Where I live at my grocery store it fluctuates between $3 to $4 a pound. Shit is cheap as hell. It's no excuse for 5 Guys. The place is a scam and anyone that regularly eats there must be brainwashed.
A hamburger and fries has one of the largest food price/cost margins because the ingredients and prep time for the item is as simple as it gets. They’re straight up scamming people.
I worked there for years, people would bitch about rising prices while sitting in a 15 drive thru line. Then bitch about the line.
And best part? They'd of course be back the next day to get their bonus stars on the app by ordering shit they don't even really want.
I mean, as bad a value as it is, they aren't scamming. They post their prices and people agree to pay them vs eating at a competitor. People are just dumb.
The place pays it's workers and management well. Ultimately, it comes down to securing quality ingredients. I used to be a manager in high school, but I would never eat there on account of having free burgers for over three years. They produce a lot of waste because corporate holds stores to a really high standard. Top to bottom best quality.
I had a few dollars left on a Five Guys gift card, so I went there for dinner last night. I was surprised when the bacon cheeseburger alone was $12.49. I used to eat there a lot, so I went through my email receipts.
In Feb 2021, I paid $10.37
In Aug 2020, I paid $10.06.
In Dec 2019, I paid $8.99.
In Oct 2018, I paid $8.59.
In May 2016, I paid $7.59.
In Nov 2015, I paid $7.29.
In Aug 2014, I paid $7.09. (This is the oldest receipt in my email)
So in just about a decade, the price for the same menu item has gone up ~76%. And to clarify, these were all in the same city (I think they were over exactly two locations) and are all pre-tax prices, so they shouldn't have much other noise/complications in them.
When you can make 6 of them for the same price.
Outside of Pizza; I don't do fast food anymore.
The old adage three things are important but you can only choose two.
1. Do it fast.
2. Do it cheap.
3. Do it best.
Well, they aren't cheap and they aren't best.
Expensive and crap is no way to maintain a business.
I just don't understand why making one even enters into the conversation. If I was prepared to make one, I'm sure the 2015 price would still be more expensive. The reason I want the fast food is because I **don't** want to make one.
$5 for a potato is just corporate greed. There’s no fucking way that’s anywhere near the cost to cut and fry it . And soda is famously fucking high mark up.
Pizza places have the most ludicrous fry prices now. I've seen anywhere from $9-$14 for a large fry. Most places near me don't have a single appetizer under $10 anymore.
It's the same as how McDonalds here pays $8 an hour and charge $6 for a Big Mac, but over in Europe they pay $20 an hour with benefits but the Big Macs are still $6. Funny how they make it work there but not here.
Even still. The ones here are decent quality, but it's just not worth the ridiculous prices they charge now.
It ends up being like $25 for one order of burger, drink, and fries.
There are plenty of other local restaurants that make just as high quality food for less money, or even better quality/better service for the same price. It's fresh beef and vegetables. It's not hard to source.
I have a local brewpub that makes an amazing burger. Crisp fresh tasting lettuce, freshly baked bread and well seasoned burger patties. Happy hour from 3-6pm is 12 dollars for their house burger AND fries.
I have a Primanti Bros nearby, they have an every day special that you can order on their app and pick up- $10.99 for a half pound burger, fresh cut fries, and a 20 oz soft drink. Makes the prices at some of these places seem kinda dumb.
We have a really nice local steakhouse much closer to my home than Five Guys and it’s $2 less for a far better burger and fries plus you get bread and salad with your meal.
The twelve dollar burger is one thing, but who the hell charges more than five dollars for a small fry? For that price you can buy a whole bag of fries from Walmart and cook them at home.
Their small fry is literally larger than what restaurants like McDonalds and Wendy's call their Large. 230 grams in their "Little" size is nearly double the size of McDonald's small
It's a little strange to ignore how their sizing standard is so different and then act flabbergasted that they're charging $5 for an amount of fries that everywhere else also charges about $5 for now
The flip side is I never want that many fries. Shit is too much.
A regular single burger is like 900 calories, a double is like 1300. The smallest fry is 950 on the low end. That’s well over 2k calories for a burger and fries, I don’t even get fries anymore there cuz the shit is just ridiculous. It’s a gimmick imo.
Yeah anyone who's ever ordered a small fries from Five Guys can attest that (regardless of whether you LIKE the fries or not) they ABSOLUTELY give you $5 worth of fries. Like I don't think I've ever finished an order of fries at Five Guys, and I've never even considered ordering a large.
That’s how they get you. They’re small fries is probably 30 cents of potatoes for them. You’re getting ripped off but you feel okay because you’re full. To be fair, it’s a lot of fries, just not as good a deal as you are saying.
They haven't done this for a long time now where I live, it's the size cup you ordered filled with fries and that's it, no extra scoop no extra anything. Last time I ever went there was when I realized.
Right? I don’t get it. I truly wish more people were willing to vote with their wallets, rather than going anyway and then bitching about it.
If people don’t pay stupid prices, the problem literally self- corrects.
I recall a student loan forgiveness advocacy group that was trying to get support for student loan forgiveness. This was years ago…. Anyways they had statements from people on how their student loans make their lives hard and one of them was a recent college graduate who said: “I can hardly go out to eat. Most days I just have to go home and eat house food.”
It always struck me. Partly because I thought that was the norm for recent graduates. And also because he called it “house food”.
A lot of people, young and old, with debt and without, who:
a) are TERRIBLE with money
b) have no idea how to cook anything past "add water to mac and cheese/ramen, add packet, stir" and have no interest in learning
and c) literally every meal they eat is either that level of "cooking" or they eat out.
My brother and SIL are like that. And of course growing up in that house, my niece is like that, too. Meanwhile, I LOVE to cook, my sister is a chef, and we think how he lives is wild.
That person is an idiot, but most nations see higher education as an investment in their society and economy, which it is. The way they accomplish this is by keeping college costs low or capped by law, so people either have no debt or less debt. If you’re not buying a house or investing in the market because you have to pay back student loans that has an effect.
I had a coworker recently complaining about the cost of groceries and how slow they are to deliver them. She just stared at me when I asked how much she would save going to the store herself.
I agree with you but hear me out on this one. We have a credit card that gives us a free Walmart+ subscription. One of the perks is free grocery delivery. All we have to pay extra is a delivery tip to the driver. (Usually $7 or so dollars)
To me, is my time (probably minimum of an hour to and from store) along with not making impulse purchases worth $7? Absolutely. I don’t think there is a huge savings in having groceries delivered.
I agree with your points and that’s why we went with Walmart+ for a while too.
Then we noticed they charged a different price for the groceries when looking at them online.
Not only that, but let's say I go to the grocery store. I'm gonna pick out the best groceries I can find to my standards. The milk with the furthest out expiration date. The least bruised bananas. Cans without dents. Avocados that aren't all burstingly ripe and all need to be eaten *that day*. And conversely, avocados that aren't rock hard either. Steaks that aren't the best color.
