How Do They Do It?

[PantyFanatic]

No. This is not about the orgy at the yoga convention. ;) I want to know how I can give a $5 bill to somebody, get change, and leave with five pounds of food? :confused: The days of going to McDonald’s and getting change from you dollar are LONG gone. Why is it I can leave my little family run Chinese restaurant with a bag heavy enough to know you bought something. It’s not a bag full of Styrofoam either. I do get a quart of egg-drop soup in a Tupperware bowl, but none of their containers are half full of air. The shrimp fried rice carton is packed to bulging and the shrimp are not hiding. The bag has ALL the accouterments WITHOUT begging and it ends up being a couple full meals.

We all are aware of the many places we are constantly being strangled by the profiteers that have us over a barrel (pun intended!). Everybody has a right to make a profit and should, but how can some be doing very well with some hard work and reasonable prices while others (like ink jet suppliers) stick it too you so deeply and for ever, for so very little?

What other RARE product or service jumps out at you as not being rape?

[dicksbro]

I've wondered the same thing PF. My wife and I for $ 5 something can by a Chinese lunch and come home and split it with plenty of food for both. Why do I ever eat anything else? Why do I ever go to the grocery store? :rolleyes:

There's a little place in town here (local place) that serves two eggs any style, two pieces of toast; hash browns or American fries; and either two sausage patties or three of either the sausage links or bacon for $ 2.99. Probably the best breakfast deal around here. (And it's all good, too!)

[Lilith]

I love eating breakfast out and rarely do so.

[Oldfart]

It's called money laundry.

[maddy]

I was just making a similar much less wordy observation about Chinese food last week. It amazes me the quantity you can get for so little money. Oddly enough a bowl of rabbit food (salad) while healthier is probably twice as much.

[Booger]

One reason Chinese food is so cheap is one of the main ingredients is rice which is dirt cheap. Now shrimp is more expensive but what they use is in the rang of 40-50 count (40 to 50 shrimp per pound) or pop corn shrimp both of which is also a lot cheaper. As for the soup most soups are about 75 to 90% water unless you get into the cream or cheese soups. As for breakfast it's cheaper once again because what you get is cheaper.

One of the great myths is the restaurants get all their food a lot cheaper then what you spend in the store when it truth other then a few things this is true(rice being one of the exceptions). Most items they are maybe pay 5 to 10 cents less per pound then what you do in the store.

[osuche]

I go to a hair salon that has "training day" on Tuesday and I get a hair cut from a highly experienced profesisonal for $10.

I buy Oil of Olay liquid soap -- and one bottle costs $3 and lasts me 6 months

I go to Half Price Books and get paperbacks from their sale section for $0.25-.50/book

I go to the local farm market and buy strawberries by the quart for 75c

[PantyFanatic]

One reason Chinese food is so cheap is one of the main ingredients is rice which is dirt cheap. ... As for the soup most soups are about 75 to 90% water unless you get into the cream or cheese soups. As for breakfast it's cheaper once again because what you get is cheaper......
In most cases, ingredients doesn't have much relationship to price of the meal was my point. Does anybody know where you can buy a cup with $.04 worth of coffee grounds plus water for less than $1.00? ;)

[scotzoidman]

In most cases, ingredients doesn't have much relationship to price of the meal was my point. Does anybody know where you can buy a cup with $.04 worth of coffee grounds plus water for less than $1.00? ;)
If you only use $.04 worth of coffee, I'll pass on that cup at your house...

The only good thing about high gas prices is they make me not notice how freakin expensive other needs like coffee have gotten...

[Lilith]

Gas and groceries... good thing the cost of living hasn't gone up.

[LixyChick]

Round my parts a Mom and Pop business doesn't make it unless they give you lots for little. Let's just say the Pa. Dutch are VERY frugal (cheap, cheap, cheap)...AHEM!

Not everyone will know what a hoagie is (a submarine, hero...etc. sorta) but when you can get a biggun for a reasonable price, that business gets all the business! There is a little deli close by that will fill an 18" roll with so much luncheon meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo or oil and vinegar and you'll go home with a meal for two and lunch for both tomorrow!

Our chinese restaraunts can't compete with that!

[dicksbro]

Do they deliever .... to Illinois? :D

[wyndhy]

you can get so much for so little cause the employees are family memebers or illegal and are getting paid squat. so keep eating what you're eating and propagating the exploitation of the poor laborer. :p

:D

[osuche]

Our mortgage is rather steep, so we've decided to cut out eating at "nice" (anything over about $7 per meal) restaurants more than twice per month. Actually, this is good for our health too -- because most of those "expensive" places load up on the fat and stuff.

We eat a LOT of cheap Chinese and Mexican when we eat out -- Chipotle is a fave (HUS=GE meal for about $5.35) and I get $3 Chinese "lunches" that can feed 2 people downtown.

Plus, we're eating good food that I'm cooking at home. Now -- if only I could teach Mr Osuche to cook!

[Steph]

Location also plays a part. People who own the building can more easily afford to keep their prices lower. Location, location, location.

I like my neighbourhood because you can get a huge meal for $5 at one place & spend $50 on a better quality meal next door.

[jseal]

Gentlefolk,

One of the factors contributing to the price of restaurant food is the cost of money. osuche touched on the subject when she mentioned how the size of her mortgage constrained her discretionary spending. So too can the cost of money place lower limits on the product price.

The greater the debt load, the larger the profit that must be made to pay the interest and principle on the loan. Few commercial loans (the type which are made for business property purchases) can be secured on terms as favorable as those of a mortgage, and the amounts can be quite substantial.

The cost of financing a start up loan will not be the only operating expense which must be factored into the selling price of the merchandise, but it must be accounted for. Depending on the amount of the lease, the cost of supplies and labor, etc. the cost of borrowed money can have a substantial impact on the profit margin.

[jay-t]

around here DB's breakfest will run 3.99 including coffee,on friday nites its all the catfish you can eat for $9.00,and on sat.nite its all the smoked ribs you can eat for $ 10.00 and they let you have a togo box.

I do wonder what the Chinese are paying for Americanized food there?

[scotzoidman]

I'm still trying to figure out how they get $100 worth of groceries into 3 or 4 little plastic bags now...seems like it used to take 5 big paper bags back in the day...

[osuche]

When I worked in consumer goods, I was shocked to learn that the *average* super market makes 2-3% profit on an item going out the door, after paying for rent and wages and reimbursing the manufacturer.

2-3%????? 3c on the dollar for a heck of a lot of work!