Higher menu prices.

[Shortline]

I would love to see some local offerings like the cold entrée box on the eastbound EB from Portland.

Cater with one or 2 restaurants along the route, and load lunch/dinner meals. Breakfast is standard, and then keep a few hot meal staples, like the Burger, Soups, steak, and chef specials as prepared on board.

The restaurants could rotate choices along with their in house menu, much more easily than Amtrak.

edit:sp

Neat idea, but with the propensity for late trains, it would be hard for a caterer to schedule to meet a train, when the scheduled time might be 11:53, but the real time, as in the case of the EB, might just be shooting for "Thursday"......

 

[buddy559]

I would love to see some local offerings like the cold entrée box on the eastbound EB from Portland.

Cater with one or 2 restaurants along the route, and load lunch/dinner meals. Breakfast is standard, and then keep a few hot meal staples, like the Burger, Soups, steak, and chef specials as prepared on board.

The restaurants could rotate choices along with their in house menu, much more easily than Amtrak.

edit:sp

Neat idea, but with the propensity for late trains, it would be hard for a caterer to schedule to meet a train, when the scheduled time might be 11:53, but the real time, as in the case of the EB, might just be shooting for "Thursday"......

They could just leave them in a cooler, on the side of the tracks, with a note saying - Do not touch. :giggle:

 

[the_traveler]

On some trains, the French toast may be available, but only in one direction. Going west on the Cap & the CZ in 2011, only pancakes were available but I was told the French toast was available eastbound.

That appears to no longer be the case… looking at all of the routes on Amtrak website none of the routes have separate westbound and eastbound menus.

It also appears that there are only two different menus in use:

Version 1 is in use on most of the western trains (the California Zephyr, the Southwest Chief, the Coast Starlight, the Empire Builder, and Texas Eagle).

Version 2 is in use on most of the eastern trains (the City of New Orleans, the Crescent, the Sunset Limited, the Lake Shore Limited, the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor.)

While it may be true that there are 2 versions, I can personally vouch for the fact that on at least the Empire Builder, they offer different items in each direction.
I was on #7/27 two weeks ago. Just mentioning breakfast, the menu states

French Toast - eastbound only

Pancakes - westbound only

Thus if you took #7/27 (as I did), you could only get pancakes, not French Toast. If you took #8/28, you could only get French Toast, but not pancakes. The server also stated this, without being asked first.

 

[SANSR]

A ways off topic, but I certainly would prefer a credible listing of stations that offer ethonal free gasoline. I just spent 1/3 of the price of inital home generator cost in repair (with only 4.5 hours of run time) because I foolishly believed that 'fuel stabilizer' would offset the damage to the carb seals from 10% ethonal loaded fuel. I won't make that mistake again, but it proved to be an interesting task to find a product provider in my area that offered the product under discussion. Turned out to be a family owned minimart in the middle of nowhere. The fuel pumps were from a by gone era; ie, they still had the mechanical dials. Ok....let's review: A specialized product, sold by a family owned market, in an out of the way location, and pretty much setting the price as they see fit. Yes, it was expensive. Shrug......still worth it to prevent damage to any of my small gasoline engine machines.

 

[rickycourtney]

I was on #7/27 two weeks ago. Just mentioning breakfast, the menu states

French Toast - eastbound only

Pancakes - westbound only

Thus if you took #7/27 (as I did), you could only get pancakes, not French Toast. If you took #8/28, you could only get French Toast, but not pancakes. The server also stated this, without being asked first.

These menus (with the higher prices) are marked 1113 which I believe means they went into use this month.
The old menu marked 0513 (which you likely used 2 weeks ago) had an eastbound and westbound version.

I'm also realizing that each menu has a code on the bottom right that appears to denote the menu version and date introduced.

For example:

AMT EB C1 1113 (Empire Builder, Menu 1, Nov. 2013)

AMT LSL C5 1113 (Lake Shore Limited, Menu 5, Nov. 2013)

I also found AMT EB C5 0513 (Empire Builder, Menu 5, May 2013) the choices are identical to the current menu 5 being used across the east.

Now that being said... There may be several menus used on each Amtrak route... But they only post one menu online.

 

[Ispolkom]

If the extra charges result in fresher/faster/tastier food then I'm all for it.

Otherwise I'm not really liking the idea, but if that's what it takes to keep the LD lines then maybe that's just how it has to be?

And do you use the same reasoning when any restaurant or supermarket raises their prices too? :huh:

Why wouldn't I?

On the High Plains locals pay more to local businesses all the time so that they stay in operation. An expensive cafe or grocery store is better than none at all, and I feel the same about Amtrak dining car prices. It isn't as though there are many other railroads to ride in the US.