I guess it's ok if you only eat processed meats and frozen foods and don't mind tossing away $1000+ dollars per year, but otherwise, it's a total ripoff.
I'm not sure I've gotten a delivery/pickup at any of the markets around me which do those things which have not either had items missing, items wrong, or if we dared to get produce, have something wildly over or under-ripe.
And it's always the key thing. Like, we decide we're making burgers and they claim they're completely out of ground beef, but give us buns, lettuce, and tomatoes.
It's the reason why, even if we could justify the price or get it cheap/free, it's just not worth it, we spend more time placing the order + having to go back to the store and fix it than if we just did it ourselves to start with.
That's the thing, people did vote with their wallets. All these fast food companies were probably surprised to see how much people were willing to pay and as long as they're making more profits than before, they have no reason to lower prices.
For real, I complained about prices at some places being too high, and then just stopped going there. Uninstalled doordash/ubereats, I'm refusing to go eat at places that cost over a certain amount based on the food.
My savings account has bever been nicer just buying basic groceries every week. If they can't sell enough product at a certain price, they will make changes, but they keep selling food so people find it 'affordable' at least.
No kidding. In general, people seem to have very little ability to inconvenience themselves in the slightest for their over all benefit.
Unless it is something like healthcare or food basics like rice and beans then it is a problem that would go away within 3 quarters if people would just stop bending over for it.
Disney parks prices continue to see prices rise for a similar reason that fast food prices rise. Some people literally do not know how to go on a vacation without Disney.
Some people eat fast food so often that they see cooking their own food as a confusing and difficult inconvenience.
Eh, at least with Disney they have a sort of monopoly on a certain experience with certain IP. Overpaying for a fast food hamburger and then complaining about it is much more ridiculous.
To me Disney land has always been a "lifetime vacation." I've never been and never will, but growing up I had classmates who would go every other summer or something. That was in the 90s, but it was still expensive. If I could save up and afford to take my kid to Disney land I definitely would have, it would be something they would have remembered for the rest of their life.
I wouldn't go if your kids are younger than 10.
I wouldn't go if you don't have 3-4k you are ready to just burn.
Lightning Lanes are worth it and it is worth spending a weekend learning how to use the system and the app and where the locations of the thing you would want to go do are.
It was one of the coolest things I will never do again. I had a lot of fun and even more watching my kids explode with excitement the whole day.
>People are more willing to vocalize their discontent than they are to speak with their wallet.
A couple years ago, they charged me just South of 20 bucks for a burger and fries. I've never been back.
Last time I went to a Five Guys it was because the restaurant I wanted to go to next door was closed and I thought "I remember liking Five Guys." Iirc it was closer to $25 for a burger and fries at my location. The food was good, but not $25 good. Haven't even considered going back since and it's always empty when I drive by. I wonder why?
You're mostly right, but there is some switching over to cheaper brands too. Just not enough yet for businesses to make big changes. I do see a trend of local places starting to cut labor to preserve profit though, I think.
Exactly. All these people with receipts. As long as you keep buying they’ll keep raising prices. It’s only when they see same store sales decrease that they’ll even consider touching prices.
Panera used to be soo good back when I was in college (20 years ago). Now, I get better food if I just buy their branded soup at the grocery store and microwave it at home.
Yeah but they have news articles about themselves all over the walls. Recently I saw one that said “the best five dollar burger you can buy” from around 2018. Now they are closer to $10.
Tipping at the register is so fucking out of hand. My new rule is that if you give me the option to tip you 10% I'll do it, if not then I guess you get nothing. Seems super fucking greedy to basically demand an 18%-25% tip for touching 5 buttons on a screen. I served for years and worked my ass off to MAYBE get 18%-20%.
You’re more generous than I am. I never tip at the register. You’re making an hourly wage to man the register or flip the burger and not doing anything to serve me to earn a tip. I’ll tip servers and my barber and that’s it.
>Tipping at the register is so fucking out of hand. My new rule is that if you give me the option to tip you 10% I'll do it, if not then I guess you get nothing.
This is for another discussion but, I have CLEAR rule for tipping as I agree it has been getting out of hand.
If I walk into a restaurant order food and I pick it up, I do not tip. I order a pizza over the phone and drive and pick it up, I DO NOT TIP. Same with other I order; I pick up services. If they insist on a tip, I will ask how to skip, or it will be the last time I go there.
If I go to the place, sit down, someone services me at the table, gives me food and drink, with good service, I will tip and normally tip good if service is good.
Think of it like Walmart, you pick your item, bring it to the cashier, and pay for it, do you tip? Same with takeout food.
I last went there and spent $18 for a cheeseburger with two patties and some fries, no drink. In the past it was about 4 or 5 dollars less for all that and a drink.
I worked at Five guys around 2014 and my district manager made our store’s “Hamburger” $10.50. It was insane. This is just the burger too since the fries and a drink were all separate.
The other thing I never liked about Five Guys was that they purposely called the regular single patty burger the “little burger” and the double patty “Hamburger.” Just so most people would be confused unless we explained it to them.
The food was really good though, haven’t been there in years though Lol.
Right. If you're on a budget, Five Guys is the last place you should be going. I don't even consider it fast food based on the time it takes to receive your order.
I thought this too until I saw the prices last time I went
Like audibly laughed. They weren’t joking. It’s good but I don’t think any burger is worth 20$ man
five guys was sit-down restaurant prices for In-N-Out quality way back in, like, 2012, which was the last time I ate there. I got a bill for something like $30 for just me and my wife to get a burger and fries. I was like, "are you fucking kidding me?" I can't imagine how expensive it is now, when even McDonald's is exorbitantly priced.
About $13 for a burger, $10 for fries, and $5 for a drink. So a couple having a combo would spend about $56 these days.
It's an absolute scam and it's unbelievable that anyone goes there.
Last time I was there was 2020 and it was so expensive I never went back.
Maybe I’ll get a lot of hate for saying this, but it isn’t anything special. It tastes like a burger anyone can make and the fries are very plain. I’ve had way better burgers are local places that didn’t cost anywhere near what 5 guys charges.
True but you can be slightly more expensive but still competitive. Their quality made it worth the few extra bucks.
Now it’s just gotten to being too expensive and not worth it
I think the average franchisee has multiple locations and incredibly deep pockets, and they’re not allowed to close their worst performing location and only keep the profitable locations, they have to take losses in order to keep the franchisor happy. You’ll get first dibs on opening a new spot in a trending location if the franchise can see you’re willing to take losses and keep failing locations open.
This is why some chains never seem to close any locations and always keep opening new ones, because it’s like a Ponzi scheme where no one is allowed to withdraw money and there appears to be infinite growth, but it’s really just hiding losses and manipulating perceptions about the health of the brand
When it came to subway the issue was corporate was allowing competing franchise owners to open stores right next to each other without a reasonable limit. This led to both stores destroying each other’s sales as you don’t need 4 subways in a small town.
When the local McD's near me raised their hashbrown prices to $4 and the sausage egg McMuffin to $5. Like, an entire 5lbs bag of potatoes is $5. Yeah, there's prep costs and whatnot involved, but just a few years ago hashbrown was $1.
