"Life is uncertain ...eat dessert first"

Don't you just love that? That's what the menu card at Old Man Rafferty's says. It's a chain of 3 restaurants in New Jersey and is a delightful place to eat. But what really caught my attention was that line on their menu card: "Life is uncertain... eat dessert first".

Apart from the underlying philosophy to enjoy the here and now instead of constantly planning to live life some day, I had to smile at what I thought what was the business intent of this capitalizing on impulse buying - or ordering, so to say.

Think about it: when you get to a restaurant, when are you the most hungry? When your waiter hands you the menu, and you start reading all those mouth-watering descriptions of course. And when are you more likely to order dessert - even one much larger than you might at other times? When the old stomach is a-growlin', when it has not yet savored the appetizers, the entree, the main course et al.

That's when your mind is not thinking "Hmmm, I'm pretty full so may be I should get a tiny serving of dessert... or skip it altogether..." What better time to entice you with irresistible pictures of some decedent desserts, flooding your brain with promises of sugar and chocolate and other endless possibilities? "What if they run out?", the tantalizing pictures whisper... "Or if the kitchen closes? Go ahead, ask for that dessert now!" I admit, no better time than when you first look at that menu card :-) And oh - did I mention that they also have all the desserts displayed to make the Battle of Resistance a doomed venture from when you step into the restaurant? I bet the Old Man gets more (and larger) orders for desserts than your average restaurant :-)

My verdict: 5 out of 6 stars
Come on, it is a naughty (tho endearing) bit of Marketing "Come to me-e-e-e-e" cross-sell genius we're seeing here :-) So just to make sure I get my brownie (sugar-free, of course) points with St. Peter, I am holding back that last star. But I don't mind this evident attempt to get my (additional) business.

I do love that underlying philosophy - and as I see the harsh reality that this world is, I am so ready to order dessert while I know there's still some left! In fact when I ate there, I DID order the dessert along with my main course. And of course, I had to doggy-bag most of the dessert to bring home. For a repeat rendez-vous with the calories in the comfort of my favorite arm-chair... my feet up on one of the arms... my hair scrunched up in a pony-tail... socks warming my toes, and the dessert delivering that promise of sugar - mmmmmmmmmmmm!

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