There is a difference between a restaurant of a specific cusine and plainly deniying acommodating for common dietary preferences. Be it for health or ethical reasons. I guess in most cuisines worldwide there are either plenty of suitable dishes already available or they should be at least easy to accomodate. But sometimes it seems it’s even too much of an ask to leave out some simple ingredients.
Sure. There is a scale where my example was an extreme for illustration. Your point a very reasonable one as well. If I was running a a cafe I would offer it but I am Canadian. If I were french and you asked for a baguette olive loaf you would find yourself in a guillotine. Context matters and traditions matter more than commerce in many cultures.
“Deny accommodating for common dietary preference”, how? Have your coffee black, there, completely lactose-free. If you ask for a latte, don’t be surprised when you get milk. If you don’t want milk, don’t order a latte. Do you know what “latte” translates to?
Seems like more a failure of you for not checking if they do oat milk. And they likely do lots of other types of vegan milk as alternatives
Honestly, the kind of person who gets pissy about this kind of thing, you’re probably better off not having in your restaurant or cafe anyway. Because they’ve probably got a list of food requirements
I have a friend with actual gluten intolerance, and she stopped telling restaurants about it specifically because otherwise they’d freak out. She’d just order things like minimal gluten and only ask if she wasn’t sure.
But she’d never ask for substitutions either
There is no way of knowing how busy this place is. They might be completely full and serving 10 different types of milk might simply slow things down and increase their risk if they accidentally mix the containers
In the year 2024, Oatly had annual revenue of $823.67M with 5.15% growth. Oatly had revenue of $214.32M in the quarter ending December 31, 2024, with 4.99% growth.
Oatly’s key markets are Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom. The company’s products were available in 60,000 retail stores and 32,200 coffee shops around the world as of 31 December 2020.
Most of the lactose-intolerant population isn’t asking for lattes for the simple reason that their cuisine doesn’t use dairy at all.
Also FWIW Italy is quite lactose-intolerant. It’s why you hear things like “no cappuccino after noon” and stuff, many Italians don’t vibe well with more than one of those things.
It’s not extremely rare. Many native south europeans are lactose intolerant, too (I don’t remember the exact numbers but IIRC it was the majority in places like southern Italy) and there’s lots of people from other continents in Europe nowadays.
Not sure about France either. But I believe in UK and Germany it’s less than 10%
If a cafe or restaurant is already extremely busy with long delays, serving other milk too could slow down service, and they might not even need the business.
I also know a dairy intolerant person who takes lacteze anyway, so its not an issue for them
And I know another who just ignores the intolerance, as it’s only a small amount of milk
Then that is a failure on the business. It is a very common request.
It’s only a failure if they wanted to do that kind of business. If I open an Italian restaurant and someone orders Thai, did I fail?
“Do you have eggs? Yes. Do you have noodles? Yes. Do you have curry paste? Yes. Do you…”
~ worst customer you will ever meet
There is a difference between a restaurant of a specific cusine and plainly deniying acommodating for common dietary preferences. Be it for health or ethical reasons. I guess in most cuisines worldwide there are either plenty of suitable dishes already available or they should be at least easy to accomodate. But sometimes it seems it’s even too much of an ask to leave out some simple ingredients.
Sure. There is a scale where my example was an extreme for illustration. Your point a very reasonable one as well. If I was running a a cafe I would offer it but I am Canadian. If I were french and you asked for a baguette olive loaf you would find yourself in a guillotine. Context matters and traditions matter more than commerce in many cultures.
“Deny accommodating for common dietary preference”, how? Have your coffee black, there, completely lactose-free. If you ask for a latte, don’t be surprised when you get milk. If you don’t want milk, don’t order a latte. Do you know what “latte” translates to?
Seems like more a failure of you for not checking if they do oat milk. And they likely do lots of other types of vegan milk as alternatives
Honestly, the kind of person who gets pissy about this kind of thing, you’re probably better off not having in your restaurant or cafe anyway. Because they’ve probably got a list of food requirements
I have a friend with actual gluten intolerance, and she stopped telling restaurants about it specifically because otherwise they’d freak out. She’d just order things like minimal gluten and only ask if she wasn’t sure.
But she’d never ask for substitutions either
There is no way of knowing how busy this place is. They might be completely full and serving 10 different types of milk might simply slow things down and increase their risk if they accidentally mix the containers
It’s not common at all.
“At all”?
Do you really think that Sweden, Germany and UK is all the world there is? I’ve got a surprise for you.
I get the sneaking suspicion you enjoy being contrarian for contradictions sake.
Yes. About 2/3rd of the worldwide population is lactose-intolerant. Hence, it is really common to ask for lactose-free products.
That’s a myth really. Lactose intolerant don’t drink lattes in the first place. But they might not be that intolerant in the first place
Most of the lactose-intolerant population isn’t asking for lattes for the simple reason that their cuisine doesn’t use dairy at all.
Also FWIW Italy is quite lactose-intolerant. It’s why you hear things like “no cappuccino after noon” and stuff, many Italians don’t vibe well with more than one of those things.
In Europe, dairy intolerance is actually extremely rare. It’s Asia where intolerance is common
You can’t use worldwide stats to represent a localised region
It’s not extremely rare. Many native south europeans are lactose intolerant, too (I don’t remember the exact numbers but IIRC it was the majority in places like southern Italy) and there’s lots of people from other continents in Europe nowadays.
Not sure about France either. But I believe in UK and Germany it’s less than 10%
If a cafe or restaurant is already extremely busy with long delays, serving other milk too could slow down service, and they might not even need the business.
I also know a dairy intolerant person who takes lacteze anyway, so its not an issue for them
And I know another who just ignores the intolerance, as it’s only a small amount of milk
10% is not “extremely rare”, though.