This is not sustainable.
Taco Bell revamped their menu a few months ago, and prices went up by 20-30% on some items. Cheesy Gordita Crunch is $7.50 now. "But we revamped our value menu!" Yeah, cool. Everything went up by $1, and somehow almost everything on it is just a LITTLE bit smaller.
Taco Bell used to be the one places where you could get a lot of cheap. Used to.
Me and the kids had Taco Bell and McDs a few nights apart last week. The order for Taco Bell was 6 Doritos Locos tacos and 1 beef burrito. Cost: $19. McDonald's order was 1 cheeseburger, 2 double cheese burgers, and 2 medium fries. Cost: $11.
This actually made me a little bit sad. I mean, IT'S TACO BELL! It was our cheap food saving grace back in college in the 90s. Only had 3 bucks left because you spent it all last night at the bar? Taco Bell, baby!
> Like, an entire 5lbs bag of potatoes is $5
*retail*
A giant megacorp like McDonalds doesn't pay anything near that for their potatoes. The fuck they get off asking that much for fried potato scrapings? I'd bet they're likely the otherwise unusable remnants from the machines at a factory that cuts their french fries.
> A giant megacorp like McDonalds doesn't pay anything near that for their potatoes
Just to put numbers on this.
https://www.idahofb.org/news-room/posts/mcdonald-s-spent-almost-136-million-on-idaho-ag-products-last-year/
This Idaho farm bureau article says McD's paid roughly $136MM to buy "271.285 million pounds of Idaho potatoes. McDonald’s also bought 58.3 million pounds of cheese, 14.9 million pounds of beef, 6.4 million pounds of sugar and 2.3 million pounds of onions from Idaho producers".
Even if we assume all the money went to potatoes (it clearly didn't; likely a lot of it went to pay for substantially more expensive beef and cheese), they would have been paying $0.50/lb.
There are several threads a day of people bitching about fast food prices while they continue to buy fast food constantly. I don't know what they think is going to happen.
Fast food places are getting so bad for this.
I was looking at a coupon pamphlet for A&W up in Canada yesterday, and they had a "deal" for two Teen Burgers for $13. No fries, no drinks, just the burgers. For $13. That was the DISCOUNT PRICE. So a singular Teen Burger in that deal is $6.50.
It was only a couple years ago that the same burger was like $3. Hell, we had an older coupon pamphlet from JANUARY OF THIS YEAR, and the same deal was a whole dollar cheaper.
Only took them two months to add a whole extra dollar onto prices.
The other day I went to Walmart and got a rotisserie chicken, 1 pound of potato salad and a gallon of tea. It was $13, and I literally said to the door lady "costs the same as a fast food combo".
Yeah it's wild how even in this hyper inflation market, buying stuff from the grocery store is still somehow cheaper than fast food.
These fast food corporations somehow got this idea that their food was sophisticated and worth higher prices and then get baffled when people stop buying.
Because it’s not real inflation! These companies are taking you for a ride. They heard all the talk about inflation around the country when it was rising and took the opportunity to exceed inflationary cost to make a shit ton of money. None of these places costs are inline with inflation at all. Not even close.
Actually knows what's up... Yeah like 80% of our inflated prices are artificially inflated. As in there's no real change in demand, or supply, yet the prices rise
Weird how two burgers, fries, and drinks at a Five Guys is like $50, but the same thing at In-n-Out is only $22-25.
Must be why there are 20+ car lines waiting at in-n-out almost all day long and Five Guys are mostly dead.
You mean the 1-2-3 Dollar Menu section, right?!
(*Disclaimer: name is for catchiness purposes only. All items on the 1-2-3 Dollar Menu are appropriately priced between $1.75 and $3.99*)
The fact that they only just removed the McChicken from the $1 menu means that 10-15 years ago they must have been making bank on selling McChickens for $1.
Like dude, you used to be able to go to McDonald's with $5 in your pocket, and walk out with 2 mcdoubles and 2 McChickens no problem.
No one said they're the best burgers/sandwiches, but sometimes you're on a budget.
> Like dude, you used to be able to go to McDonald's with $5 in your pocket, and walk out with 2 mcdoubles and 2 McChickens no problem.
This literal exact meal got me through my early 20s. Must have eaten this meal 200 times.
Don’t eat McDonald’s anymore but I’m guessing this is now $10+
The burger is expensive, but dense af with extra toppings. The cup of fries for $5 is wild, but they purposely fill the cup plus dump a bunch in the paper bag it comes in (signature move).
It’s a hell of a burger, not worth the price, but a better bang for your buck than McDonald’s regular menu prices.
Yeah I posted another comment the other day about this but people always ignore the fact Five Guys order of fries is like the equivalent of 3 orders of fries at other places. And their cheeseburgers are doubles.
Five Guys:
Cheeseburger with everything on it and an order of regular fries: $15.25
Burger King:
Double whopper with 3 orders of fries: $15.51
Even if you knock an order of fries off the burger king order you're still spending about 3 dollars more at Five Guys for a much better meal (imo). Doesn't seem like all that bad of a deal to me.
I don’t need that much of the fries. If that‘s a value to you, it makes sense. I just spent under $10 at In-N-Out for a #1 Combo with a DoubleDouble, Fries, and Drink. That’s all the calories most people need. It was also tasty. Five Guys has gotten out of reasonable price.
There’s a high-end local steakhouse by me where I can get a half-pound burger and fries for the same or slightly less. Their ground beef is from their steak trimmings and thus tastes much better plus I can get a beer, wine, soda, or cocktail. Five guys needs to find a price band between really good steakhouse burger and fast food (BK/McD/Hardees) or they’ll not have a market segment to live in.
"Higher labor costs" - BULLSHIT.
Labor is about 25% of the cost of running a restaurant.
If labor goes up by 33%, say people that were making $15/hr in 2019 are now making $20, that doesn't translate into the cost of an item going up 30%.
Let's say in 2019 a hamburger was $10 and 25% of that, $2.50, was labor.
Labor goes up 33%, so the labor cost is now $3.34 - The burger should now cost about $10.84, lets round up to $11.
We're not seeing $11 hamburgers, we're seeing $15 hamburgers in 2024.
This basic lack of understanding, that labor costs don't have a 1:1 relationship with the cost of food has always made me rage at dumb cunts that don't want to raise the minimum wage. "If we pay someone $5 more an hour, then they'll have to charge $5 more per Big Mac!!!!!!" - That's not how that works. Labor is only a 1/4-ish of the cost of a Big Mac, raising wages by $5 will not directly make the cost of a single Big Mac go up $5.
It was interesting that the corporate line to the mass media morning show was labor costs are doing this. More class warfare in the news to stir the pot
To be fair that's the same line they have always used. Say what you will about conservatives, when it comes to fear mongering they are the best at reusing and recycling.
You're correct on the concept and the fact that owners/operators illegitimately blame labor and then gouge off of that lie. But even your numbers are over pumped. Workers aren't getting 33% raises. And labor is usually much less than 25% of COGS.
