Eating more? Blame the ‘fat waiter’

If you are served by an overweight waiter, you’re over four times more likely to order dessert, a new study has shown. The study published in Environment and Behavior, found that people also ordered 17.65 per cent more alcohol when their waiter had a BMI greater than 25. A team of researchers visited 60 restaurants, monitoring a total of 497 different interactions between diners and waiting staff, recording the body characteristics of staff and servers as well as the amount of food and drink consumed at each table. Study authors Tim Döring and Brian Wansink said: “Diners may order and eat more food and beverages in the presence of a heavy person. If anything, heavy wait staff might increase sales.”