Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-13
DINING FOR TWENTY.EIyE CENTS.
The Mystery OF Big Meals and Small
Prices Explained.

DINING FOR TWENTY-FIVE CENTS s.
The Mystery Of Big Meals and Small
Prices Explained.
VISIT TO THE EATING HOUSES OF THE CITY
HOW THOUSANDS ARE FED DAILY AT MODERATE
RATES--wHERE THE PROFIT COMES N-CHEAP
LIVING FEATURE OF THE CAPITAL CITY
THE GROWTH OF TIE BUSINESS-THE PIONEER
EATING HOUSE.
81 furnish five hundred meals q day." re-
marked the proprietor Of large dinng-room
to STAR reporter. ~ could furnish nine hun
bred meals per day with but comparatively
little additional cost if could get the custom.
establishment is idle. There are at least ten
similar establishments in this vicinity
whose capacity varies, but | suppose
that Done of them furnish less than two hun
dred meals per day. You ask how we car ID it
for so little money Well. twenty-five cents for
square meal. which consists of soup. meat,
vegetables and dessert is very cheap. and | have
had people say to me that they had travelled all
over the country. and they found better meals
in Washington, and at cheaper rate, than in
any other city. When I first went into the
business, some six years ago. twenty-five cent
meals were novelty. and the establishments
were regarded as resorts for poor people. but
now such places have started up all over the
city, and they are patrOniZed by the best peo-
pie. | have among my customers people OF
means who find that they can get better and
cheaper meals than at home. Other dining
rooms of a similar character seem to be doing
we'll. and cheap meals appear to have become
one of the features of lite in the capital city "
1.-The city has increased in population during
these years" suggested the listener
''0f course it has," was the reply. :'but
don't attribute the growth of the business en-
tirely to that cause. Iou will find that the
boarding-houses have decreased in number.
Places where they have twenty or thirty board
ers are not so numerous. They can't stand the
competition with us either in variety or quality
of the food furnished. and. Of course. their
prices are considerably higher"
HOW IT IS DONE.
flow do you manage to furnish meals for
twenty-five cents2" was the rather curious in
qury.
:" / can only do It," replied the caterer "by
having a large number of boarders. | pay ex-
penses after furnishing two hundred meals. All
over that. after the cost of the raw material is
deducted. is profit and enables me to buy
largely at wholesale and give greater variety.
The whole secret of the business is quantity.
Everything is done on an extensive scale. Ii |
had only few boarders. say fifty. and furnished
meals at that figure | would soon run behind.
1t could not te done. People who have no eX-
perience in catering on large scale don't I'M
derstand where the profit comes in. and are
inclined to be rather skeptical about the merits
of such an establishment as mine. But this is
not the case so much as it used to be. and 1
have very good class of custom. Now. for
instance. who except an epicure would find
fault with such bill of fare ~ | presented to
my customers for breakfast this morning." And
the proprietor picked up printed bill OF fare
from one of the tables and read as follows:
Oatmeal and milk, heefSteak, breakfast bacon,
cranberry sauce, potatoes (baked or fried), hot
rolls, corn cakes, tea, coffee, milk.
"Jhere are not many private families that sit
down to such breakfast as that, continued the
proprietor.
Now look at the bill Of fare for dinner Here
1t is:"
Noodle soup, roast beef scolloped oysters, beet
curry, white potatoes, kale, banana fritters,
apple pie, vanilla custard, tea, Coffee milk.
III there ain t richness and luxury" said the
proprietor, with smile. IL should like you to
show me where it can be found for the same
amount OF money. Then. besides, our rates by
the month are still cheaper. / give two meals a
day and lunch tor SIC
GLANCE AT THE DINING ROOM.
AS he was speaking gentleman sauntered up
to the desk with a tooth pick in his mouth to
pay for the meal he had just eaten. and while
the proprietor was making the change the re-
porter glanced down the dining room with its
rows OF round tables covered with white table
cloth and having the usual array of dishes seen
on well appointed tables. Colored walters.
with white Jackets and aprons. moved about,
waiting on the tables. Everything looked clean.
and the surroundings We're comfortable and
substantial.
Several other dining-rooms In the vicinity
were visited. and in all OF them the same rates
prevailed and the bllls-of-fare seemed to be of
the same general character. The reporter was
told by the proprietOrs of these places that they
furnished all the way from two hundred to five
hundred meals per day. Their customers. they
said. were mainly clerks. and they depended but
little upon transient guests. In many instances
they said whole families came to their places for
meals.
DEVICES TO ATTRACT CUSTOM.
As the reporter walked from one dining-room
to another he could see the evidences of a brisk
competition in the methods adopted to set forth
the attractions offered to the hungry. One
man displayed on bulletins the bl-of-iare for
the day. Another had gas stove in his WIN
dow, and cOlOred cook with white apron and
cap made griddle cakes and piled the brown
faky discs in tempting array upon plates. The
admiring spectators saw these whisked away by
busy walters. and the imagination was left to
picture the felicity Of the happy diners as they
applied the butter and syrup, and then. the SUI
preIne moment OF all, when the rich mOrsels
glided down their threats. Some of these places
also display in their windows live turkeys or
have them hanging before their doors with the
suggestive inscription For dinner Tomorrow"
The immediate vicinity Of F and 9th streets
abound in dining rooms of this description. but
they may also be found in other parts Of the
city. Their number is legion. and it Is an evil
dence of what large proportion of the popuIa-
tion live in this way. Twenty-Five cents is not
the low-water mark for meals, as there are
number OF places where meals are furnished for
ten and fifteen cents each.
1t may be said without examgeration that
there is no place in this country where there are
better facilities for cheap and at the same time
substantial living. Unlike other places, an &C.
quaintance with the town is not necessary in
order to get good meal at moderate price.
These dining-rOOms are in central localities, and
their proprietors adopt every means to make
themselves known not only to the citizens, but
to the strangers.
The pioneer cheap eating house was started
some eight years ago, under the auspices of the
WOmen's Christian Temperance union. 1t was
the first dining-room of any size in the city that
was carried on independent of bar and at first
it was supported by the funds of the union. 1t
soon became selt-supporting, and many estab-
lshments modelled on the same plan have since
sprung up.
HIRING OUT CHINA.
How the Service for Big Receptions
and the Like is PrOvided-Dealers
Who Rent Out Their Wares-Why
Plain White China is Generally Used.
SIT takes lots of china ware for these swell