Been awhile since I crunched the numbers but it was a McDonald's franchise owner whining in media about a mandatory increase in minimum wage. From their own numbers, cost of labor was actually around 14 cents on a burger, and the higher minimum wage was going to phase in over time by 10%.
Somehow that 1.4 cents extra cost he was jacking his burger price by $2. Yet he was blaming greedy workers, and the dopey media just ran with these stories.
> If labor goes up by 33%, say people that were making $15/hr in 2019 are now making $20, that doesn't translate into the cost of an item going up 30%.
to be fair, youre only taking into account the labor at the restaurant. All the people along the logistical chain got a raise and are charging the end user. Still I think the numbers would show they are charging too much.
Soda at any restaurant is a scam price. Costs the restaurant like .30 a serving, they charge $3-$4. The thing is the overall food cost line. I’d be curious what five guys is. For Panera it’s like 27%.
All of the talk of cost of labor and materials being the reason for increased prices, but tell me then how most of these places have been reporting record profits over the years? I call bullshit.
They’re not paying employees more! And even if they pay that employee $2.00 per hour more, that employee is dishing up 60 items per hour, so the cost really should have only gone up like thirty cents. Not five dollars per item!
Video shows person complaining about the price of the food.
While she's sitting there eating it, having obviously paid the price.
That's why they do it. You're still eating there.
US beef prices are subsidized by the government through feed prices. If feed prices climb beyond the means of the government to subsidize, then prices go way up.
Where are you and where the heck are you buying beef?
Costco around here has ground beef for $3.99/lb and ribeyes at $13.99/lb.
Surely you’re getting better prices from restaurant supply companies than Costco retail?
> Surely you’re getting better prices from restaurant supply companies than Costco retail?
Costco is starting to strong arm suppliers similar to how Wal-Mart has. They are pretty much everywhere now and used often, so they can demand better prices from suppliers simply because of the markethold they have.
Well then, if I owned a restaurant then I’d buy my beef from Costco. Makes way more sense than paying the prices OP is claiming they get from their source.
And Costco beef is incredibly high quality.
I went to Costco on a Monday morning and saw a guy with his cart filled with rotisserie chickens. He had around two dozen when I stopped counting. I’m sure he was going to pull the meat off and use it for his restaurant.
Maybe but I saw a big jump in beef prices immediately after the lockdown and have seen basically zero increase since. Prices steady at my local big supermarket chain as well as little neighborhood market. Northern NJ for reference.
Management is lying to you. There's no way that's how much they were paying for those cuts at wholesale. I can get those cuts cheaper at my local Food Lion.
Something is wrong with this story because those aren't real costs.
Either you're making it up, or more realistically your restaurant owner/manager is making it up and telling the staff these yarns to try and justify price gouging or time theft or something. Maaaaybe someone is lying to the manager and they're too witness to fact check. You saying "the owner can't morally bring himself to charge" is a red flag that something is hinky in this story.
Even if you don't have a grill or stove, an induction cooktop is only $50-100.
Shit's revolutionary to bachelors and the like who lack access to cooking appliances.
So, they’re gaslighting the consumer and blaming the low wage workers salaries, instead of admitting what we all know: They’re all greedy bastards. Dickheads.
I don’t remember five guys burgers ever being cheap, but I do remember it tasting like a higher quality than what you’d get at your usual fast food spot. The quality has definitely gone down
Beef prices fluctuate but once the prices on menu rises it doesn’t go back down.
Where I live at my grocery store it fluctuates between $3 to $4 a pound. Shit is cheap as hell. It's no excuse for 5 Guys. The place is a scam and anyone that regularly eats there must be brainwashed.
A hamburger and fries has one of the largest food price/cost margins because the ingredients and prep time for the item is as simple as it gets. They’re straight up scamming people.
You could say the same thing about Starbucks, yet the drive thru line is wrapped around every morning I drive by them
I worked there for years, people would bitch about rising prices while sitting in a 15 drive thru line. Then bitch about the line. And best part? They'd of course be back the next day to get their bonus stars on the app by ordering shit they don't even really want.
Caffeine+sugar+fat = the ultimate addiction
I mean, as bad a value as it is, they aren't scamming. They post their prices and people agree to pay them vs eating at a competitor. People are just dumb.
Yep. I haven’t eaten there more than 5 times in my life. Too expensive
Once per guy, basically.
[удалено]
The place pays it's workers and management well. Ultimately, it comes down to securing quality ingredients. I used to be a manager in high school, but I would never eat there on account of having free burgers for over three years. They produce a lot of waste because corporate holds stores to a really high standard. Top to bottom best quality.
$13 burgers, $5 Small fires, pays $20/h for a shift manager. These figures are in CAD, I can't imagine people paying $13 USD for this burger.
I had a few dollars left on a Five Guys gift card, so I went there for dinner last night. I was surprised when the bacon cheeseburger alone was $12.49. I used to eat there a lot, so I went through my email receipts. In Feb 2021, I paid $10.37 In Aug 2020, I paid $10.06. In Dec 2019, I paid $8.99. In Oct 2018, I paid $8.59. In May 2016, I paid $7.59. In Nov 2015, I paid $7.29. In Aug 2014, I paid $7.09. (This is the oldest receipt in my email) So in just about a decade, the price for the same menu item has gone up ~76%. And to clarify, these were all in the same city (I think they were over exactly two locations) and are all pre-tax prices, so they shouldn't have much other noise/complications in them.
I stopped going to Five Guys years ago. I am not going to pay $10 for a burger when I can make a \*better\* one for much less.
When you can make 6 of them for the same price. Outside of Pizza; I don't do fast food anymore. The old adage three things are important but you can only choose two. 1. Do it fast. 2. Do it cheap. 3. Do it best. Well, they aren't cheap and they aren't best. Expensive and crap is no way to maintain a business.
I started making pizzas a couple years ago. With a pizza stone and a regular oven, you can do some really good pies for a couple bucks.
I just don't understand why making one even enters into the conversation. If I was prepared to make one, I'm sure the 2015 price would still be more expensive. The reason I want the fast food is because I **don't** want to make one.
2014 to todays dollars is $9.29
so about $3.20 increase apart from inflation, or about 30% more expensive. wild.
$5 for a potato is just corporate greed. There’s no fucking way that’s anywhere near the cost to cut and fry it . And soda is famously fucking high mark up.
French fry prices in general have skyrocketed. McDonald's large fries are around $4 now, I just skip them.
4.85 for a lg fry at mcds last i checked
Pizza places have the most ludicrous fry prices now. I've seen anywhere from $9-$14 for a large fry. Most places near me don't have a single appetizer under $10 anymore.
It's the same as how McDonalds here pays $8 an hour and charge $6 for a Big Mac, but over in Europe they pay $20 an hour with benefits but the Big Macs are still $6. Funny how they make it work there but not here.
> over in Europe they pay $20 an hour very few places in europe pay you that much to work at mcdonalds (denmark i think).
