A restaurant in Changsha, China, is making headlines for its unconventional customer policy. And by "unconventional," we mean highly offensive and incredibly problematic. According to multiple reports, the popular Hunan food chain Chuiyan Fried Beef asks customers to weigh themselves before they even enter the restaurant. (Yes, really.) The reason? To determine how much food each customer should eat when they dine in. (&#%!)
If the very concept of being weighed before entering a restaurant shocks and offends you ... well, WELCOME TO THE CLUB.
Getting forced into a weigh-in anywhere but the doctor's office is pretty much ridiculous in our book, but we can't even imagine a hostess asking us to step on a scale before we could sit down to eat.
According to CNN, the restaurant asks customers to "weigh themselves on a set of scales and provide personal information."
Then, depending on their weigh-in number, the restaurant will suggest menu items "according to their physique."
As you might suspect, people who weigh more were offered lower-calorie menu items, whereas people who are thinner are presented with a list of high-calorie dishes.
(Is smoke coming out of your ears yet, or is it just us?)
"For example, women weighing less than 40 kilograms (88 pounds) were recommended the chain's signature beef dish and a fish head, while men weighing more than 80 kilograms (175 pounds) were recommended dishes including braised pork belly," CNN reported.
Uh … come again?? Aside from the fact that they are assuming any (healthy) adult woman might weigh 88 pounds … WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
We don't care how good the food is. We would leave a restaurant IMMEDIATELY if someone told us we needed to be weighed.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for Chuiyan Fried Beef to be hit with fat-shaming complaints. (Because, duh.)
In response, the restaurant issued a public apology for the practice.
But in doing so, the company also attempted to clarify how it got started in the first place.
In a statement obtained by CNN, Chuiyan Fried Beef claimed that it was an effort to try to curb food waste. In addition, customers weren't "required" or even forced to step on scales, a representative for the restaurant said.
The statement says that Chuiyan "deeply regretted" the upset the policy caused, but apparently not enough to abolish the practice.
Believe it or not, the company is still allowing customers to weigh themselves at its many locations.
"Netizens are welcome to come to the store to experience it and give their comments and suggestions," the statement reportedly said.
Oh, cool. Just one question: WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD WANT TO DO THAT??
If the whole "food waste" excuse sounds like BS to you, you're not alone.
But there may actually be some truth to it.
Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a food waste minimization campaign on August 11. Food waste has been an issue as China's economy continues to dip due to the pandemic. According to CNN, the country has also faced food shortage issues in recent years, which has put the nation on edge.
So, to be fair, the whole "Don't waste your food" sentiment does have some merit. Chuiyan Fried Beef also reportedly posted signs that read "Clean your plate" in its restaurants.
Still, it seems fair to say that businesses can encourage customers to be mindful of their food waste in ways other than putting diners on display and weighing them.
Around the world, people had a lot of opinions about the practice.
A lot of people sounded off on Facebook about it, but believe it or not, a decent number of people supported of the practice.
"It's actually quite an admirable attempt to minimize wasted food going in the bin from people over ordering," one person wrote.
"Actually I'd support it for myself," another person commented. "I used to be overweight and I struggle sometimes to determine what portion size is appropriate for me. Something like this would actually be really helpful for me."
"Embarrassment aside, a diet restaurant is a good idea if you don't know what you should be eating etc," someone else added. "There's so many conflicting theories and incorrect info out there!"
Although there may be some merit to the argument that more diet-friendly food service options should exist, we're willing to bet experts would disagree with how this restaurant is going about it. That's in part because a person's weight is not a direct indicator of their health, but also because making decisions for customers based on their weight is never a good idea. Hopefully, this "creative" little idea won't catch on elsewhere.
