## Facts

- Florence S. Friend ate at Childs Dining Hall Company’s public restaurant in Boston.
- She ordered “New York baked beans and corned beef” for immediate consumption and paid for the meal.
- While eating the beans, she bit down on two dark, hard objects that turned out to be stones, causing injury.
- There was no evidence the restaurant knew stones were present, and no express warranty was made regarding the food.
- Friend initially sued in negligence and breach of implied warranty, but abandoned negligence and proceeded only on implied warranty under the Massachusetts Uniform Sales Act.
- The trial judge directed a verdict for the restaurant on the contract theory and reported the case for appellate determination.

## Issues

1. Whether furnishing a prepared meal to a paying restaurant customer constitutes a “sale” of food within the Massachusetts Uniform Sales Act.
2. Whether the evidence permitted a jury to find an implied warranty that the food was reasonably fit to be eaten, making a directed verdict for the defendant improper.

## Decision

- The court held that a restaurant’s furnishing of food to a paying customer is a “sale” within the Uniform Sales Act.
- The court held that when food is ordered for immediate eating, the circumstances make known the particular purpose, and the customer relies on the restaurant’s skill and judgment, creating an implied warranty of reasonable fitness for consumption.
- The presence of harmful foreign matter (stones) could make the food unfit to eat and not merchantable as food.
- The directed verdict for the defendant was error; the implied-warranty claim should have been submitted to the jury.

## Legal Principles

- Under the Uniform Sales Act, when a buyer makes known the particular purpose (expressly or by implication) and relies on the seller’s skill or judgment, there is an implied warranty that goods are reasonably fit for that purpose.
- Serving a meal in a restaurant for a price involves a transfer of property in the food and constitutes a “sale,” even though service elements are present.
- Food sold for immediate consumption carries an implied warranty of reasonable fitness to eat; liability for breach does not depend on proving the seller’s negligence or knowledge of the defect.
- A customer’s lack of practical opportunity to inspect prepared food before eating supports reliance and does not negate the implied warranty based on “examination” principles.

## Conclusion

The court treated restaurant meal service as a statutory sale and recognized an implied warranty that food served for immediate consumption is reasonably fit to eat; because a jury could find the beans unfit due to stones, directing a verdict for the restaurant was improper.


Friend v. Childs Dining Hall Co., 231 Mass. 65, 120 N.E. 407 (Mass. 1918)