 

[VentureForth]

Doesn't matter on some routes when they are busy as there is often no room in the Diner for paying Coach passengers.

 

[the_traveler]

But breakfast is always first come, first served. (If necessary, they start a waiting list.) Lunch may be either first come, first served or by reservation - I've seen both. Dinner is always by reservation only.

 

[Nathanael]

What Inflation??? According to the Number Wizards in Washington, Inflation has only been 1.5% which is what Retired Government Employees and Social Security Folks are getting for 2014!!

What's happening, unfortunately, over the last few years, is that food and oil/gasoline prices are rising, but most *other* prices are flat or falling. Especially prices for things like cellphones and computers, but even rents are flat or dropping nationally. So when you average it out, there's not much inflation. But the average hides a lot. :-(

 

[Bob Dylan]

What Inflation??? According to the Number Wizards in Washington, Inflation has only been 1.5% which is what Retired Government Employees and Social Security Folks are getting for 2014!!

What's happening, unfortunately, over the last few years, is that food and oil/gasoline prices are rising, but most *other* prices are flat or falling. Especially prices for things like cellphones and computers, but even rents are flat or dropping nationally. So when you average it out, there's not much inflation. But the average hides a lot. :-(

That's the Problem with National "Averages" and Mean Prices! Here in Austin, due to the "Boom" going on, EVERYTHING is going up in Price, Especially Rent and Housing Prices! Of course , in Depressed Areas like the Rust Belt, stuff is Cheap Because no-one is moving there, in fact they are Leaving for Places that have Jobs (like Texas)! (Supply and Demand!) Having Lived almost 70 years has taught me one Universal Truth I'll pass on : "When it comes to Retirement, Be Sure you have More Money than you think you'll need to Maintain your Lifestyle, Inflation is like the Old Pac-Man Game, it Eats up your Money like Crazy!" :help:

 

[fairviewroad]

I would love to see some local offerings like the cold entrée box on the eastbound EB from Portland.

Cater with one or 2 restaurants along the route, and load lunch/dinner meals. Breakfast is standard, and then keep a few hot meal staples, like the Burger, Soups, steak, and chef specials as prepared on board.

The restaurants could rotate choices along with their in house menu, much more easily than Amtrak.

edit:sp

Neat idea, but with the propensity for late trains, it would be hard for a caterer to schedule to meet a train, when the scheduled time might be 11:53, but the real time, as in the case of the EB, might just be shooting for "Thursday"......

True, though I bet a small-ish town caterer wouldn't mind putting up with the uncertainty for an extra couple of thousand dollars (or more) worth of business each week. I bet the place that supplies those chicken dinners in Havre doesn't mind the perpetual lateness of the EB. That said, if you did this you'd have to pick appropriate food (the cold boxed dinners would probably be a good choice).

 

[the_traveler]

When it comes to Retirement, Be Sure you have More Money than you think you'll need to Maintain your Lifestyle

Like traveling on trains, eating BBQ - or both!

 

[dlagrua]

In a pound of Bacon, there are approximately 25 slices. The cost per slice is less than 20 cents x 2 = 50 cents per serving retail. Amtrak wants to charge $3.75 for this side order. I will now ask the question.

If they raised the price by 75 cents and made 100 servings (a generous estimate) on a trip would the extra 75 cents make the difference between profitability and loss??

It has to be recognized that dining cars never made a profit and will never make a profit. Their cost is justified by the amount of sleeper passengers that a LD train can attract and need to be served. Heck on the Autotrain ALL passengers are served meals. Quite often this train has 300-400 passengers on it. The food is part of what makes this train so popular making the Autotain with its hundreds of meals served each trip, the main revenue producer of all the LD routes.

 

[VentureForth]

First of all, I want to know where you buy your bacon, 'cause I wanna go shopping there! Around here, bacon runs for about 45 cents per slice. That's retail. In the different world of restaurants, price points are set to around 4x wholesale. So, I would guess that a slice of bacon should cost around $0.80 - $1 per slice, or around $2 per order. But one of the reasons why land based restaurants are so much more affordable than the train is because they are paid at nearly 1/2 the minimum wage, relying on tips to cover the rest of their earnings. To top it off, they are often low on the benefits scale, too, much less retirement. Compare that to the cost of an Amtrak LSA who gets a living wage, PLUS tips, PLUS Golden benefits and pensions, PLUS Per Diems for their time away from home, you can see real quick where the expenses are. Sure, the demands of the jobs are different, and that's acceptable.

