3 ms·

You are absolutely correct. Not only are groceries disproportionately expensive in NY, economies of scale kick in, as well as intense competition in an already

You are absolutely correct. Not only are groceries disproportionately expensive in NY, economies of scale kick in, as well as intense competition in an already low-margin industry drive the price down for restaurants. A high-quality and tasty meal that I might enjoy at a neighborhood pub for ~$11 would definitely cost me over $20 if I was to recreate it at home, plus I would have the opportunity cost of the time spent making it and cleaning up. You may not notice this effect if you are only in town for a few days and eat mostly at tourist-friendly spots in midtown. Not to mention several math-impaired people seem to believe they only spend $1 a meal. Where do they live, India?

paulddraper 11y ago
Ramen and a can of tuna can be less than a dollar. Rice and beans is too. Not very nice meals, but possible.
nadezhda18 11y ago
>> intense competition in an already low-margin industry drive the price down for restaurants. Isn't the same thing true for the grocery stores? They are located in the same areas as restaurants and have to pay pretty much the same expensive rent, no? meanwhile, their expenses may be lower than the ones of a restaurant. anyway, could you tell more info about what your neighborhood pub - for example, what neighborhood is it? what meal did you eat? I can share my numbers - and sorry I did not tell in advance I went with my BF, so there were two of us eating cooked food. So, I ate at Cafe Aroma in Manhatten and I paid about $17 for a plate with rice + fish + some salad. the same day I went to a grocery store on Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn to buy supper for 2. I paid about $27 for tortellini, some chicken ham, a small watermelon, and some beer. It was enough for us for supper + some leftovers for breakfast (beer haha ;). The day after I found an even cheaper store where I bought supper for the other two days at once. $17 for a cafe meal seemed too expensive for me, so the next days I tried to eat cheaper cafe lunches. So I ate sandwiches for ~ $10-12; however, they contained a much smaller amount of proteins so I felt hungry much faster after.
- goldbrick 11y ago
  > Isn't the same thing true for the grocery stores? Not nearly. Groceries stores have higher margins and vastly less competition. I'm most familiar with North Brooklyn (Williamsburg/Bed-Stuy) where most bars and unfancy restaurants have dishes that will make a full meal for $10-16. My experience is that LES and East Village are a touch pricier, but not much. My question to you is how much do you think a restaurant would have charged for your tortellini/processed chicken/watermelon meal? I mean no slight to your culinary abilities, but I suspect it wouldn't have passed muster at most restaurants.
  - nadezhda18 11y ago
    the initial discussion was about the price not the fanciness of food And this is one of the main reasons to buy your own food - you have a choice of what to buy! While eating out, your choice is much smaller. You pay for some extras you may not like but you cannot remove it from the menu. Even if you can - would it affect the price? I doubt so. Composing my own meal gives me the flexibility of choosing only the things I like + saving money. On the top of that, the nice extras like tea/coffee/dessert/fruits come with increased margins. Especially fruits due to their short shelf life in cut form. Let's look at the following example; though it does not involve the restaurant prices, I still think it is representative. In IGA (a Canadian grocery chain) a fruit salad comes for $1.30 / 100 G. A mini watermelon is $5 each, and its weight is ~2.72 kg (6lb) with 70% of it being edible. This gives us the cost of $0.26 / 100 g. The fruit salad margin is like 500% ??? Isn't it crazy. Of course, there are other fruits in the salad but the one can easily satisfy their sweet tooth with eating one fruit instead of eating many. (the prices are in Canadian dollars)

paulddraper 11y ago

Ramen and a can of tuna can be less than a dollar. Rice and beans is too. Not very nice meals, but possible.

nadezhda18 11y ago

>> intense competition in an already low-margin industry drive the price down for restaurants. Isn't the same thing true for the grocery stores? They are located in the same areas as restaurants and have to pay pretty much the same expensive rent, no? meanwhile, their expenses may be lower than the ones of a restaurant. anyway, could you tell more info about what your neighborhood pub - for example, what neighborhood is it? what meal did you eat? I can share my numbers - and sorry I did not tell in advance I went with my BF, so there were two of us eating cooked food. So, I ate at Cafe Aroma in Manhatten and I paid about $17 for a plate with rice + fish + some salad. the same day I went to a grocery store on Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn to buy supper for 2. I paid about $27 for tortellini, some chicken ham, a small watermelon, and some beer. It was enough for us for supper + some leftovers for breakfast (beer haha ;). The day after I found an even cheaper store where I bought supper for the other two days at once. $17 for a cafe meal seemed too expensive for me, so the next days I tried to eat cheaper cafe lunches. So I ate sandwiches for ~ $10-12; however, they contained a much smaller amount of proteins so I felt hungry much faster after.

goldbrick 11y ago
> Isn't the same thing true for the grocery stores? Not nearly. Groceries stores have higher margins and vastly less competition. I'm most familiar with North Brooklyn (Williamsburg/Bed-Stuy) where most bars and unfancy restaurants have dishes that will make a full meal for $10-16. My experience is that LES and East Village are a touch pricier, but not much. My question to you is how much do you think a restaurant would have charged for your tortellini/processed chicken/watermelon meal? I mean no slight to your culinary abilities, but I suspect it wouldn't have passed muster at most restaurants.
- nadezhda18 11y ago
  the initial discussion was about the price not the fanciness of food And this is one of the main reasons to buy your own food - you have a choice of what to buy! While eating out, your choice is much smaller. You pay for some extras you may not like but you cannot remove it from the menu. Even if you can - would it affect the price? I doubt so. Composing my own meal gives me the flexibility of choosing only the things I like + saving money. On the top of that, the nice extras like tea/coffee/dessert/fruits come with increased margins. Especially fruits due to their short shelf life in cut form. Let's look at the following example; though it does not involve the restaurant prices, I still think it is representative. In IGA (a Canadian grocery chain) a fruit salad comes for $1.30 / 100 G. A mini watermelon is $5 each, and its weight is ~2.72 kg (6lb) with 70% of it being edible. This gives us the cost of $0.26 / 100 g. The fruit salad margin is like 500% ??? Isn't it crazy. Of course, there are other fruits in the salad but the one can easily satisfy their sweet tooth with eating one fruit instead of eating many. (the prices are in Canadian dollars)