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 Sergeant Horse wrote:

Boss GreenNutz wrote:
My LGS is also a cafe. Asking them to allow you to bring outside food in would be akin to asking the owner if he would mind if I set up a booth at a corner table to sell minis I get online.

Yup, that would be me I like to think we serve pretty good food as well, it's all freshly made (no pre wrapped sandwiches). I do allow outside food after we close our own kitchen at 9pm though.

It's pretty great stuff. We've been trying to eat gluten/grain-free lately, so I usually just get an Americano. Just the option to grab a sandwich at the store instead of having to leave and then come back later is cool, though.

 Ouze wrote:

What does Mikhaela do for this?

I can't speak to his everyday customer base, as I've only been there a few times. First was after a certain friend got fired and a lot of the group went and just enjoyed a huge apocalypse game at showcase. Mikhaela had food actually slow cooking in the back he welcomed us to. Of course we didnt eat while playing (and I'm pretty sure he saw a boost in sales that day to help offset the investment as several of us dropped a couple hundred that day). The only other two times was during some auctions he ran. Only having 10 min breaks at times, I saw several people (and I eventually did it myself) bring back Chinese to eat while waiting for it to resume. As long as you clean up after yourself, I don't think he had an issue. This is of course if I'm correct in thinking Mikhaela is who I think he is... Damn memory.

My FLGS has to allow food. This is due to the fact that the Worthy Painting Service upstairs that is part of the buisness and paints for companys requires fuel. And Dominoes pizza is fuel. Without pizza(or other such fuels) there would be no income.

I've only ever played in one store that did its own food (outside of chocolate bars and cans of soft-drink). But that's because of where it is located - out in the fringes of Sydney.

Several of the clubs I've played at have run a canteen (with microwaveable meals and so on) but these were NOT store based clubs.

One of my current clubs (we're in a sports club) operates a bistro downstairs (we use their boardroom) and allows us to take food and drinks upstairs with us (we take empties back down). No outside food, though (because of the bistro).

The other club puts on a free lunch for members during our monthly meetings (it might only be a sausage on a roll with sauce and onions, but they often have enough for 2 per person and they are filling) - and we have our own bar upstairs with beer and softies. This club also runs a bistro on Friday and Saturday nights, normally, and our occasional Friday night meetings takes advantage of this.

I say ban food altogether.

Really, are modern humans such fat greedy grotesque fethers that we cant go a few hours without ramming some cheetos into our gullets?

I don't want greasy mitts and fething Dorito dust on my dice or bacon bits on my books.

If you eat three meals a day like a normal human, you can easily game for 4-5 hours and then take a break for food. I really don't see the issue at all.

Also, I'm fething alarmed at the amount of people that chew with their mouth open, I really hate noticing it in a restaurant, let alone when we are talking and gak during a game. Just feth off outside and eat your packed lunch because I don't want to watch you masticating your egg mayonnaise.

Snack foods are the order of the day in my regular FLGS, although they do sell microwave burgers et al. They also allow you to bring food in.

I don't know about the rules in other nations, but if a place over here offers cooked food, there's some wierd regulation that means people are no longer allowed to bring food in (I think it's a safety and hygeine thing...)

Personally, I don't mind people 'snacking' while gaming, and if I am hungry on games night, I will get some food (rather than snacks) and eat before I make an attempt to join in any games, however if necessary I will get a chocolate bar and a diet coke and have a bit of a munch during a game. But then on another note I always ensure my hands are clean before I handle anyone else's stuff (much to the lament of my jeans ).

In terms of 'store policy' If I was a store owner, I would provide an eating space if possible, with a range of foods available, but make a clear and enforced rule that 'meals' are to be eaten in the eating area, and only 'snacks' may be eaten at the gaming area.

My FLGS bans outside food, but they have coolers stocked with pop, microwaveable snacks, and a rack full of chips. The way they serve them is kind of neat, though - basically, you can either buy things straight-up, which is something like $1 or $2 plus tax, or you can buy store credit tokens, $1 = $1. 1 token for small items, 2 for big ones. It's pretty nice, because you don't pay tax on the tokens, and if you want something in the middle of a game, you can just run to the front, slap down two tokens, and grab something to eat/drink. The new system actually replaces an older one where they had refreshment tokens, basically green plastic tokens stamped with the store logo.

My FLGS is very open about allowing food in. The strip mall they are in has a few restaurants nearby, and it is a symbiotic relationship between them. The restaurants get more business due to hungry gamers, and the gamers stay in the store longer and end up buying more products in the long run since it is a comfortable place to hang out (on most nights, I avoid the place on Fridays due to FNM for example) They have a painting room, 6 or 7 large tables for wargaming, and about 15-20 small tables for hanging out/card/rpg/board games/eating.

