• ApexHunter@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    This is how to tell someone you haven’t checked grocery prices lately without actually telling them you haven’t checked grocery prices lately. A box of mediocre pasta alone is going to cost you $1.75. A jar of Preggo will run you another 2.50. So 4.25 for an I hate life spaghetti and marinara meal.

    The sauce they make probably doesn’t come out of a jar of reconstituted tomato paste and dried seasonings either.

    If you buy decent ingredients you are looking at $3 for the pasta and $9 for the sauce. Or $12 for an “ok for a home cook” spaghetti meal with no protein.

    Restaurant serving sizes (for better or worse) are usually 2x+ larger than you would serve at home. Rent isn’t free for the restaurant either. Or labor. Or utilities. Or equipment. Etc. General rule of thumb is that a restaurant needs to charge 3x raw food costs to cover expenses.

    So your I hate life pasta would need to be priced at $6.50 and your ok for home but not something I would be happy with getting at a restaurant pasta would need to be priced at $18.

    • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      This is how to tell someone you haven’t checked grocery prices lately without actually telling them you haven’t checked grocery prices lately.

      I’m going to assume you don’t cook at home.

      No restaurant worth eating at buys packaged pasta, or packaged bread/buns, or canned sauce.

      Flour is cheap, like really cheap. If a restaurant is buying real ingredients, then they are spending pennies and charging tens of dollars.

      Restaurant serving sizes (for better or worse) are usually 2x+ larger than you would serve at home.

      I highly disagree. I’ve never left a restaurant “full”, even after spending enough to buy a months worth of real food ingredients.

      Rent isn’t free for the restaurant either. Or labor. Or utilities. Or equipment. Etc. General rule of thumb is that a restaurant needs to charge 3x raw food costs to cover expenses.

      This I agree with. Is rent, labor, equipment at a restaurant significantly more than other places of work? Paying min wage doesn’t exactly eat through your margins.

      • ApexHunter@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        That whooshing sound, in case you were curious, was the point sailing right over your head.