rant: fine dining

[tlombard]

Never got to find out how much the lobster roll was. It was really good though. When we asked for the tab it was already paid for. One of my friends picked up the tab for all 12 of us and won't allow us to give him any cash for it so we'll just have to return the favor some other way. I don't even want to know how big that tab was.

[themiddle54]

I don't think I know what a $70 steak that is worth $70 would be. I find steak in a restaurant to usually be a ripoff, and there is only one I ever go to and that's usually for lunch b/c their Philly Cheesesteak is the kind of thing that would make even the most vocal Native Philadelphian smile and say "that's every bit as good as back home."

[Tim]

Once ate a steak from Greg Norman's ranch while vacationing in Miami. It cost north of $100. Great steak.

Not worth $100.

[haltz]

For some reason restaurateurs are really slavish to their food cost across the board instead of taking it easy on the multipliers on higher end items. That steak probably cost $25 from the distributor so they think they have to charge $70, when it's OK to charge $55 and make $30 a pop. At some point dollars matter more than percentages. You can pay for a bottle of rail vodka after the first pour or two and no one will blink but try marking up a $200 bottle of wine to $2,000 and see if you sell any.

[themiddle54]

You have to be sales-driven and not cost-driven. If you're cost-driven you will price yourself into lower sales and then cost doesn't matter, you'll go out of business.

The stuff that I mark up the most has the greatest perceived value to the guest, which is kind of funny.

I pay 51 cents per can of PBR, the one crappy beer we offer. We charge $3.50 for it, a 7X markup. People think it's a great value and we sell a lot of it. Stiegl Gold tallboy cans cost me $1.71 each, can you imagine if I charged $11.50 for one? (We charge $7, under 4X). No one would buy it, and people would look at the menu and go "are you crazy asking $11.50 for this?" But the PBR for $3.50, they think that's a GREAT deal.

[heyzeus]

Ugh, PBR.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

To a lot of people, beer is beer and one at 3.50 is a better deal than one at 7.00.

[themiddle54]

To a lot of people, beer is beer and one at 3.50 is a better deal than one at 7.00.

There are bars for them, bars where Stella and Amstel are the good stuff, where they can pick between all the big American adjunct lagers their hearts desire. Those bars are literally everywhere, from big city to tiny one-horse town. So for those people there are a couple things they can do.

1. Go to those bars, which are suitable to their idea of what a bar should offer, or
2. Go to a craft beer/fancy cocktail bar, have what that place offers, and not hassle the staff or management about menu choices.

There's a reason for this. Bars that decide to be craft beer-focused--while offering 1-2 crappy beers for people who want that--decide pre-opening, when writing their business plan, what the identity of the bar will be, what crowd they will market to, what their menu will be, what music they will play, where the tables will go, how the staff will dress, what kind of food will be offered if any, and on down to stuff like what kind of hand dryer will they have or will they go paper towels? The bar decides. And when a bar is in business and very successful for a long time, and has loyal guests who come regularly because they want exactly that concept and atmosphere the ownership came up with, some ding-dong writing a thing about how one small thing about the concept means he will never go back can mostly go off in the corner and [expletive] himself. Someone who puts their savings, their time, risks perhaps their livelihood financially to take a HUGE risk on a low-margin business gets to decide how loud the music is, what beer is on tap, how it's priced, whether the stool is backless or not, what time they open and close, and so on. Some jagoff who should have just picked a better bar doesn't get to make those choices and instead of hassling the staff should just enjoy his time there and leave and not come back if it's not to his liking. A place with a solid concept that resonates with the public doesn't need that 1/500 of the population who carry around a false sense of entitlement and a need to be a dick to service staff because they didn't go to the right bar.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Ha. I never said anything about acting like a jagoff or giving servers [expletive] for beer being expensive or not liking a place because it bans children (which I fully support fwiw).

Still my point remains, some people think beer is beer and will pick a $3.50 beer instead of a $7 beer because, to them, beer is beer and $3.50<$7. You seem to acknowledge this as well saying it's sales-driven not cost-driven.

[Freed Roger]

Ha. I never said anything about acting like a jagoff or giving servers [expletive] for beer being expensive or not liking a place because it bans children (which I fully support fwiw).

Still my point remains, some people think beer is beer and will pick a $3.50 beer instead of a $7 beer because, to them, beer is beer and $3.50<$7. You seem to acknowledge this as well saying it's sales-driven not cost-driven.

middle, are the crafty beers a lower % markup in general than your PBR etc options?

If I were going to drink PBR etc, I'd rather get a bucket at sports bar for $2.50 each (or whatever, I haven't priced them in a while) Or better yet, get a 60 pack of Coors light and stay home

But I do understand why TM54 type place has to carry the PBR etc. It's even on the menu at craft breweries. They don't want to lose a group for dinner on account of the one person wanting bud light.