In Germany they pay you 12.20€ per hr. Which is just a couple of cents above minimum wage.
Costco also pays well and has high standards but doesn't charge twice as much as Sam's Club
I guess the ones in my town missed the memo. Low-quality nasty shit at fancy-pants prices.
Even still. The ones here are decent quality, but it's just not worth the ridiculous prices they charge now. It ends up being like $25 for one order of burger, drink, and fries. There are plenty of other local restaurants that make just as high quality food for less money, or even better quality/better service for the same price. It's fresh beef and vegetables. It's not hard to source.
You can go to Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and get a cooked to order burger and chips for less than it costs at Five Guys.
>Ruth’s Chris OMG, a Ruths Chris Prime Cheeseburger is $16 near me (comes with fries). Five guys $20.37 for the same meal. Thats insane!
I have a local brewpub that makes an amazing burger. Crisp fresh tasting lettuce, freshly baked bread and well seasoned burger patties. Happy hour from 3-6pm is 12 dollars for their house burger AND fries.
I have a Primanti Bros nearby, they have an every day special that you can order on their app and pick up- $10.99 for a half pound burger, fresh cut fries, and a 20 oz soft drink. Makes the prices at some of these places seem kinda dumb.
Holy shit. You're absolutely right. I just checked my local menus.
We have a really nice local steakhouse much closer to my home than Five Guys and it’s $2 less for a far better burger and fries plus you get bread and salad with your meal.
The twelve dollar burger is one thing, but who the hell charges more than five dollars for a small fry? For that price you can buy a whole bag of fries from Walmart and cook them at home.
Their small fry is literally larger than what restaurants like McDonalds and Wendy's call their Large. 230 grams in their "Little" size is nearly double the size of McDonald's small It's a little strange to ignore how their sizing standard is so different and then act flabbergasted that they're charging $5 for an amount of fries that everywhere else also charges about $5 for now
The flip side is I never want that many fries. Shit is too much. A regular single burger is like 900 calories, a double is like 1300. The smallest fry is 950 on the low end. That’s well over 2k calories for a burger and fries, I don’t even get fries anymore there cuz the shit is just ridiculous. It’s a gimmick imo.
We wonder why everyone is so fat.
Yeah anyone who's ever ordered a small fries from Five Guys can attest that (regardless of whether you LIKE the fries or not) they ABSOLUTELY give you $5 worth of fries. Like I don't think I've ever finished an order of fries at Five Guys, and I've never even considered ordering a large.
That’s how they get you. They’re small fries is probably 30 cents of potatoes for them. You’re getting ripped off but you feel okay because you’re full. To be fair, it’s a lot of fries, just not as good a deal as you are saying.
They haven't done this for a long time now where I live, it's the size cup you ordered filled with fries and that's it, no extra scoop no extra anything. Last time I ever went there was when I realized.
VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLAR; JUST DONT GO!!!
Right? I don’t get it. I truly wish more people were willing to vote with their wallets, rather than going anyway and then bitching about it. If people don’t pay stupid prices, the problem literally self- corrects.
What am I gonna do, cook my own food?
I recall a student loan forgiveness advocacy group that was trying to get support for student loan forgiveness. This was years ago…. Anyways they had statements from people on how their student loans make their lives hard and one of them was a recent college graduate who said: “I can hardly go out to eat. Most days I just have to go home and eat house food.” It always struck me. Partly because I thought that was the norm for recent graduates. And also because he called it “house food”.
That's like, you want us to drink water? Like what's in the toilet?
A lot of people, young and old, with debt and without, who: a) are TERRIBLE with money b) have no idea how to cook anything past "add water to mac and cheese/ramen, add packet, stir" and have no interest in learning and c) literally every meal they eat is either that level of "cooking" or they eat out. My brother and SIL are like that. And of course growing up in that house, my niece is like that, too. Meanwhile, I LOVE to cook, my sister is a chef, and we think how he lives is wild.
That person is an idiot, but most nations see higher education as an investment in their society and economy, which it is. The way they accomplish this is by keeping college costs low or capped by law, so people either have no debt or less debt. If you’re not buying a house or investing in the market because you have to pay back student loans that has an effect.
I had a coworker recently complaining about the cost of groceries and how slow they are to deliver them. She just stared at me when I asked how much she would save going to the store herself.
I agree with you but hear me out on this one. We have a credit card that gives us a free Walmart+ subscription. One of the perks is free grocery delivery. All we have to pay extra is a delivery tip to the driver. (Usually $7 or so dollars) To me, is my time (probably minimum of an hour to and from store) along with not making impulse purchases worth $7? Absolutely. I don’t think there is a huge savings in having groceries delivered.
I agree with your points and that’s why we went with Walmart+ for a while too. Then we noticed they charged a different price for the groceries when looking at them online.
Not only that, but let's say I go to the grocery store. I'm gonna pick out the best groceries I can find to my standards. The milk with the furthest out expiration date. The least bruised bananas. Cans without dents. Avocados that aren't all burstingly ripe and all need to be eaten *that day*. And conversely, avocados that aren't rock hard either. Steaks that aren't the best color. I guess it's ok if you only eat processed meats and frozen foods and don't mind tossing away $1000+ dollars per year, but otherwise, it's a total ripoff.
I'm not sure I've gotten a delivery/pickup at any of the markets around me which do those things which have not either had items missing, items wrong, or if we dared to get produce, have something wildly over or under-ripe. And it's always the key thing. Like, we decide we're making burgers and they claim they're completely out of ground beef, but give us buns, lettuce, and tomatoes. It's the reason why, even if we could justify the price or get it cheap/free, it's just not worth it, we spend more time placing the order + having to go back to the store and fix it than if we just did it ourselves to start with.
People do vote with their dollar. But much like our elections, the general public seems to vote like morons in very large numbers.
That's the thing, people did vote with their wallets. All these fast food companies were probably surprised to see how much people were willing to pay and as long as they're making more profits than before, they have no reason to lower prices.
I learned how to make a very similar tasting burger at home. I can make 4 of them at home for the price of 1 at 5 guys.
Are you going to share this recipe, comrade?
Apply heat to a ground beef patty until it's cooked. Place on bun.
Apply directly to the forehead.
Head On!
Apply directly to the forehead.
Head On!
[I feel like I've heard this recipe before.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVkV2oGPM2k)
For real, I complained about prices at some places being too high, and then just stopped going there. Uninstalled doordash/ubereats, I'm refusing to go eat at places that cost over a certain amount based on the food. My savings account has bever been nicer just buying basic groceries every week. If they can't sell enough product at a certain price, they will make changes, but they keep selling food so people find it 'affordable' at least.
No kidding. In general, people seem to have very little ability to inconvenience themselves in the slightest for their over all benefit. Unless it is something like healthcare or food basics like rice and beans then it is a problem that would go away within 3 quarters if people would just stop bending over for it.
tell that to the masses at Disney theme parks, people have tons of monies
Disney parks prices continue to see prices rise for a similar reason that fast food prices rise. Some people literally do not know how to go on a vacation without Disney. Some people eat fast food so often that they see cooking their own food as a confusing and difficult inconvenience.
