Burgers & fries prices

[hungry_hog]

blue_haddock said:

I recently took my little one for a treat to Five guys. In my head i thought about £30 tops for a double burger, a single burger a milkshake and a regular fries.

Came to just shy of £40 which was absolutely crazy and yes many places are pricing themselves out of the market.

Even an average Maccys meal is over £8 whilst burger king meals are easily over a tenner.

Way too much for what they are.

Agree. It’s getting too much.

There is a 5 guys in Canary Wharf and even with that affluent market (Bankers plus loads of rich Chinese students) I’ve never seen it busy.
They have also opened a new one in West Hampstead (NW London) which again is half empty, the rent there is extortionate so I can’t see it lasting.

[JoshSm]

This thread has reminded me just how much I miss the Sausalitos Ingolstadt triple bacon cheeseburger + fries, it was the most ridiculously oversized burger and came on top of a huge platter of seasoned chips. Could serve a whole table with the amount of chips. Physically challenging just to finish the burger.

Can't remember the price, would have been <€15.

Think they dropped the triple version and the amount of chips around the time they started to expand to multiple branches back in 2010 and now the business has popped, so no chance of ever seeing one again.

[Thankyou4calling]

3 pizzas and two jugs of watery rum punch over £100. W beach bar in Bournemouth on Sunday.

The pizzas were awful.

[blue_haddock]

Frimley111R said:

blue_haddock said:

Even an average Maccys meal is over £8 whilst burger king meals are easily over a tenner.

Way too much for what they are.

But they aren't, they are subject to the same business costs as everyone else. I am privvy to information which shows how miniscule McDs margins are. You can also look up fanchisee's accounts too. They are a huge machine of a business making the absolute slimmest of margins.

I'm well aware of how a McDonald's are run, my son in law is a business manager for them.

The margins may not be huge but very few stores ever close due to not being financially viable.

[loskie]

ooh touchy!

[RammyMP]

There’s a local burger delivery outfit near me, it used to be about £10 for burger and chips with free delivery, for the four of us it would be £40. Not ordered from them for a few months, the kids wanted a burger last weekend, bugger me, they’ve walloped up the price! Nearly £70 for 4 burgers!

[CountyLines]

Quattr04. said:

This thread popped into my head last night when I paid £22 for this burger at a hotel in Newport

Now it s a very good burger, but £22! They had chicken, venison or beef to choose from, all the same price, until recently it was £18 plus of course a service charge

Is that supposed to be a portion of coleslaw?

Pathetic.

[davidc1]

hungry_hog said:

blue_haddock said:

I recently took my little one for a treat to Five guys. In my head i thought about £30 tops for a double burger, a single burger a milkshake and a regular fries.

Came to just shy of £40 which was absolutely crazy and yes many places are pricing themselves out of the market.

Even an average Maccys meal is over £8 whilst burger king meals are easily over a tenner.

Way too much for what they are.

Agree. It s getting too much.

There is a 5 guys in Canary Wharf and even with that affluent market (Bankers plus loads of rich Chinese students) I ve never seen it busy.
They have also opened a new one in West Hampstead (NW London) which again is half empty, the rent there is extortionate so I can t see it lasting.

Have been in that 5 guys a fair few times over the last few years. I think it's dead in there now as there is a recently opened burger king in the wharf . Which was packed when I had my maiden visit 2 weeks ago!

[vaud]

CountyLines said:

Is that supposed to be a portion of coleslaw?

Pathetic.

To be fair they probably measured up how much coleslaw was actually being eaten on average and used that as a guide. I'm sure if you asked for more they would refill.

[MissChief]

I had one of the best burgers possibly this year at my local Beefeater restaurant of all places. The double stack with additional bacon and fried egg. I always remove the onion unless it’s cooked, the tomato and lettuce too.

[hotchy]

craigjm said:

The double smash looks great

I think food prices for take away, delivery and restaurant eating are getting to the point where, for the average Joe, eating out is a seldom done thing. Much like it was when I was a kid. Have we just got used to be able to afford eating out whenever we want and the explosion of chain restaurants making access easier?

Iv started going to the same place each weekend now. A local Indian, poppadoms and onion tray (huge onion tray btw.. huge) then 2 mixed starters, 2 mains, 2 rice and a nan.. £29.90. It's so cheap I feel bad and buy an over priced coke lol.

I miss a good burger but the value isn't there anymore. Burgers used to be cheap. Now there priced at steak levels. Wild.

[Jazoli]

Visited the Dutch TT at Assen a couple of weekends ago.

A large special burger was €7.50 and chips and mayo was €3.50, less than £10 quid for a substantial meal, the missus went to Lytham festival last week and she paid £20 for the same and it was a dog burger and half a portion of fries!

[vikingaero]

Got invited out to a meal, which turned out to be a Beefeater, which is fine. The best meal there are the ribs which come on a huge plate.

I decided to have a burger meal for a change for £16.95 and was I disappointed. It was a 2 patty burger, but barely the size of a standard McDonalds cheeseburger.

