at a restaurant

Objectives

1. To promote awareness of the potential costs and savings associated with dining out

2. To provide the tools to make informed choices

Discussion

Introduce money management as it pertains to eating at a restaurant with the following discussion points:

  • Introduce the idea of dining out.
  • What kinds of restaurants appeal to you?
  • What are some of the costs associated with going out to a restaurant?
  • What might an average individual meal cost?
  • Who takes financial responsibility for meals if they are not eaten at home?
  • How are taxes and tips calculated on restaurant purchases?
  • What are some ideas for saving money at a restaurant?

Activity

How much is a meal?

Length: (45 minutes – 1 hour)
Materials: At a Restaurant Student Handout, real restaurant menus from your local area, arts and crafts supplies

  • In this activity, students will have to come up with three real restaurant meal ideas and compile them into a creative menu. Have students look through real menus and come up with two restaurant meals that cost less than $15.00 and one that costs less than $10.00 (including taxes and tip). They can brainstorm and record their menu ideas on the At a Restaurant Student Handout.
  • Once the students have come up with three meal ideas they can create their own menu (using arts and crafts supplies) citing the restaurants from which they drew the information. The menu can include tips on dining out cheap and any special deals their particular restaurants offer.
  • Once the activity is complete the menus could be gathered and displayed in the classroom to offer other kids money‑saving ideas. Or, some students could compile the classes’ meal ideas into one book for distribution to all of the students.

Extension

  • Encourage students to categorize local restaurants (i.e. take-out, family dining, fancy) and determine the average cost associated with each. Research some of the categories and record actual prices.

Collaborative Feedback

  • After discussing savings ideas as a class, have everyone record the group’s ideas (i.e. drinking water, finding coupons, splitting meals, specials, etc.)
  • What ideas surface around dining out vs. eating at home?

Teacher Tips

  • Organize a debate around the idea of “to tip or not to tip” as a means of saving money. Should a consumer’s tip be based on the service or out of obligation? Is a 15% tip average, minimum, or high? Do you need to tip everywhere? (i.e. take-out, over‑the‑counter restaurants/cafes, hair salons, taxis?)
  • Ask the Home Ec teacher to talk to the class about the relationship between restaurant costs and food quality, nutritional value, quantity and organic vs. not organic.