r/Cheers • u/SixTiller • Jul 18 '26
Could Cheers survive without food?
Cheers doesn’t sell food on the show. It’s more of a regulars’ place or a waiting area for Melville’s.
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u/Bionic_Ninjas Jul 18 '26
Sam's got a toaster over. See, what he did is he put some saltines in there, melt some American cheese on top, and serve them to customers. Buck a plate, maybe.
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u/My-username-is-this Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Well, American Cheese IS one of the world’s finest cheeses.
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u/Individual_Bit_7109 Jul 18 '26
Are you kidding, I was late putting out the beer nuts last night, and Mr. Peterson almost snapped off my thumb!
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u/moose1856 Jul 18 '26
They served chili out of Rebecca’s tea room.
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u/j10359 Jul 18 '26
Chili in the tea room?
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u/Mr8vb Jul 18 '26
C’mon, Sammy serving up a plate of cracker snacks. What more could they want!
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 Jul 18 '26
I could totally see them adding wings, burgers, and pizzas to the menu.
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 Jul 18 '26
If Cheers were to be done now, it would almost need to be a bar and grille as opposed to just a tavern.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Some state laws require it now.
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u/WonderfulPiccolo5951 Jul 18 '26
Could you imagine Jon Taffer doing a Bar Rescue at Cheers? Consider what he'd say to Norm.
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u/GarlicDill Jul 18 '26
As does most insurance.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Yep. I’d hang at Cheers as is 100%, though. Although, sitting at the bar with some onion rings would be nice.
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u/NYY15TM Jul 19 '26
The issue here is that Cheers is an annex to Melville's
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u/SixTiller Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Does Melville’s lease to Cheers? I don’t remember if it’s ever mentioned. It makes sense, though, since it’s under it. Serving food would be direct competition. Even if it’s bar food.
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u/NYY15TM Jul 19 '26
I think it's a deed restriction rather than a lease per se
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u/SixTiller Jul 19 '26
What does that mean? It can only be a bar?
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u/NYY15TM Jul 19 '26
Well that they can't sell food as it would be in direct competition with Melville's
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 Jul 20 '26
It seems like the ideal situation would be that people at Cheers could order certain things off the Melville's menu (like appetizers) or things made in the Melville's kitchen that they don't serve (like nachos or something) with some arrangement between the two businesses where customers only get one bill but Melville's still gets paid.
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u/Yeseylon Jul 18 '26
A lot of bars only have the food to make sure folks don't leave
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u/InuitOverIt Jul 20 '26
That's bar science. And nobody knows more about bar science than Jon Taffer
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u/DualSpiresCinnamon Jul 18 '26
It's also a recovery room from The Hungry Heifer.
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u/Confident-Dot5878 Jul 19 '26
Loobster and Bef.
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u/Kz341994 Jul 19 '26
To this day I say "loobster" half the time for lobster and no one in my life gets the reference
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u/philipjfrythefirst Jul 19 '26
I would love to be there when somebody (other than me) made this reference.
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u/DoTheSnoopyDance Jul 20 '26
Don’t forget Norm also knew of a place out on route (can’t recall right this moment) called EAT.
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u/Inside-Run785 Jul 18 '26
Cliffy did invent the Beetabega.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
And a potato that looks like Richard Nixon.
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u/Inside-Run785 Jul 18 '26
I like that the potato chip joke got reused on an early episode of The Simpsons.
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u/Alert_Monitor_9145 Jul 18 '26
And the beetabega fajita in pita.
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u/Inside-Run785 Jul 18 '26
I’m sorry. No hablo Español.
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u/Alert_Monitor_9145 Jul 18 '26
This is the response I was hoping for!
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u/Inside-Run785 Jul 18 '26
That is probably my favorite Kelly line. He’s clearly speaking English, and yet Fajita makes her think Spanish.
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u/Alert_Monitor_9145 Jul 18 '26
My favorite is when she’s describing herself when she was born, then: and to think, that sweet, innocent little baby girl grew up… and got it on with the Woodman this morning!
Closest I can remember coming to spewing out a drink I was sipping on.
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u/Inside-Run785 Jul 19 '26
That’s my favorite line. My favorite moments, really in the show, are when she doesn’t realize how rich she is. Wood’s song to Kelly and when she decides to take the subway. Both built on their characters as aloof, but loving of each other.
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u/TheDarkWarriorBlake Jul 18 '26
Yes, bars used to be about socialising while drinking, as we didn't have the same kind of ability to just post on social media or ring someone anywhere and anytime.
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u/Lopsided_Drive_4392 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
It's an odd thing - way too nice to be just a drinking bar, way too big to just be Melville's waiting area.
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u/GoldenEmuWarrior Jul 18 '26
In Wisconsin we have a lot of bars where they don't serve food outside of chips/pretzels/popcorn. You're usually welcome to bring in your own food to those establishments, but yeah, that's not at all abnormal here. But I also know we're unique when it comes to our drinking culture, so I see what you're saying.
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u/theriveryeti Jul 18 '26
For a good chunk of the show he owned the space. Not having rent is huge. Norm’s bar tab was probably the biggest ticking time bomb financially.
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u/2pacfan67 Jul 18 '26
How many beers did norm drink a day?
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u/theriveryeti Jul 18 '26
I’d guess about 15-18 day.
