Rant: No More Hard Butter!

During this past weekend, I was irritated by a restaurant where I ate breakfast on several days. The restaurant set off one of my pet peeves, and although it may be a relatively minor issue, it still adversely affected the enjoyment of my breakfast.

With my eggs and sausage, I had some toast, and I generally butter my bread rather than spread jelly or jam. The restaurant had the small, foil-like wrapped butter pats kept in a refrigerated case. However, the butter was extremely hard, overly chilled, and it triggered my pet peeve.

When the butter is that hard, you can't easily spread it on your toast, or whatever other item you want to apply such butter, from muffins to pancakes. If you try, you'll usually tear up the toast, and you don't want that to happen. If you place some hard butter on the toast, and hope the warm toast will melt the butter, it can take some time, and you probably don't want to wait that long. You can try to slice the butter real thin so it is more easily spread but that takes time, while the rest of your breakfast gets colder.

It aggravates me and it's unnecessary. Plenty of other restaurants find a way to keep their butter cool but not rock hard. Others present soft, spreadable butter which is even better. Although it may seem a minor matter, it is those small things which can adversely affect how a restaurant is viewed. It may be the tipping point which causes someone to eat elsewhere, where the butter doesn't seem frozen.

During these times, restaurants still have economic difficulties, so they need to please as many customers as possible. Tending toward even these small problems can make a significant difference, so restaurants should pay attention. The fix should be relatively easy, and can help your bottom line.

What are your thoughts on hard butter?