Cost conscience patrons destroying your check average?

Our patrons are splitting entrees. The woman orders an appitizer the man orders an entree they split a salad and never even looked at the dessert menu. If this is a scenario that plays out regularly in your restaurant, you are not alone. Todays restaurant patron is very conscience of the value and especially of the price of product and service you are providing. Let's face it, the once a week friday dinner out has shrunk to once per month and maybe just special occasions. When they do go out to eat they are looking for value. Good food at a reasonable price. It doesn't matter if you have huge portions and in some cases the huge portions are viewed as waste and leves them wondering if they could get a better deal if they were served a smaller portion. The average patron doesn't know if they are going to be employeed next week and they are saving for a rainy day and for most peole they can see the rainy day coming. The corporate customer is tasked with reducing their expense budget. The thought here is two fold 1) businesses are tightening thi