But when you compare the food on Amtrak to the food in a typical European or Japanese restaurant where their employees are not subsidized by tipping, the cost of a typical meal on Amtrak doesn't seem really that high. However, it is disproportionate to level of many (not all, not most, not all the time) of its ridership.

Dining cars have never made a profit and will never make a profit is a mindset that is simply not true without the qualifier: "without making fundamental changes in the way they are currently run". Whatever that last part means can be up to anyone's interpretation.

 

[Guest]

But breakfast is always first come, first served. (If necessary, they start a waiting list.) Lunch may be either first come, first served or by reservation - I've seen both. Dinner is always by reservation only.

I agree that earlier in the day, someone (SCA, LSA, etc) comes and takes a reservation for dinner, has any ever had the dining car actually check that reservation when you show up (like the hostess at a land restaurant)?

BTW, I have learned that if I show up for my 6pm reservation at 6pm, the LSA will sometimes yell at me that "it is not 6pm until she announces over the PA, that it is 6pm (like the PA system actually works ).

 

[the_traveler]

No they don't normally check your reservation when you show up. Basically they take your word. They stagger the seating times so dinner can be prepared by the cook and served by the servers in a timely fashion. Thus the may only have 16 slots for the 5:30 period, another 16 at 6:00, etc... So if 25 show up at 5:30, they may check your name.

As far as being yelled at for not coming until the time is announced, there are many reasons.

1) They could be running behind,

2) The diners at those tables (from a prior seating) are still eating,

3) The table you would be sitting at still has dirty dishes from the last seating and has not yet been cleared,

4) Etc..., etc...

As an example of #1, on one train a few years ago, I had a reservation for 5:00 for dinner. Due to a problem with the Dining Car, they did not start serving until after 7:00! So Should the people reserved for 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 or 7:00 be seated before those reserved at 5:00? :huh:

 

[fairviewroad]

As far as being yelled at for not coming until the time is announced, there are many reasons.

No, there is no reason for someone to be "yelled at" for coming to the dining car "early". Politely asked to come back later, sure.

 

[the_traveler]

I was just using the poster's words. I agree there is no reason to be yelled at. Most likely, they were asked to return when the meal period is called. (I have seen that done many times, but never when they actually yell "DON'T COME UNTIL I SAY!")

 

[trainman74]

I agree that earlier in the day, someone (SCA, LSA, etc) comes and takes a reservation for dinner, has any ever had the dining car actually check that reservation when you show up (like the hostess at a land restaurant)?

Yes, I was on a Southwest Chief trip last month with an LSA who was checking reservations (including collecting the slips she'd given out).

 

[Guest]

I was just using the poster's words. I agree there is no reason to be yelled at. Most likely, they were asked to return when the meal period is called. (I have seen that done many times, but never when they actually yell "DON'T COME UNTIL I SAY!")

How do you get called for dinner, when the PA system isn't working?

BTW, the "yelling" was due to me being in the vestibule, waiting, and the LSA at the other end of the seating area, by the kitchen. I guess the LSA could have walked over to where I was, but I understand she was quite busy.

 

[the_traveler]

The PA may not be working in one car (I've had a few of those), but if you see a line of people heading for the Dining Car, you may reason that dinner had been called. You may see 1 or 2 people walking thru the car and maybe assume they're going to the café. However, if you see a line of like 10-15 people walking thru the car, chances are they are going to the Dining Car!

 

[fairviewroad]

The PA may not be working in one car (I've had a few of those), but if you see a line of people heading for the Dining Car, you may reason that dinner had been called. You may see 1 or 2 people walking thru the car and maybe assume they're going to the café. However, if you see a line of like 10-15 people walking thru the car, chances are they are going to the Dining Car!

You wouldn't necessarily notice this depending on which sleeping car or coach you are in. If you're near the end or beginning of the train there won't be a "march to the diner" past your seat. At any rate, if a non-working PA is a known issue, the SCA or coach attendant should be in contact with the diner so that passengers in their car

know when to head to dinner.

 

[SarahZ]

You're also given a slip of paper with your reservation time written on it.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

You're also given a slip of paper with your reservation time written on it.

Never understood the purpose of the paper slip myself. I cannot recall a single instance of needing it later and regardless of whatever is written on it you're not getting in until they call for you over the PA anyhow. So, I just accept it quietly and toss it in the trash when they're gone. Apparently some staff do ask for it back, but if you didn't have it would they really refuse to serve you and kick you out again? That seems rather unlikely to me, but I have been wrong before.

 

[SarahZ]

Yeah, ours gets shoved in my pocket. I bring it just in case they want it, but I've never been asked for it.