Can I bring up the subject of chicken shops. Not the independent fried chicken ones which are decent value, but the big wky chains - Wing Stop, Selekt Chicken, Jacks, Slim Chickens etc. £8-£10 for 6 wings. FRO.

[98elise]

blue_haddock said:

Frimley111R said:

blue_haddock said:

Even an average Maccys meal is over £8 whilst burger king meals are easily over a tenner.

Way too much for what they are.

But they aren't, they are subject to the same business costs as everyone else. I am privvy to information which shows how miniscule McDs margins are. You can also look up fanchisee's accounts too. They are a huge machine of a business making the absolute slimmest of margins.

I'm well aware of how a McDonald's are run, my son in law is a business manager for them.

The margins may not be huge but very few stores ever close due to not being financially viable.

If the margins are thin, how are they too expensive for what they are?

It may be more then you are willing to pay, but thats a different argument.

[blue_haddock]

98elise said:

blue_haddock said:

Frimley111R said:

blue_haddock said:

Even an average Maccys meal is over £8 whilst burger king meals are easily over a tenner.

Way too much for what they are.

But they aren't, they are subject to the same business costs as everyone else. I am privvy to information which shows how miniscule McDs margins are. You can also look up fanchisee's accounts too. They are a huge machine of a business making the absolute slimmest of margins.

I'm well aware of how a McDonald's are run, my son in law is a business manager for them.

The margins may not be huge but very few stores ever close due to not being financially viable.

If the margins are thin, how are they too expensive for what they are?

It may be more then you are willing to pay, but thats a different argument.

Some of the product margins may be thin but not all. The cost to serve a large coke using the coke concentrate is like 10p so why does it get sold at £3? Reducing that to a sensible price would easily take a pound of a meal.

The breakfast items seem to have doubled in price in a couple of years and a single hash brown is now like £1.99 which is completely daft considering they are refried potato that i would be amazed if they cost more than 20p per unit. Fries are similar costs and have a massive mark up.

[Chris Jay]

What happens if you price all your customers away though?

I nearly went to McDonald’s last night, £7.09 for the cheesy McCrispy on it’s tod! Nigh on a tenner once you add fries & a couple of sauces. The Big Mac is £5.29 now, crackers.

I ended up sacking it off and chucking a pizza in the oven at home instead.

[RayDonovan]

Chris Jay said:

What happens if you price all your customers away though?

I nearly went to McDonald s last night, £7.09 for the cheesy McCrispy on it s tod! Nigh on a tenner once you add fries & a couple of sauces. The Big Mac is £5.29 now, crackers.

I ended up sacking it off and chucking a pizza in the oven at home instead.

Problem is you're comparing an out-of-home meal with something prepared and cooked at home.

I do agree that the prices have increased massively over the last few years, but that's part business model / part inflation. Get the customers hooked on low prices, ramp up the prices and see how elastic your pricing model is.

Put a McD everywhere and they become a default choice for time poor consumers. Repeatable food, consumers with low expectations, a choice for everyone. The current £3.99/£5 meals are good value, their recent £2.79 breakfast deal was great.

[iphonedyou]

blue_haddock said:

Some of the product margins may be thin but not all. The cost to serve a large coke using the coke concentrate is like 10p so why does it get sold at £3? Reducing that to a sensible price would easily take a pound of a meal.

The breakfast items seem to have doubled in price in a couple of years and a single hash brown is now like £1.99 which is completely daft considering they are refried potato that i would be amazed if they cost more than 20p per unit. Fries are similar costs and have a massive mark up.

One can only presume the cost to serve a large coke using the coke concentrate is not, in fact, 10p - once all overheads have been accounted for.

Similarly, the 20p unit cost to McDonald's of a single hash brown forms a very small part indeed of the cost it incurs to serve it to a customer.

Edited by iphonedyou on Thursday 10th July 12:39

[soad]

Jazoli said:

Visited the Dutch TT at Assen a couple of weekends ago.

A large special burger was 7.50 and chips and mayo was 3.50, less than £10 quid for a substantial meal, the missus went to Lytham festival last week and she paid £20 for the same and it was a dog burger and half a portion of fries!

It’s very expensive now to cater at festivals. I mean to purchase a spot, big money.

Can’t just rock up with a trailer full of cold beer (from the local brewery). And then cash in those empty glass bottles.

[blue_haddock]

iphonedyou said:

One can only presume the cost to serve a large coke using the coke concentrate is not, in fact, 10p - once all overheads have been accounted for.

Similarly, the 20p unit cost to McDonald's of a single hash brown forms a very small part indeed of the cost it incurs to serve it to a customer.

Edited by iphonedyou on Thursday 10th July 12:39

The issue is a maccys breakfast is no longer viewed as good value. We would regularly do a run to maccys from the office.

Most people would order a muffin meal and an extra hash brown which would comfortably come in well under a fiver. Same order is now nearly £8 and as such we havent been for quite some time.

The local greasy spoon cafe will do a full breakfast in a tray for less than this which is why we havent gone to maccys.