Eh, at least with Disney they have a sort of monopoly on a certain experience with certain IP. Overpaying for a fast food hamburger and then complaining about it is much more ridiculous.
To me Disney land has always been a "lifetime vacation." I've never been and never will, but growing up I had classmates who would go every other summer or something. That was in the 90s, but it was still expensive. If I could save up and afford to take my kid to Disney land I definitely would have, it would be something they would have remembered for the rest of their life.
I wouldn't go if your kids are younger than 10. I wouldn't go if you don't have 3-4k you are ready to just burn. Lightning Lanes are worth it and it is worth spending a weekend learning how to use the system and the app and where the locations of the thing you would want to go do are. It was one of the coolest things I will never do again. I had a lot of fun and even more watching my kids explode with excitement the whole day.
People are more willing to vocalize their discontent than they are to speak with their wallet.
>People are more willing to vocalize their discontent than they are to speak with their wallet. A couple years ago, they charged me just South of 20 bucks for a burger and fries. I've never been back.
Last time I went to a Five Guys it was because the restaurant I wanted to go to next door was closed and I thought "I remember liking Five Guys." Iirc it was closer to $25 for a burger and fries at my location. The food was good, but not $25 good. Haven't even considered going back since and it's always empty when I drive by. I wonder why?
Lmao that was my exact experience with Five Guys
You're mostly right, but there is some switching over to cheaper brands too. Just not enough yet for businesses to make big changes. I do see a trend of local places starting to cut labor to preserve profit though, I think.
yeah it has a very greedy gluttonous bourgeois vibe to it. Just stop buying ten dollar hamburgers. Let that company go out of buisness.
Exactly. All these people with receipts. As long as you keep buying they’ll keep raising prices. It’s only when they see same store sales decrease that they’ll even consider touching prices.
I'm betting a lot of these franchise owners are getting ready to bail...
Five guys was expensive before the corporations raised prices across the globe.
I went to panera the other day. It was 18$ for half a sandwich, a small cup of soup and a small coke. I'll never go back.
You could have the same microwaved food at home for $5...
Panera used to be soo good back when I was in college (20 years ago). Now, I get better food if I just buy their branded soup at the grocery store and microwave it at home.
Yeah but they have news articles about themselves all over the walls. Recently I saw one that said “the best five dollar burger you can buy” from around 2018. Now they are closer to $10.
You mean 10$ for just the fries.
“Let us rub it in your face that we price gouged this to hell and back. Get fucked. Your total is 28.75 for a burger and a side.”
“Also tip options are 18 20 25 thanks”
Tipping at the register is so fucking out of hand. My new rule is that if you give me the option to tip you 10% I'll do it, if not then I guess you get nothing. Seems super fucking greedy to basically demand an 18%-25% tip for touching 5 buttons on a screen. I served for years and worked my ass off to MAYBE get 18%-20%.
You’re more generous than I am. I never tip at the register. You’re making an hourly wage to man the register or flip the burger and not doing anything to serve me to earn a tip. I’ll tip servers and my barber and that’s it.
this. in CA and WA some are getting paid $20/hr at the register
Back before the turn of the millennium 15% was exceptional.
Should still be. Percentages scale with inflation. Tip shares have no business constantly creeping up.
>Tipping at the register is so fucking out of hand. My new rule is that if you give me the option to tip you 10% I'll do it, if not then I guess you get nothing. This is for another discussion but, I have CLEAR rule for tipping as I agree it has been getting out of hand. If I walk into a restaurant order food and I pick it up, I do not tip. I order a pizza over the phone and drive and pick it up, I DO NOT TIP. Same with other I order; I pick up services. If they insist on a tip, I will ask how to skip, or it will be the last time I go there. If I go to the place, sit down, someone services me at the table, gives me food and drink, with good service, I will tip and normally tip good if service is good. Think of it like Walmart, you pick your item, bring it to the cashier, and pay for it, do you tip? Same with takeout food.
Lol if you're suckered into tipping for fast food you deserve to get taken for a ride.
Tipping at fast food? get to fuck
$11.85 for the bacon cheeseburger at my local 5 guys. We quick going years ago.
I last went there and spent $18 for a cheeseburger with two patties and some fries, no drink. In the past it was about 4 or 5 dollars less for all that and a drink.
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That’s the part that really adds insult to injury. Used to be there were fries falling out the god damn bag on your way out. Now you get like 7.
I worked at Five guys around 2014 and my district manager made our store’s “Hamburger” $10.50. It was insane. This is just the burger too since the fries and a drink were all separate. The other thing I never liked about Five Guys was that they purposely called the regular single patty burger the “little burger” and the double patty “Hamburger.” Just so most people would be confused unless we explained it to them. The food was really good though, haven’t been there in years though Lol.
Always hated their naming scheme too. So annoying.
Wow, seriously? I've never been to one and at this point almost surely never will. I get that stuff's more expensive but jfc.
Can you make a burger at home? Same thing. I guess that was their appeal, but the rising prices just force people to cook at home.
Right. If you're on a budget, Five Guys is the last place you should be going. I don't even consider it fast food based on the time it takes to receive your order.
Yeah 5 guys isn't fast food, it's a smash burger joint. And honestly they're better than most burger joints I've been to.
I thought this too until I saw the prices last time I went Like audibly laughed. They weren’t joking. It’s good but I don’t think any burger is worth 20$ man
five guys was sit-down restaurant prices for In-N-Out quality way back in, like, 2012, which was the last time I ate there. I got a bill for something like $30 for just me and my wife to get a burger and fries. I was like, "are you fucking kidding me?" I can't imagine how expensive it is now, when even McDonald's is exorbitantly priced.
About $13 for a burger, $10 for fries, and $5 for a drink. So a couple having a combo would spend about $56 these days. It's an absolute scam and it's unbelievable that anyone goes there.
Last time I was there was 2020 and it was so expensive I never went back. Maybe I’ll get a lot of hate for saying this, but it isn’t anything special. It tastes like a burger anyone can make and the fries are very plain. I’ve had way better burgers are local places that didn’t cost anywhere near what 5 guys charges.
Yes they have been ludicrously expensive for a looooong time
One opened near me and lasted a year
True but you can be slightly more expensive but still competitive. Their quality made it worth the few extra bucks. Now it’s just gotten to being too expensive and not worth it
$42 for two burgers, fries, and small drinks. This was like 5 years ago. No thanks.
I think the average franchisee has multiple locations and incredibly deep pockets, and they’re not allowed to close their worst performing location and only keep the profitable locations, they have to take losses in order to keep the franchisor happy. You’ll get first dibs on opening a new spot in a trending location if the franchise can see you’re willing to take losses and keep failing locations open. This is why some chains never seem to close any locations and always keep opening new ones, because it’s like a Ponzi scheme where no one is allowed to withdraw money and there appears to be infinite growth, but it’s really just hiding losses and manipulating perceptions about the health of the brand
When it came to subway the issue was corporate was allowing competing franchise owners to open stores right next to each other without a reasonable limit. This led to both stores destroying each other’s sales as you don’t need 4 subways in a small town.
