Burgers & fries prices

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Discussion

Sa Calobra

Original Poster:

37,011 posts

210 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Is it just me? Everywhere now seems to charge at least £10 for a burger and a few fries thrown in. Often the fries will be in a small pot of some sort and the burger in my opinion meagre. Even when you get additions the price seems to go north over £15.

Am I being tight?

C0ffin D0dger

3,440 posts

144 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
No, just got to blame all these trendy burger places popping up all over the place frequented by bearded tossers washing it down with some over priced "craft beer". It's a passing fad, normal service will resume in 2-3 years. Sorry about that.

Sa Calobra

Original Poster:

37,011 posts

210 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Me too however I'd want more a US experience then meagre with horribly made fries. It's not rocket science is it?!

Big chains are the worse culprits but craft ale places soon cottoned on

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Sa Calobra said:
Is it just me? Everywhere now seems to charge at least £10 for a burger and a few fries thrown in. Often the fries will be in a small pot of some sort and the burger in my opinion meagre. Even when you get additions the price seems to go north over £15.

Am I being tight?
If they are called fries rather than chips, and have their own pot... If you want cheap, then look for neon and halal signs and polystyrene cartons..

£10 is bit much for normal fayre though, you can get gourmet burgers and 'chips' with a backstory, organic fed on diamonds and and everything for that.

Squiggs

1,520 posts

154 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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A burger with fries you say ..... ?
Are you sure the fries aren't triple cooked chips?
Anything that's cooked three times is bound to put the price up.

Why chips have to be cooked three times I've no idea!
When I was a kid my mum used to cook chips in a chip pan that was full of lard - just the once, and they were fine!

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Simple, if you think its too expensive don't eat there..

To the restaurant you are a customer coming in to eat a meal, it doesnt really matter what you order from the menu for your meal as you will still cost roughly the same to them to serve you (overheads, cost of food, wages etc.).

So if they sold burgers at a comparatively cheaper cost than other dishes then they would need to sell more burgers to cover the same costs.

They already know how many "covers" approximately they will serve in a day - so why would they make one dish comparatively cheap compared to the others?

If you want cheap burgers - then go to a wholesaler of burgers...Mcdonalds and Burger King
If you want to eat in a restaurant - you will be paying more for whatever you eat because you are in a restaurant
If you want to eat nice, cheap burgers - make your own.

I like burgers.

mike74

3,687 posts

131 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
No you're not being tight.

Anybody paying £10 for a burger and fries (regardless of it's ''back story'') is an idiot with more money than sense.

Mobile Chicane

20,740 posts

211 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Pub burger and chips is around £13 - £14 in my part of Surrey, if you can get a burger and chips at all.

Some pubs, notably the otherwise excellent Stephan Langton in Friday Street, don't offer this as a menu option.

Driver101

14,376 posts

120 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Even places like 5 Guys gets away with high prices. It's £15 for a burger, fries and a draught soft drink.

Long queues to get served, a further long stand waiting for the food to be prepared, and then it's served in a brown paper bag to eat at tables that probably haven't been cleaned.

They must be doing enough to keep people happy as they tend to be busy.

croyde

22,709 posts

229 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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I was working at the Palladium and we had a quick break for lunch.

There's a 5 Guys next door. I'd heard the hype so walked in.

Long queues and crowded tables full of people munching their takeaway fayre from paper bags. Then I saw the prices!!!??

Walked out and had a Maccy D meal for less than a fiver. Long queues, crowded tables and people eating food out of paper bags.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Wetherspoons - £5.something including a soft drink. Burger and chips, on a plate, chips not in a mini shopping trolley. Tasty, didn't die. The rest can fk off with their tiny £10 burgers served with 3 "fries" because their chef is stuck up his own arse.

Greasy chippies are still doing burgers and fries (those awful skinny things) for about £4.

I'm in SW London btw.

Anyway, I've decided to NOT tip staff who bring me food in idiotic receptacles that annoy me.

