Chinese restaurants offer 'fat discount' allowing obese customers to eat for free

Restaurants in the city of Chongqing in China are putting diners on the scales and giving money off the bills of their fattest male customers.

A string of eating establishments are offering discounts on the proviso customers submit to being weighed in full view of their companions - and everyone else in the restaurant.

The policy has sparked accusations it is sexist because it rewards fat men, but slim women. The discount applies to men weighing over 140kg, and to women weighing less than 35kg.

The owner of one of the eateries, Nahuo, told Vice magazine he would resolve the sexism issue simply by reversing the policy to reward overweight women.

There is also the question of whether it is wise to reward obesity with yet more food, but nobody enjoying the offer in Chongqing seemed to vexed by this.

In fact, weighing diners for discounts actually improves their self esteem, said Mr Xie, the manager at a restaurant called Mao.

"We give them confidence," he said. "We've had people who came to our restaurant telling us they felt so good because their friends tagged them on pictures on WeChat."

He continued: "'Fat' can be a sensitive topic and fat people might feel depressed sometimes, so we are helping them have interaction with their friends and be a happy fat person.

"We've had three or four people who weighed more than 150 kg (330 lbs). I was amazed, because there are few fat people here in Chongqing."