful with your
descriptions from a legal aspect.
I'll phone the company up and see if they could add "breakfast buffet" to
the list..However if I could check that......would one expect more for a
buffet???iyswim

I think light buffet perfectly describes what you offer. Cereal and yogurt
move you beyond the Continental definition. However, given that you must
tick one option, choose Continental. You do have a fuller description on
your website. And non-website readers might be pleasantly surprised, which
is better than disappointed.

Marianne

On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:32:17 +0100, "Miss L. Toe"
wrote:

"Jan" wrote in message
Your input would be of immense interest to us.

continental breakfast would be fine for a description, certainly not
misleading.

Why not add some bacon eggs and sausages to the list and claim a full
english breakfast ? It shouldn;t cost you too much extra and would attract
breakfast lovers like myself.

Unless the restaurant cooks the eggs bacon and sausages to order then
please don't do this, the big containers of omelette or manky bacon or
sausages really put me off the entire breakfast.

Jim.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Steve Rainbird schreef:

wrote in message
ups.com...

Jan schreef:

Just wondered what people expect for a "Continental breakfast"?
Would your expectations vary, depending on the country you are in?

As some of you are aware, my family run a small UK hotel. The internet
company we deal with have asked us to state what type of breakfast we
serve.

This is our menu.-taken directly from our web advert.
Enjoy a relaxed start to the day with our Light Buffet Breakfast.
Choice
of
Fruit Juices. A Selection of over 18 different Teas/Infusions and 8
Coffees.
Large choice of Cereals and Yoghurts. Cakes/Bread/Toast, Cereal &
Fruit
bars. Jams, Marmalade, Honey even Vegemite!!

Would you class this as "Continental"? As we don't want to miss sell.

The other option. for us, would be to let the rooms "room only" and
charge a
supplement for our buffet breakfast.

Your input would be of immense interest to us.

Thanks


Jan

whatever you do serve some decent bread, not that English crap !


Ok I'll fall for it. What do you define as English crap?

Every English (sorry British) B&B / hotel has this horrible already

I agree that's what you get in most B&B/hotels but thats no reason to define
all English bread as crap. My local bakers seels some very good freshly
baked bread.

sliced bread (whatever colour).
You get much more variety in continental Europe.
Much in the same way that the British do not have Delicatessen's.

What??? Every supermarket I know has a Deli counter.

JohnT wrote:


I would say continental was a fair description of what you offered.

I agree with the description "continental". For a breakfast buffet in the UK
I would expect some hot food such as bacon, egg, sausage.

Having been disappointed with some Continental breakfasts, I think that the OP
would do okay to call it that, or an "expanded Continental Breakfast" or
perhaps "Continental Buffet".

I previously mentioned my extremely disappointing continental breakfast in
Colorado, a variety of the cheapest breads and English muffins, and a squeeze
bottle of margarine. That was disgusting. Other places have offered muffins.

The least satisfactory European continental breakfast I ever had was in a hotel
in Padua, juice, strong coffee with a picture of hot milk, and a roll. The
juice of okay. The coffee was great. The roll was stale and crusty. One of the
best was in a small hotel in Ypres where we had juice and coffee and two rolls.
One was a soft roll that was wonderful. The other was a sweet pastry that was
incredible. We also had a nice breakfast in a hotel in Gimmelwald. The carton
of orange juice on the table was not so impressive, but they had great coffee
and freshly baked bread, butter and jam and Gruyere cheese. There was lots of
everything.

The first time I was in Paris I was reluctant to accept the "breakfast" for 48
francs. Back then (93) it seemed a heck of a lot for a continental breakfast,
but we found it hard to find one of those for less than 50francs at local
cafes. We did have it on our last morning before heading to the airport.
Nobody had told me that it was a wonderful breakfast buffet, and that there was
no charge for my 15 year old son. It turned out to be much better and much
cheaper than we had been getting on the street. Now I ask about breakfast
before deciding.

On my past too European trips I had incredible breakfast buffets in Denmark and
German. They had everything you could every hope for breakfast, cereals, cold
cuts, cheese, fish, great breads and rolls, croissants, good coffee, fresh
fruit, yoghurt. There was something for everyone.

"Miss L. Toe" wrote:



Offering breakfast is generally an attraction. But is has to be a decent
offering. I can tell you about a Super 8 where we stayed in Colorado that
offered a "Continental Breakfast". It consisted of a a toaster and an urn
of
coffee. There were bags of white and whole wheat bread and English
muffins.
There was a squeeze bottle of soft margarine and two types of fruit jam in
squeeze bottles. Not too impressive. It did not suit my wife at all, so
we
ended up having to go else where for breakfast anyway.


But that is pretty standard in the USA. Although there are often some
doughnuts thrown in.

It would not have been so bad if it had been decent quality. A squeeze bottle of
margarine instead of butter pretty much says it all. I have been to lots of
hotels in Canada and the US where the continental breakfast was coffee juice and
a selection of muffins, and real butter, a and the muffins were pretty good.

Why do you think McD has a breakfast menu :-)

I would have to be pretty desperate before I ate in a MacDonalds. A greasy spoon
would have to be pretty bad before it lived down to the golden arches food.

Keith Anderson wrote:


There is, however, decent bread available in this country. It's worth
shopping around, especially if you're serving breakfasts in a hotel.
Here's couple of good 'uns near where I live.....

English style bread generally has a bad name due to what we are accustomed to being
marketed by the major bakeries. I have heard good things about English baking from
friends and relatives who have been there. I saw some English style bread in
breakfast buffet in Denmark and I don't know what possessed me to try it when there
were so many other great baked goods in the selection. I was delightfully surprised
how good it was.

Jan wrote:


None of which really fit what we offer !!! We feel we are quite clear
and honest in the web page on what we offer, and don't want to imply we
are offering something we are not-you have to be so careful with your
descriptions from a legal aspect.
I'll phone the company up and see if they could add "breakfast buffet"
to the list..However if I could check that......would one expect more
for a buffet???iyswim

Your menu reminds me of what I expect to get in Amsterdam, which I
always look forward to. Banish the "full english" and welcome.

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

That's probably true, but IMO you can never err on the side
of too lavish! (Guests choose what they want to eat, they
don't have to eat it just because it's offered, but it's
very nice to HAVE a choice.)

For some, it is absolutely essential to have a choice. People have dietary
concerns. The usual breakfast offerings in restaurant around here are eggs and
bacon, sausage and/or ham, with toast and often home fries. I can't eat that
kind of stuff for breakfast. I would rather have some oatmeal porridge or cold
cereal. Muffins or croissants, a nice roll with jam and butter would be great. My
wife does not eat bread at all, and does not eat much of any type of
carbohydrate. If we don't have the choices of what each of us prefers to eat, we
will likely go elsewhere.