After we were required to start working on office a couple years ago, I decided to explore the area for a while, trying new potential lunch places. I found this little out of the way craft burger place with something like “2023 best burger in the city award winner” painted on their fence.
I thought, “Sweet, this ought to be a pretty good burger”. I sat down, checked out the menu, ordered a burger that sounded good (something simple) along with some fries and a water. Didn’t look at the price while browsing the menu because… it’s a small burger place. Even if it won an award a few years ago, how much could it cost? By the time I even thought to consider it, I’d already ordered and the menu was gone, so I wouldn’t find out until the check came.
I figured 15 dollars for a nice craft burger wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation. I could even see around 20, since we are in the burbs of a metro area, which tends to make things a bit more expensive, though this didn’t seem like an expensive joint… Turns out it was 28 dollars and change after tax. I about choked when I saw the total. And this was before beef prices went crazy the last year or so.
The burger was good. It was not 28 dollars good. I haven’t been back since. I’ve also heard similar stories from coworkers “Good, but not good enough for the price”. Whoever is keeping them in business is getting fleeced. There’s no way that that burger and fries cost them more than $5.00 in ingredients, tops. That’s a hefty ass margin.
Not sure how one can care about the price if they don’t bother to read the price off the menu. Eating out regularly is stupid expensive regardless of fast food or proper sit down.
BOM isn’t the end of their costs and the rest will vary widely. You’re not just paying for a burger, but the service (wages) around it, the space and amenities averaged out including utils and rent, some profit likely for someone now quite removed from the business, etc… and you probably paid less of a margin% than a mcturd sandwich.
Most places around here are in the $10-20 range for a lunch, particularly causal places like a burger joint. I can even get a giant sushi bowl for like 15 near my office. Tacos, chicken, thai, indian…
There is even an awesome healthy food place called Brassica (highly recommend if there is one near you) that I can get a massive sandwich at for under $10 without meat, $12 with chicken, up to $14 with slow cooked brisket. And it is filled to the brim with awesome tasting yet still healthy stuff made in house (housemade wood fired pita bread, mixed greens with a lemon dressing, hummus/baba ganouche, pickled veggies, roasted veggies, garlic/pepper/herb sauces, feta, etc). And even if I get a big helping of Brisket, it comes in under half the price of that burger and fries. There is no excuse for ground beef, a slice of cheese, some condiments and raw veggies on bun to be more than double that price. These places are 4 minutes from each other.
Nothing really contradicts what I said… And as for the excuse? You paid for it. Was the restaurant empty? Sounds like it’s working.
I’m not fanning the $24 burger, but the cost of ingredients is only the starting point. Doesn’t just apply to burgers either… Look at apple products, beers, cars; it doesn’t have to be reasonable. Again… Sounds like it’s working.
Could just be commercial rent. Most people don’t really understand that commercial rents are obscenely predatory. A place doing money laundering isn’t going to go through the effort of producing a “Good, but not good enough for the price” burger.
Source: former restaurateur, current fintech AML involved
After we were required to start working on office a couple years ago, I decided to explore the area for a while, trying new potential lunch places. I found this little out of the way craft burger place with something like “2023 best burger in the city award winner” painted on their fence.
I thought, “Sweet, this ought to be a pretty good burger”. I sat down, checked out the menu, ordered a burger that sounded good (something simple) along with some fries and a water. Didn’t look at the price while browsing the menu because… it’s a small burger place. Even if it won an award a few years ago, how much could it cost? By the time I even thought to consider it, I’d already ordered and the menu was gone, so I wouldn’t find out until the check came.
I figured 15 dollars for a nice craft burger wouldn’t be an unreasonable expectation. I could even see around 20, since we are in the burbs of a metro area, which tends to make things a bit more expensive, though this didn’t seem like an expensive joint… Turns out it was 28 dollars and change after tax. I about choked when I saw the total. And this was before beef prices went crazy the last year or so.
The burger was good. It was not 28 dollars good. I haven’t been back since. I’ve also heard similar stories from coworkers “Good, but not good enough for the price”. Whoever is keeping them in business is getting fleeced. There’s no way that that burger and fries cost them more than $5.00 in ingredients, tops. That’s a hefty ass margin.
Not sure how one can care about the price if they don’t bother to read the price off the menu. Eating out regularly is stupid expensive regardless of fast food or proper sit down.
BOM isn’t the end of their costs and the rest will vary widely. You’re not just paying for a burger, but the service (wages) around it, the space and amenities averaged out including utils and rent, some profit likely for someone now quite removed from the business, etc… and you probably paid less of a margin% than a mcturd sandwich.
Most places around here are in the $10-20 range for a lunch, particularly causal places like a burger joint. I can even get a giant sushi bowl for like 15 near my office. Tacos, chicken, thai, indian…
There is even an awesome healthy food place called Brassica (highly recommend if there is one near you) that I can get a massive sandwich at for under $10 without meat, $12 with chicken, up to $14 with slow cooked brisket. And it is filled to the brim with awesome tasting yet still healthy stuff made in house (housemade wood fired pita bread, mixed greens with a lemon dressing, hummus/baba ganouche, pickled veggies, roasted veggies, garlic/pepper/herb sauces, feta, etc). And even if I get a big helping of Brisket, it comes in under half the price of that burger and fries. There is no excuse for ground beef, a slice of cheese, some condiments and raw veggies on bun to be more than double that price. These places are 4 minutes from each other.
Nothing really contradicts what I said… And as for the excuse? You paid for it. Was the restaurant empty? Sounds like it’s working.
I’m not fanning the $24 burger, but the cost of ingredients is only the starting point. Doesn’t just apply to burgers either… Look at apple products, beers, cars; it doesn’t have to be reasonable. Again… Sounds like it’s working.
It’s not working for me. I won’t be returning.
Winning any sort of “best local food” award almost always means the price jumps immediately.
It’s probably money laundering
Could just be commercial rent. Most people don’t really understand that commercial rents are obscenely predatory. A place doing money laundering isn’t going to go through the effort of producing a “Good, but not good enough for the price” burger.
Source: former restaurateur, current fintech AML involved