What do you serve for Breakfast?

[brenda]

Due to Hubbys poor health we stopped serving Breakfast up in the main house 12 months ago and started to put a Continetal Breakfast in the fridge in each of our guest rooms each evening; this means that guests can eat as early or late as they please - either in the comfort of their room or out at one of the tables on the terrace.

Our normal Breakfast consists of:-
1/2 Bottle of Cava per couple
Choice of Cereals
Assorted cartons of Fruit Juices
Croissants + Breads/Cakes
Cheese + Ham/Salami
Muesli Bars
Bowl of Fresh Fruit
Litre carton of Milk
Assorted Jams/Marmalades/Honeys + Butter (Salted + Unsalted)
Obviously our rooms have Drink making faciliies with a selection of Coffees - Jars not sachets - Teas, Fruit/Herbal Teas and Chocolate.

We offer a Full Cooked English Breakfast or Smoked Salmon + Scrambled Eggs at a small supplement.

What do you serve?

[brenda]

Oops - missed off 2 x 1.5 litre Bottles of Mineral Water.

[Nessie]

Brenda i think you breakfast sounds just great and i do like the idea of how you serve it.

We serve breakfast from 7.45 to 9.30

It includes cheeses, cold meats, Fresh fruit; cereals, yoghurts, eggs, fresh breads, croissant, normally we have a home made cake or scones, Home made jams and local honey , Butter unsalted ,orange juice , milk and tea or coffee and hot chocolate for the children

We also provide in the rooms tea and coffee , with cookies, free bottled water daily and a bedtime chocolate and for stays of more than 3 days that have been pre booked a bowel of fresh fruit

[brenda]

Our 3 night pre-bookers have a Bottle of Cava (Spanish Bubbly) on ice waiting for them in their room on arrival. If we hear that anyone is celebrating a special occasion during their stay we also leave a Bottle of Cava + Box of Choccies in the room when I am cleaning it on that day.

Repeat visitors staying 3 nights or more are also offered a free Evening Meal one night of their stay - good ploy financialy too as, after eating here once, they often book to eat here later nights of their stay whereas they may usually have gone out each evening. We don't make much on evening meals but every little helps.

[paolo]

and for stays of more than 3 days that have been pre booked a bowel of fresh fruit

No need for air freshener then.

[vrooje]

Paolo, you beat me to it!

What a wonderful Anguished English moment. I'm sure we've all had them!

[Nessie]

In this game you always have to be a little bit different

[pepsipuss]

We do much as everyone else who has posted but we find the question of cooked breakfast a tricky one. We do offer it and it is sometimes taken up (usually just the man/men). We do not charge extra for it although I feel perhaps we should as it is costly and (perhaps more to the point) involves getting up at least half an hour earlier, perhaps just for one person.

I feel uncomfortable charging for it, but would prefer to do so rather than increase prices for everyone. Anyone got any thoughts on whether and how much?

[cc]

we offer a good continental style breakfast and guage the response after the first day. We have only been asked for a full english once, that was by a German. We have offered it to one group of English guests who picked at the fruit, salmon, ham, cheese, home-made jam etc but didn't charge them extra.

[brenda]

Definitely charge extra - a lot more work and expense.

We have 2 rates - one for a large Breakfast and one for a smaller version.

Our Small English consists of 2 large Rashers of Bacon, 1 Sausage, 1 Fried or Scrambled Egg on Toast and Grilled Tomato plus 2 extra rounds of Toast at a supplement of Euro 3.95 per person.

Our Large English consists of 4 large Rashers of Bacon, 2 Fried or Scrambled Eggs, 2 Sausage, Fresh Field Mushrooms, Grilled Tomato, Baked Beans, Fried Bread and 4 Rounds of Toast at a supplement of Euro 5.50 per person.

Like you we find that it is mainly Men who choose an English Breakfast and the Smaller Breakfast is the most popular option. I would say that, at most, 25% of our guests go for a cooked Breakfast in the Summer with a slightly higher ratio in the Winter months.

Ladies prefer the Smoked Salmon + Scrambled Eggs option we offer at a supplement of Euro 5.50 per person.

We ask what time the guest wants his/her cooked breakfast and it is taken down to them at that time so I don't have to worry about waiting for them to come up whenever they please.

[Nessie]

I am glad I have a valid reason not to have to offer it, I simply cannot buy the bacon and English sausages here in France. Also the main of our guests are French and would not thank you for a cooked breakfast .Also the timing and the work it involves might be ok if there are two of you in the morning to do breakfasts but when you are on your own its not easy. I would say 8 to 10€ is a fair price for a full breakfast, but having said that in Spain I am sure there are plenty of places that serve English breakfast, how much do they charge? You also have to remember that they will also eat your normal buffet breakfast as well

[pepsipuss]

The one thing that is a huge hit is home made bread. In France this is probably not relevant because you can get such great stuff at the Boulangerie, but here it is a problem - especially when you live 15 minutes from nearest shop and they don't open until 9.15. However, there is something about the smell of freshly made bread in the morning.

I have just bought my THIRD breadmaker - having literally worn out the first two with daily (sometimes twice daily) use over more than 6 years. The second and third ones came from Lidl for only €49 and are much better than my original which cost more than twice as much in UK. I am thinking of buying a second one when the offer comes up again so that I can make sure I have two different fresh breads for dinners.

[J&J]

Has anyone else had guests who doggy bag up extra breakfast (fruit, croissants, yoghurts etc.) to take on their lunchtime picnic?

[pepsipuss]

No, really!!! I thought that was a practice just reserved for package holiday types in big hotels!

However we have had the ones who kept bringing in their own food, without asking, despite the fact that it is pretty obvious that this is not really encouraged (actually I think I am going to change that, at least for a barbecue). If they had asked, I would have said ok but I thought it very rude that they would do it with no reference to me. Of course I had to provide the crockery etc. and do the washing up.

Then we had the ones who used to sit with the cheapest bottle (actually it was a carton) of wine for a couple of hours before they went out to dinner. We have an honesty bar and we only mark up to the nearest 0.50c on what we have paid for bottles of wine, to cover the cost of ice etc, and they could have bought a really nice bottle for €2.50. They then went to a steak house where they would certainly have paid far more for a steak and a salad than we would have charged them for a full meal with wine!

All part of life's rich tapestry and this is definitely the exception.

[Nessie]

Has anyone else had guests who doggy bag up extra breakfast (fruit, croissants, yoghurts etc.) to take on their lunchtime picnic?

Yes

But in all fairness , if we have a family staying i normally suggest that if they would like to take some bread, cheese or cold meats and left over croissant then for them to do so, rather than them trying to snick them out .

That is one area which is a problem in the height of summer the amount of bread and croissant that are left over and wasted