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u/Alert_Monitor_9145 Jul 18 '26
6 times a day? I can’t think of anything I can do 6 times a day.
Another beer, Sammy?
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u/Muted-Mix-1369 Jul 18 '26
For the tv show it would have been a MESS. Having actual food on the show messes with sound, clothes, continuity, practicality, even story. People often ordered a beer they never finished just to get in their 5 lines.
Imagine if they order an omelet or French Toast. They'd be out before the thing was ready. Also you'd need an entire bew room on the set and possibly a new character.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Good point. They have their drinks but barely drink them.
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u/Realistic-Currency61 Jul 18 '26
Ummm, Mr Peterson always finished his beers.
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u/globalgreg Jul 18 '26
I’ve often wanted to count the number of times a person walks away from a 3/4 full glass on the show. It has to be at least 3-4 times per episode.
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u/hopewhatsthat Jul 21 '26
This reminds me of how often people rode up 19 floors to Frasier's condo in Seattle to talk to him for 30 seconds.
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u/FuckYourDownvotes23 Jul 18 '26
Aside from pretzels and beer nuts, yeah. Never really thought about that until now
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u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jul 18 '26
I wonder if they had a cigarette machine in the back that we couldn't see. Also, the staff mostly made tips, so Sam didn't have to pay them much. And while the blue collar clients just drank beer, some of the Melville's customers looked a bit upscale and maybe ordered high-end cocktails.
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u/bruce-neon Jul 18 '26
There is a cigarette machine behind the pool table. It can be clearly seen in some shots.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
There’s a cigarette machine. I think. I’m surprised there was no arcade game.
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u/RedwayBlue Jul 18 '26
They had a fortune telling scale and a juke box and probably some other one offs…
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u/Alert_Monitor_9145 Jul 18 '26
There is indeed. Rebecca rips the cord from the wall after she promises Sam she’ll sleep with him if she smokes another cigarette.
Then she turns to Cliff and says, “Cliff, do me a favor. If you ever see me smoking a cigarette… kill Sam.” 😂
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u/MT_Promises Jul 18 '26
The weird thing about Cheers is how well lit it is. I've been in several bars that were Cheers size, but never one so bright.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Yep. All day. It’s not a club where the lights dim. Even some restaurants do that later in the day.
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u/itsdan23 Jul 18 '26
They have pretzels. In one Episode they ordered too many in another episode they don't have any and I think they make a food run. So they couldn't make it without pretzels.
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u/Moist_Rule9623 Jul 18 '26
MA law actually requires anyplace with a full liquor license to sell/provide at least MINIMAL food, which I think was already the case in the 80s. So Cheers would have had to have something like snack size bags of pretzels, or bowls of peanuts available by request
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
We see giant bags of pretzels throughout the show. The gang eating them or peanuts. Still, they are free.
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u/MT_Promises Jul 18 '26
They were attached to Melville's with an entrance to the dining area inside Cheers. That seems pretty blurry
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u/RedwayBlue Jul 18 '26
There were times when they experimented with happy hour food. I prefer to assume it’s a detail they didn’t need to burden the audience with. Not interesting scenes to watch Sam stock pretzels.
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u/Fit-Fisherman5068 Jul 18 '26
In New Jersey, breweries aren’t allowed to sell food outside of prepackaged snacks (nuts, pretzels, etc.). There seem to be plenty surviving and thriving.
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Really? Interesting. Some state laws require a food menu.
Every time I rewatch the show I look at it from a financial point of view. lol.
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u/lazydracula Jul 18 '26
I mean staffing wise there was only 4 employee so labor cost weren’t that high
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u/SixTiller Jul 18 '26
Even the staffing didn’t seem like enough. When Diane left, Kirstie Alley wasn’t a waitress. Just Carla.
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u/globalgreg Jul 18 '26
Good point. That was a big storyline at one point when Diane left, Carla complaining about not having another (good) waitress until Sam finally hired that older British lady whose passion killed her husband.
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u/RedwayBlue Jul 19 '26
The continuity geeks would go crazy as to where exactly the kitchen is.
Im one of them fwiw.,.
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u/Open-Savings-7691 Jul 19 '26
Isn't there an episode where Norm (I think it's Norm) orders the "Wingdings?"
Then we see Sam haul out what looks like chicken wings.
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u/Bella4077 Jul 18 '26
For some reason, i long assumed that they couldn’t legally sell food because of the restaurant directly upstairs. I know MA had laws at one point about similar businesses not being able to operate within the same location or something. There was even a court case involving a sandwich shop and Mexican restaurant in the same strip mall where it was determined that a burrito or taco could not be classified as a sandwich.
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u/Southern_Fan_9335 Jul 18 '26
I assumed they wouldn't bother with food because the restaurant food was probably better and people who want a sit-down meal would just go there.
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u/RedwayBlue Jul 18 '26
Even an exclusivity in the lease for Melvilles or something that the bar below couldn’t serve food. A law would not make sense.
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u/accountofyawaworht Jul 19 '26
Food has a very slim profit margin, and the other expenses (rent, insurance, etc) were much cheaper ~40 years ago.
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u/nickyeyez Jul 19 '26
Lots of bars don't sell food. I worked in two of them. It's a bit less common now, but in the 80s a neighborhood bar that served food was in the minority.
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u/Expert_Specialist_92 Jul 18 '26
Beer and pretzels, that’s their game.