The store has a pretty loyal following of gamers that often help build terrain for the store if they are just hanging out. Never seen any terrain wrecked by spills/dirty fingers, not saying it never happens, but never in my experience. Players often have drinks at one end of the 8x4 tables when wargaming with no issues. The store sells candy/chips/ice cream/soft drinks.

The store has a pretty loyal following of gamers that often help build terrain for the store if they are just hanging out. Never seen any terrain wrecked by spills/dirty fingers, not saying it never happens, but never in my experience. Players often have drinks at one end of the 8x4 tables when wargaming with no issues. The store sells candy/chips/ice cream/soft drinks.

Yes. Long ago that I fondly remember there was a small store that did all of those things. And the hobby community flourished. Food was fine as long as you were respectful of others. People were always polite and the Vets build the terrain and/or helped in painting, playing games and so on. Between 2003 and 2007 this little store ranked consistently in the top 5 in sales in the US (seen the store's revenues stats for those years). It was a fun place to be.

This little store was a GW store and is one of the smallest I'd ever seen. But policy changed and the hard sell increased. The manager got his promotion to his level of incompetency and 3 years later he was out of GW for good. Good employees left that store as robo managers came and went, spouting off the corporation's edicts.

And with that, so did the Veterans leave.

This GW store still exists. Why? I do not know for their sales are way down from the glory days of being a hobby store that used to serve the community. It's a burn and churn type of store now with young kids now.

I miss those days when I can go and have fun and feel that I am helping out others in a hobby that we are in to. But CCG's are the bread and butter of most games stores now and miniatures are at least a secondary issue in my region.

If you have a FLGS that you feel comfortable in spending time in there help them out. If they sell food, buy some. I did that at one game store. Spent 50 bucks a month just on snacks and sodas. Every amount of revenue that the store can generate will keep that store open for the next month and so on.

If it helps keeps a FLGS open I say yes to it and how they set things up for that store.

My store sells candy, chips, and pop, and they're totally cool with you bringing in outside food - as long as you're responsible with it. Which is to say, eat away from any gaming surfaces and clean up any mess.

My local gaming store sells snacks, but has a cool relationship with the Italian (ok, pizza) place next door. You can run next door and place an order, and they will deliver it to the gaming store on a tray. This rocks, because you can just grab 2 slices of pizza instead of having an entire pie delivered.

I'm sympathetic with the people who don't want greasy fingers all over their miniatures (but I generally don't want people touching my minis anyway), but a lot of people work until 5, then travel some distance, to a gaming store that closes at 9 or 10 pm. Having the option of food during gaming, rather than reducing gaming time to get and consume a meal, is pretty convenient. On the other hand, you need to be neat and considerate. Whether you are gaming or not, being messy and obnoxious isn't cool.

There was a local gaming store that when they first opened sold soda's for like $1 a soda but didn't bar people from bringing their own.
Then they got greedy and started selling soda's, and candy but banned any outside food or drink. Then they jacked the prices up.
Then they started selling "drink cards" where you pay $20 and get 10 drinks, and 10% an item in the store IF you spent $100.

So I just stopped going there. For one I'm not going to drink 10 soda's in a day. Two 10% of is BS when everything is 20-25% off online. Lastly they were just rude and got on my nerves.
One of my buddy's opponents showed up late so they were still deep into the game during the lunch break. So I brought him his lunch back. Got back he was still gaming walked in to give him his food.
They started yelling at me "No food in the store take it outside!" I looked at them and said "F*** you and your store I'm a grown man and you don't talk to me like that."
Found a better location that didn't even know they were a gaming store. lol. Got them to set the place up, they do 20% off, and other crazy deals. It's a huge hobby shop.
Then directed all the tournament guys to the store. The other store folded left with nothing but the bad body odor saturday night D&D crowd.

One FLGS, of sainted memory, had a standard rule regarding food in the shop:
Did you bring enough for everybody?

Otherwise they allowed chips that they sold (even if you did not buy them there - it was the Cheezy Poof Effect that they were trying to avoid) and they had soda in a can.

The store has been gone for years now. :(

The Auld Grump

I am not sure about our area, but in my honest opinion this is how I would run it.

No food or drinks on the table.
Drinks must have a resealable container.
You get food/drinks on it, you bought it.
Clean up after yourselves.

I would imagine that saying "no outside food" would be a good, if passive-aggressive, way to get those unsightly lurkers that clutter up the store without buying anything to move along.

 Monster Rain wrote:
I would imagine that saying "no outside food" would be a good, if passive-aggressive, way to get those unsightly lurkers that clutter up the store without buying anything to move along.

I was kinda thinking this, too. I approve.

There is a difference between having a water bottle or soda bottle that you can close, or a small candy bar / snack, and a huge smelly meal.

Anything you need a napkin for doesn't really need to be eaten while gaming.

That said, I've brought a bag of Burger King into a store to eat before gaming (the store had no anti-food policy). But not while gaming. That just isn't sanitary.

Edit - clarity