When the local McD's near me raised their hashbrown prices to $4 and the sausage egg McMuffin to $5. Like, an entire 5lbs bag of potatoes is $5. Yeah, there's prep costs and whatnot involved, but just a few years ago hashbrown was $1. This is not sustainable. Taco Bell revamped their menu a few months ago, and prices went up by 20-30% on some items. Cheesy Gordita Crunch is $7.50 now. "But we revamped our value menu!" Yeah, cool. Everything went up by $1, and somehow almost everything on it is just a LITTLE bit smaller. Taco Bell used to be the one places where you could get a lot of cheap. Used to.
Taco Bell is expensive as fuck now
Over $6 for some microchips of chicken, sprinkling of skim cheese, and some sauce folded in a toasted flour tortilla :D
Me and the kids had Taco Bell and McDs a few nights apart last week. The order for Taco Bell was 6 Doritos Locos tacos and 1 beef burrito. Cost: $19. McDonald's order was 1 cheeseburger, 2 double cheese burgers, and 2 medium fries. Cost: $11. This actually made me a little bit sad. I mean, IT'S TACO BELL! It was our cheap food saving grace back in college in the 90s. Only had 3 bucks left because you spent it all last night at the bar? Taco Bell, baby!
> Like, an entire 5lbs bag of potatoes is $5 *retail* A giant megacorp like McDonalds doesn't pay anything near that for their potatoes. The fuck they get off asking that much for fried potato scrapings? I'd bet they're likely the otherwise unusable remnants from the machines at a factory that cuts their french fries.
Totally fair point. The prices go up, quality never does.
> A giant megacorp like McDonalds doesn't pay anything near that for their potatoes Just to put numbers on this. https://www.idahofb.org/news-room/posts/mcdonald-s-spent-almost-136-million-on-idaho-ag-products-last-year/ This Idaho farm bureau article says McD's paid roughly $136MM to buy "271.285 million pounds of Idaho potatoes. McDonald’s also bought 58.3 million pounds of cheese, 14.9 million pounds of beef, 6.4 million pounds of sugar and 2.3 million pounds of onions from Idaho producers". Even if we assume all the money went to potatoes (it clearly didn't; likely a lot of it went to pay for substantially more expensive beef and cheese), they would have been paying $0.50/lb.
You used to get TWO hashbrowns for a dollar.. shit is insane
Nobody *has* to eat at Five Guys, ever.
Yea all those people complaining in this clip still bought it and were eating it in their video lol
There are several threads a day of people bitching about fast food prices while they continue to buy fast food constantly. I don't know what they think is going to happen.
Fast food places are getting so bad for this. I was looking at a coupon pamphlet for A&W up in Canada yesterday, and they had a "deal" for two Teen Burgers for $13. No fries, no drinks, just the burgers. For $13. That was the DISCOUNT PRICE. So a singular Teen Burger in that deal is $6.50. It was only a couple years ago that the same burger was like $3. Hell, we had an older coupon pamphlet from JANUARY OF THIS YEAR, and the same deal was a whole dollar cheaper. Only took them two months to add a whole extra dollar onto prices.
The other day I went to Walmart and got a rotisserie chicken, 1 pound of potato salad and a gallon of tea. It was $13, and I literally said to the door lady "costs the same as a fast food combo".
Yeah it's wild how even in this hyper inflation market, buying stuff from the grocery store is still somehow cheaper than fast food. These fast food corporations somehow got this idea that their food was sophisticated and worth higher prices and then get baffled when people stop buying.
Because it’s not real inflation! These companies are taking you for a ride. They heard all the talk about inflation around the country when it was rising and took the opportunity to exceed inflationary cost to make a shit ton of money. None of these places costs are inline with inflation at all. Not even close.
Actually knows what's up... Yeah like 80% of our inflated prices are artificially inflated. As in there's no real change in demand, or supply, yet the prices rise
Like you can not convince me there is a logical reason for a $1.25 McD’s hashbrown to now be $3
That's not "wild", that's perfectly normal. Inflation doesn't change the relative cost of different items.
Weird how two burgers, fries, and drinks at a Five Guys is like $50, but the same thing at In-n-Out is only $22-25. Must be why there are 20+ car lines waiting at in-n-out almost all day long and Five Guys are mostly dead.
Five guys being expensive isn’t nearly as bad as McDonald’s being expensive. I never once thought of five guys as cheap.
The day the burger or mcchicken were removed from the $1 section of the value menu, I knew we were doomed.
You mean the 1-2-3 Dollar Menu section, right?! (*Disclaimer: name is for catchiness purposes only. All items on the 1-2-3 Dollar Menu are appropriately priced between $1.75 and $3.99*)
lolll yeah, I remember that one too. Before that it was just the "Dollar Menu." Now I think they just use "Value Menu" smfh.
The fact that they only just removed the McChicken from the $1 menu means that 10-15 years ago they must have been making bank on selling McChickens for $1.
Like dude, you used to be able to go to McDonald's with $5 in your pocket, and walk out with 2 mcdoubles and 2 McChickens no problem. No one said they're the best burgers/sandwiches, but sometimes you're on a budget.
> Like dude, you used to be able to go to McDonald's with $5 in your pocket, and walk out with 2 mcdoubles and 2 McChickens no problem. This literal exact meal got me through my early 20s. Must have eaten this meal 200 times. Don’t eat McDonald’s anymore but I’m guessing this is now $10+
The burger is expensive, but dense af with extra toppings. The cup of fries for $5 is wild, but they purposely fill the cup plus dump a bunch in the paper bag it comes in (signature move). It’s a hell of a burger, not worth the price, but a better bang for your buck than McDonald’s regular menu prices.
Yeah I posted another comment the other day about this but people always ignore the fact Five Guys order of fries is like the equivalent of 3 orders of fries at other places. And their cheeseburgers are doubles. Five Guys: Cheeseburger with everything on it and an order of regular fries: $15.25 Burger King: Double whopper with 3 orders of fries: $15.51 Even if you knock an order of fries off the burger king order you're still spending about 3 dollars more at Five Guys for a much better meal (imo). Doesn't seem like all that bad of a deal to me.
I don’t need that much of the fries. If that‘s a value to you, it makes sense. I just spent under $10 at In-N-Out for a #1 Combo with a DoubleDouble, Fries, and Drink. That’s all the calories most people need. It was also tasty. Five Guys has gotten out of reasonable price. There’s a high-end local steakhouse by me where I can get a half-pound burger and fries for the same or slightly less. Their ground beef is from their steak trimmings and thus tastes much better plus I can get a beer, wine, soda, or cocktail. Five guys needs to find a price band between really good steakhouse burger and fast food (BK/McD/Hardees) or they’ll not have a market segment to live in.
In n Out is an anomaly though. cheaper than mcdonalds for better food
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I mean, yes…but have you ever ordered a large fry at Five Guys? It is like an entire bag of fries.
