Boston Market CEO talks Thanksgiving turkey (and the numbers are absurd)

[KamaAina]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boston-market-ceo-talks-thanksgiving-turkey--and-the-numbers-are-absurd-192002369.html#

Are you ditching the home cooked meal and eating out this Thanksgiving? Don’t feel guilty, because you’re not alone. Boston Market plans to serve one million people this Thanksgiving Day (that’s about 400% higher than a normal Thursday). The fast casual restaurant chain has experienced a nearly 100% increase in Thanksgiving sales over the past five years.

All 453 of its restaurants nationwide, excluding food court locations, will be open on Thanksgiving Day -- a sign of the shifting tastes of American consumers.

Boston Market isn’t the only restaurant chain keeping its doors open on Thanksgiving. Bob Evans Farms, Cracker Barrel, Golden Corral, Ruby Tuesday and Waffle House are also taking advantage of the increasing number of Americans choosing to eat out.

For the first time this year, Americans are spending more money dining out than on buying groceries, according to the Department of Commerce. And with a surge in two-income households, even the tradition of an entirely homemade Thanksgiving meal may have fallen by the wayside.

Waffle House?!

[Snobblevitch]

1. I would not have guessed this to be true.

I have never eaten in a restaurant on Thanksgiving Day.

[KamaAina]

2. I have a couple of times

when Mom was out here visiting over Thanksgiving.

Then there was the time years ago when we nearly missed our seating because a nun picked that precise moment to get in an accident on I-95.

[Snobblevitch]

4. We have eaten Easter dinner in restaurants many times.

Our entire extended family once ate Christmas dinner at an airport McDonald's. My mother eanted to do it every year, even if we weren't flying anywhere. Talk about a stress free Christmas.

[SusanCalvin]

3. I have.

Hubby and I don't have much family and are not social.

We eat in sit-down restaurants, tip the server extravagantly, and thank them for working Thanksgiving.

Say, Waffle House is a great idea. We could *really* cause a pleasant surprise with our usual tip there. I like Waffle House.

[Snobblevitch]

5. I one ate at a Waffle House on my birthday with

two relatives (one distant, one close) and they both forgot it was my birthday. (It was not spouse or children.) I didn't say anything. Then two days later I got a call yelling at me for not reminding them.

[SusanCalvin]

7. Oh that's hilarious,

in a disfunctional kind of way....!

(Hope you don't mind my saying that - assume you would not have shared story if so. Sounds like a sitcom episode! )

[Snobblevitch]

11. Well, it wasn't at home thank goodness.

I had to travel to take care of my father who was recovering from surgery. He actually gave me a birthday card, two days before my birthday. He knows that annoys me. (He is good about sending birthday cards, however, he sends them about two weeks before the actual birthday, so he can check that off his to do list.) I really don't mind it because he is in his mid-80s and is still pretty sharp. He still works part time. I have made a list for him that includes the e-mail and regular mail addresses, cell phone numbers and birthdays of our entire family. The list is quite long including 5 great- grandchildren (3 of them have cell phones). Heck, he even sent a card to a grandson's fiancee.

[Johnyawl]

10. My wife and I are much the same way...

...not much family, we long ago gave up trying to have big dinners. And who wants to do that much cooking and cleaning up for two people? We go out to a five star restaurant that features a spectacular thanksgiving buffet. My wife can have crab and I can have prime rib, and not a pumpkin pie in sight. lol It's an expensive treat for us but well worth it in our opinion.

[SusanCalvin]

13. Exactly.

And hopefully the people working are raking in the bucks.

[MuseRider]

6. My mother-in-law

can't travel the 65 miles to our house anymore even if one of my son's drives her. Last year she wanted to do Thanksgiving because she feels bad that I am always cooking for a month ahead to serve everyone who comes so she made reservations. By the time we got there, long before serving stopped, they were out of stuffing and potatoes. It was kind of a mess but nice in a way. This year I am not allowed to eat, strict liquids only, but we are going to a cousin's house so I still get out of cooking for this day. Christmas will be mine. I simply do not know how to cook without tasting.

I do NOT like having other people wait on my on a holiday but that is just me. Tip them with BIG tips and thank them. They may be there simply so they can afford Christmas presents.

[SusanCalvin]

8. I'll admit to hoping it's their choice to work a holiday,

and to hoping they are being extravagantly compensated. (We do our part.)

I would *never* set foot in a retail store on Thanksgiving.

[jmowreader]

9. Serious about Waffle House, KamaAina...

They stay open 24/7/365 ANYWAY...

[gvstn]

12. I have when my parents belonged to country club.

I did Thanksgiving for the family for their last ten years but a couple of times we just weren't organized enough or someone was not feeling well and we just went to the country club. It was fine (not home cooked good) but fine. We knew all the servers and staff so it felt homey in its own way. And they had the best. pumpkin pie ever. It was spiced in someway that I have ever found repeated but delicious. Not too hot, no too sweet but just delicious. You could also buy them whole in the lobby just before Thanksgiving for 25 years and then they just stopped it. That place really went down fast with staff cuts and stuff like that. It was never fancy,it was a working man's country club. We really didn't mind having to quit after he died it just wasn't the same place anymore.

And one thing about eating out at Thanksgiving is that turkey and gravy is pretty much a staple at family style restaurants. Your pretty much guaranteed a decent offering and they probably throw in something extra on Thanksgiving.

[SusanCalvin]

14. I love that kind of country club.

We still have one near us, with a restaurant anybody can eat in, in a beautiful mid-century building. What a treasure.