How many times have you seen diners fumbling angrily for their reading glasses, only to have to borrow ones from their partner? A new business can make that never happen again in your restaurant.
Dr. Manny Greitzer has come up with a solution — readily available common prescription reading glasses to read the menu in establishments that prefer a dark, quiet atmosphere but can anger their patrons if reading glasses go missing.
The candle light ambiance, parchment calligraphy menus, or worst of all, the faded print on the check or credit card voucher to be signed, can all make a dining out experience frustrating and not at all the pleasant occasion it’s supposed to be.
An optometrist with a master’s degree in education, and also a certified “reading specialist,” Dr. Greitzer has been practicing for 37 years, and came up with the idea to offer reading glasses to restaurants when he found it hard to read menus himself in places with low lighting.
“While on vacation and taking a cab to a restaurant, I lost my glasses even before getting there,” he says. “I was totally unable to see the menu. My partner had to read the whole menu to me. Luckily, I had a spare in the hotel so the rest of the trip wasn't ruined, but I no longer travel with less than three pairs!”
Of course, if the restaurant’s in your hometown, that might not be such a problem. But it’s still very annoying, for most.
What Dr. Greitzer can supply restaurants with is a selection of handsomely made reading glasses with the same prescription strength as found at any retail outlet.
Eater’s Readers come in a wooden designer box and can be purchased in assorted optical strengths.
“The establishment can profit from selling new ones from their spare collection as well,” he notes, for restaurants that may already carry reading glasses for borrowing by guests. “And it will cut down on their being pilfered!”
Diners won’t just feel confident in having been able to properly see the menu (and all the prices and options), but also appreciate, and enjoy, what's set before them, he points out.
“Restaurants used to provide matches and toothpicks and mints to their guests to show their appreciation. This means so much more,” he says.
Instead of pulling out a box of left-behind glasses, with bent or nibbled-on earpieces and we won’t even talk about the nose pads, restaurants could impress guests with a collection of brand-new reading glasses that they can use in the restaurant, or even purchase.
“Mine are universally color-coded for prescription strength as well as marked low, medium and high,” Dr. Greitzer says. “If unable to see, the patron may just order the basics. The glasses not only enhance the whole dining experience, but can add value to the restaurant, as well.”
For more information, go to www.eatersreaders.com or call 212 247 2020.