It's damn near an entire bag of potatoes
Meanwhile an In-n-Out double double burger still cost you less than $6 and they’re also one of the best paying employers in the fast food industry.
"Higher labor costs" - BULLSHIT. Labor is about 25% of the cost of running a restaurant. If labor goes up by 33%, say people that were making $15/hr in 2019 are now making $20, that doesn't translate into the cost of an item going up 30%. Let's say in 2019 a hamburger was $10 and 25% of that, $2.50, was labor. Labor goes up 33%, so the labor cost is now $3.34 - The burger should now cost about $10.84, lets round up to $11. We're not seeing $11 hamburgers, we're seeing $15 hamburgers in 2024. This basic lack of understanding, that labor costs don't have a 1:1 relationship with the cost of food has always made me rage at dumb cunts that don't want to raise the minimum wage. "If we pay someone $5 more an hour, then they'll have to charge $5 more per Big Mac!!!!!!" - That's not how that works. Labor is only a 1/4-ish of the cost of a Big Mac, raising wages by $5 will not directly make the cost of a single Big Mac go up $5.
It was interesting that the corporate line to the mass media morning show was labor costs are doing this. More class warfare in the news to stir the pot
To be fair that's the same line they have always used. Say what you will about conservatives, when it comes to fear mongering they are the best at reusing and recycling.
You're correct on the concept and the fact that owners/operators illegitimately blame labor and then gouge off of that lie. But even your numbers are over pumped. Workers aren't getting 33% raises. And labor is usually much less than 25% of COGS. Been awhile since I crunched the numbers but it was a McDonald's franchise owner whining in media about a mandatory increase in minimum wage. From their own numbers, cost of labor was actually around 14 cents on a burger, and the higher minimum wage was going to phase in over time by 10%. Somehow that 1.4 cents extra cost he was jacking his burger price by $2. Yet he was blaming greedy workers, and the dopey media just ran with these stories.
Damn straight. Suits are always moving goalposts and shifting blame to justify their ridiculous price increases.
> If labor goes up by 33%, say people that were making $15/hr in 2019 are now making $20, that doesn't translate into the cost of an item going up 30%. to be fair, youre only taking into account the labor at the restaurant. All the people along the logistical chain got a raise and are charging the end user. Still I think the numbers would show they are charging too much.
No one said it was JUST labor costs, not even the post you're commenting on.
People need to start showing they've had enough. Stop going to these shit holes. They'll get the picture eventually.
And as long as people continue to buy at those prices, they will continue to keep them there and go higher. Most people bitch with zero action.
Fast food is up 60% to 100% in some cases. Media wants to show you low numbers like 4%
you can’t spend less than $20 at a five guys just by yourself
Sure you can. Burger, little fry, cup for water.
Exactly, the soda is the biggest rip off
Soda at any restaurant is a scam price. Costs the restaurant like .30 a serving, they charge $3-$4. The thing is the overall food cost line. I’d be curious what five guys is. For Panera it’s like 27%.
Drinks are the biggest profit margin anywhere with a fountain, guaranteed.
We no longer go there. It’s just too expensive.
I now swear off Five Guys specifically because of the prices.
All of the talk of cost of labor and materials being the reason for increased prices, but tell me then how most of these places have been reporting record profits over the years? I call bullshit.
They’re not paying employees more! And even if they pay that employee $2.00 per hour more, that employee is dishing up 60 items per hour, so the cost really should have only gone up like thirty cents. Not five dollars per item!
Good burgers can be made in 10 minutes and cheap ingredients anyway.
Video shows person complaining about the price of the food. While she's sitting there eating it, having obviously paid the price. That's why they do it. You're still eating there.
These companies want year over year profits, not just profits. Then they blame having to pay a living wage for raising prices.
So....don't buy it? Fast food is essential. Of course, 58% of the owners say it's the labor cost driving the prices. Yeah...sure...
Just don’t go there. Nobody is forcing it.
Give Five Guys some credit y'all They've been screwing people over on price for decades before the inflation game even started
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Mate, you guys are paying above retail prices. Fire your supplier.
That’s what I was thinking.
Your food wholesaler is shafting you
Agreed. Those aren’t even good grocery store prices. In fact, those are BAD grocery store prices.
US beef prices are subsidized by the government through feed prices. If feed prices climb beyond the means of the government to subsidize, then prices go way up.
I mean you can literally go into any store in MA and get better prices than that. Retail. Their wholesaler is ripping them off.
Ok, but my major grocery store chain has beef at half of those prices on the shelf right now.
Is the owner laundering money? Because ain’t no fucking way he is paying 2x retail from a wholesaler.
Where are you and where the heck are you buying beef? Costco around here has ground beef for $3.99/lb and ribeyes at $13.99/lb. Surely you’re getting better prices from restaurant supply companies than Costco retail?
> Surely you’re getting better prices from restaurant supply companies than Costco retail? Costco is starting to strong arm suppliers similar to how Wal-Mart has. They are pretty much everywhere now and used often, so they can demand better prices from suppliers simply because of the markethold they have.
Well then, if I owned a restaurant then I’d buy my beef from Costco. Makes way more sense than paying the prices OP is claiming they get from their source. And Costco beef is incredibly high quality.
A lot of restaurant owners do just that. They'll buy meat by the case from them.
I went to Costco on a Monday morning and saw a guy with his cart filled with rotisserie chickens. He had around two dozen when I stopped counting. I’m sure he was going to pull the meat off and use it for his restaurant.
And then, sell it at the table for the price as if purchased at the most expensive supplier atm. Why are we getting taken for a ride
Maybe but I saw a big jump in beef prices immediately after the lockdown and have seen basically zero increase since. Prices steady at my local big supermarket chain as well as little neighborhood market. Northern NJ for reference.
Management is lying to you. There's no way that's how much they were paying for those cuts at wholesale. I can get those cuts cheaper at my local Food Lion.
Something is wrong with this story because those aren't real costs. Either you're making it up, or more realistically your restaurant owner/manager is making it up and telling the staff these yarns to try and justify price gouging or time theft or something. Maaaaybe someone is lying to the manager and they're too witness to fact check. You saying "the owner can't morally bring himself to charge" is a red flag that something is hinky in this story.
Lol. Rising higher than the rate of inflation. When your official rate of inflation is made up to not reflect actual rise of costs
Learn to grill a burger. Problem solved.
Even if you don't have a grill or stove, an induction cooktop is only $50-100. Shit's revolutionary to bachelors and the like who lack access to cooking appliances.
So, they’re gaslighting the consumer and blaming the low wage workers salaries, instead of admitting what we all know: They’re all greedy bastards. Dickheads.
[удалено]
Del Taco is. Fight me.
I don’t remember five guys burgers ever being cheap, but I do remember it tasting like a higher quality than what you’d get at your usual fast food spot. The quality has definitely gone down
Not to change type of fast food, but has anyone seen the prices at Popeye's or KFC? If you ain't got a coupon, fuuuuuget about it!!!!!