Edited by Hoofy on Wednesday 26th April 10:12

Rodintee

75 posts

102 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Standard Tuesday night for me yesterday. Stay in work till around 7.30 then in to town to pick my boy up at 9.15 from Scouts. In the interim had an hour in the Market Vaults for a pint and one of their burgers. Fair enough, £10 for the burger but worth every penny.



Better that than £6 plus for a whopper or some other crap.

dazco

4,280 posts

188 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
mike74 said:
No you're not being tight.

Anybody paying £10 for a burger and fries (regardless of it's ''back story'') is an idiot with more money than sense.
Wow, how much do you think it should be? We shall assume it is almost a half pound burger, served to you with chips or fries and salad.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
dazco said:
mike74 said:
No you're not being tight.

Anybody paying £10 for a burger and fries (regardless of it's ''back story'') is an idiot with more money than sense.
Wow, how much do you think it should be? We shall assume it is almost a half pound burger, served to you with chips or fries and salad.
For this minuscule dinner:



£4.50 as it's a child's portion. But I've had to pay upwards of £13 in the past. I have to desperately convince myself that the pub is a really nice environment to be in.

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
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Mate of mine runs a burger restaurant. He uses the very best ingredients, organic etc and by the time he's bought everything, cooked it, paid his staff, paid his rates, paid his bills, and occasionally paid himself, there's very little profit in a £10 burger.

The cost of restaurant/pub food is far greater than the sum of its parts.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
cbmotorsport said:
Mate of mine runs a burger restaurant. He uses the very best ingredients, organic etc and by the time he's bought everything, cooked it, paid his staff, paid his rates, paid his bills, and occasionally paid himself, there's very little profit in a £10 burger.

The cost of restaurant/pub food is far greater than the sum of its parts.
You say he pays his staff - does he pay them a decent salary? Or is it one of those things where it's topped up by tips but usually kept by the restaurant owner?

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
There is though, very little excuse for a meagre portion of chips/fries.

A bag of potatoes costs a fiver and will make about 20 portions of chips.

I paid £2.80 last weekend for a large portion of chips from a chippie.

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Hoofy said:
cbmotorsport said:
Mate of mine runs a burger restaurant. He uses the very best ingredients, organic etc and by the time he's bought everything, cooked it, paid his staff, paid his rates, paid his bills, and occasionally paid himself, there's very little profit in a £10 burger.

The cost of restaurant/pub food is far greater than the sum of its parts.
You say he pays his staff - does he pay them a decent salary? Or is it one of those things where it's topped up by tips but usually kept by the restaurant owner?
No, he pays them the going rate. He's a small outfit, and has 2 members of staff. Tips are shared equally among the 2 members of staff.

Sa Calobra

Original Poster:

37,011 posts

210 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
Rodintee said:
Standard Tuesday night for me yesterday. Stay in work till around 7.30 then in to town to pick my boy up at 9.15 from Scouts. In the interim had an hour in the Market Vaults for a pint and one of their burgers. Fair enough, £10 for the burger but worth every penny.



Better that than £6 plus for a whopper or some other crap.
Where's that? I could do with that while waiting for my son's Beavers group to finish

(Beavers as in Cubs guys).

928

221 posts

176 months

Wednesday 26th April 2017
quotequote all
If everything is fresh and tasty then £10ish is reasonable. What isn't are those offering frozen stuff for the same price. As an example, I worked with a business recently supplying a southern England pub chain with all their burger components. Burger, bun and chips were frozen, total ingredient cost was under £1.50 per burger meal to them including sauces, veg, cheese etc.., cost to the punter was £11.00, so 9.17 ex VAT, a GP of £7.67 per burger...It was also poor, the likes of GBK were far better for the same money. Nice business if you filled your restaurant, they didn't out of season; I suspect due to visits being one offs, rather than repeat locals who, like me, found it expensive for a not great burger.