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>Let’s aim for 19% I love the cojones in this post. The argument isn't "pay more so we can pay our staff more, so we can buy better ingredients, so our restau

>Let’s aim for 19% I love the cojones in this post. The argument isn't "pay more so we can pay our staff more, so we can buy better ingredients, so our restaurants can be cleaner." No, it's literally "pay more so we have a bigger profit margin and as a side effect we might not go under when the next economic collapse happens." The author literally wants society to agree to a massive price-fixing scheme where instead of them competing with other restaurants we all just agree to sacrifice some other part of our budgets so we can afford to pay more for the same dining experience we're getting now. According to the census bureau in the last ten years spending at restaurants has grown twice as fast as ALL other retail spending. Fast-casual dining is experiencing a 9% yearly growth rate. There are too many people in the market. So the question is, where is this cut in the number of restaurants to create a 19% margin going to come from?

kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago
First, I don't see how you can call it price-fixing given that we are talking of an industry with thousands and thousands of isolated players. But even going with the sentiment behind your claim, it's not unfair to say that if you like the restaurant eating experience it is in your benefit that it remains profitable enough for people to open restaurants.
- Causality1 7y ago
  Any agreement between competing sellers to maintain prices at a certain level is price fixing. That's the dictionary definition. Any restaurant or group of restaurants who heed her call to collectively raise prices to create a higher profit margin are engaged in price fixing. Perhaps morally justifiable price fixing, but they're still opting-out of competing with each other on price. I'll pay higher prices for restaurants who pay their employees better than minimum wage. I'll pay higher prices for restaurants who use higher quality ingredients. I sure as shit am not going to pay higher prices just to take the owner's profit margin from 9% to 19%.
  - smabie 7y ago
    Her writing that restaurants should raise prices and another restaurant owner reading it and deciding that's a good idea doesn't constitute price fixings, as there is no agreement or dialogue in place. She's merely putting out information that is being read and acted upon by someone else. For it to be price fixing, her and the other restaurant owner would need to mutually come to some agreement to both raise prices.
    - kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago
      Also accusations of price fixing just break apart when you literally have tens of thousands of uncoordinated players. The generic restaurant gets as close to a commodity product as it can get while still being a pretty large undertaking.

kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago

First, I don't see how you can call it price-fixing given that we are talking of an industry with thousands and thousands of isolated players. But even going with the sentiment behind your claim, it's not unfair to say that if you like the restaurant eating experience it is in your benefit that it remains profitable enough for people to open restaurants.

Causality1 7y ago
Any agreement between competing sellers to maintain prices at a certain level is price fixing. That's the dictionary definition. Any restaurant or group of restaurants who heed her call to collectively raise prices to create a higher profit margin are engaged in price fixing. Perhaps morally justifiable price fixing, but they're still opting-out of competing with each other on price. I'll pay higher prices for restaurants who pay their employees better than minimum wage. I'll pay higher prices for restaurants who use higher quality ingredients. I sure as shit am not going to pay higher prices just to take the owner's profit margin from 9% to 19%.
- smabie 7y ago
  Her writing that restaurants should raise prices and another restaurant owner reading it and deciding that's a good idea doesn't constitute price fixings, as there is no agreement or dialogue in place. She's merely putting out information that is being read and acted upon by someone else. For it to be price fixing, her and the other restaurant owner would need to mutually come to some agreement to both raise prices.
  - kinkrtyavimoodh 7y ago
    Also accusations of price fixing just break apart when you literally have tens of thousands of uncoordinated players. The generic restaurant gets as close to a commodity product as it can get while still being a pretty large undertaking.