The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
THE QUICK MIDDAY MEAL
Profits Enjoyed by the Owners Of
Modern Luncheon Counters.


An ynpr-tentious business That Is
Constantly Eneronching Upon Est-
ing Houses of Greater Notc-Pfe
mud Coffee Prominent on the Nenu.
For those people who leave their homes
in the residence part OF the city or In the
suburbs in the morning and remain In
the business sections until evening the
question how and where to get the mid
/ day meal has always been an important
one. In the early days of the city 1t
I was possible for man to go to his home
from his business at the luncheon hour.
: notwithstanding the imperfect and slow
means of transportation. But only the
7 oldest inha bitants can remember those
/ days. and the custom of taking luncheon
+ downtown has been an established rule
I for many years. In the dry gods aui
wholesale districts good restaurants have
I fiourished for many years. There mer-
! chants meet buyers. and many business
I transactions are consummated over elab-
/ crate meals that masquerade as lunch
cons. Near the large restaurants less
/ pretentious establishments are maintained
for the accommodation of clerks, small
! buyers whose trade is not of sufficient i'm
! portance to warrant statesmen in treat
/ ing. and for "transients." With few ex-
| ceptions these restaurants derive a great
profit from their bar trade. and in many
instances the drinks net the proprietors
more than the food.
| Some years ago the dairy lunch" made
7 its appearance in the business district and
men who had been unable until then to
find a restaurant to their taste. one where
} no Intoxicating drinks were sold, ceased
! bringing their midday luncheon from home
I and patroniZed the new places where hot
eessssGe md sandwiches and other light food
/ could be had at reasonable price The
/ dairy lunch was success from the first
/ and within few years the modest little
| places grew to be big establishments and
/ were crowded daily for several hours with
| men and women who in most instances
/ waited upon themselves from counters.
/ where everything except the hot drinks
/ were kept. Coffee or ter at cents a cup
/ and sandwiches or cakes at the same price
1 were the chief attractions. The large
: restaurants and many luncheon clubs still
I flourish. but the quick lunch places are
also growing in popularity, and competi-
( ton has done much toward improving
/ them.
About five years ago 1t occurred to a
man who had little coffee and cake stand
in the lower part of the city that there
were many people in New York who could
not afford TO pay 5 cents for a cup of
coffee or tea or a bowl Of milk. and mas
much as these prices had enriched the
proprietors of the quick lunch places it
might be a profitable scheme to start a
similar establishment with cut prices. Act
ing on the thought. he opened a little place
in Frankfort Street. and sold coffee at
cents a cup, sandwiches at 3 cents each,
and cuts of pie and pieces of cake ct
cents.
ut was hard work at first" he said
because people thought that they would
get poor stuff. But those who came once
came again, and it wasn't long before the
place was paying and my customers were
saving three cents on every cup OF coffee
and two cents on every sandwich and
that amounts to something with people
who look to the pennies.
Presently a branch esta Slishment was
started in Beekman Street, and a Bowery
place soon followed. In all of these places
. the expenses were kept down TO the lowest
notch by employing as little help as pos
sible. There were no walters. and the bill
of fare included nothing perishable. What
was left unsold one day could be disposed
of the next. Customers helped themselves
TO <hat they wanted. and paid for il be-
fore they sat down at the tables. or be-
fore the marble shelf along the wall which
served a $ a rest for the plates and cups
The places were kept clean, and custo-
mers were provided with paper napkins.
The establishments paid because the ar
quantities at bottom prices. and the
bread. rolls, and cakes were baked by the
concern. The man who opened the little
place with two-cent coffee as the chief
attraction now has twenty similar places
in New YORK. and within a year hopes to
open several more.
One advantage which these places have
( over the ordinary downtown restaurant
/ is that their business hours are longer.
I Some of them are open for business as
/ early as o'clock in the morning and re-
main open until midnight, and many mere
are open all day and all night.
In the bakery. which is prominent
feature of the business, thirty thousand
cakes are turned out daily. and about
5000 lOaVes Of bread. The consumption Of
coffee is from $50 to 800 pounds a day.
The 2-cent cup of coffee is largely milk
and for that reason pound of ground
coffee will. with the added Ingredients.
make about 1to cups of the beverage. The
dark detection is served from urus con-
taining ten gallons. a glass gauge on the
outside OF the urn tells the coffee man
how much the urn contains, and the color
indicates the strength The ground coffee,
+ chicory, and whatever else is necessary
To give the coffee the proper taste, color.
consistency. and other qualities to make
it surprising, sueDassing, or su-
perior' are contained in bag which is
suspended in the urn When the quantity
gets low water is added while the color
lasts and when that gives out new ma
terial is put into zine bag. The cups in
which the coffee is served hold about
The average number of customers at
I each OF the restaurants is 1.0o0, which
makes 20, 600 a day for the business as
| whoIe-a pretty good showing for an en-
/ terprise which has grown out OF 2-cent
! coffee counter in five years
Pie which is an important item on the
! cheap restaurant bill of fare. is not made
! by the concern. but is purchased in large
/ quantities from one of the pie foun-
{ dries Near one of the 2-cent restaurants
small placards Were recently posted, in
which the public was warned against eat
ing '.scab pie. 1t was explained that TINS
was not a hit against the enterprising
| coffee and cake man. but was aimed at a
restaurant in the neighborhood where pies
were sold that did not bear the Bakers
! Union imprint
4 at makes no difference which house you
want to hurt. said an employe in one
| of the restaurants, you don't improve
| peopie's appetite Tor pie by showing scab
! pie notices under their noses. New YORK
/ Tribune
PEARLS IN NEW JERSEY RIVERS
| occasionally One of Great Value Is
! Discovered.