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Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

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Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#31

Post by rakpol »

kelukelugames wrote: post #16

This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce? If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.

Perhaps there's more to it than snobbery? Take, as an anecdote, this list of food safety incidents in China [1]. Whether or not that's comparable to the issues in the North American food supply chain, someone felt that there was enough concern surrounding the quality Chinese food to write an article about it. Food for thought.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety_incidents_in_China

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#32

Post by kuschku »

tnuc wrote: post #24
kelukelugames wrote: post #16

This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce? If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.

The volume of retail produce passing through Chinatown (NYC) is by far the largest in the city. Profits are made by volume not by large mark ups. Free market has its advantages.

Exactly. The Aldi-principle: Sell a lot, with a low amount of labour (often even putting the pallet directly from the truck into the store), and it’ll be cheap.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#33

Post by mikeryan »

jimmywanger wrote: post #17

I think that one factor is that in the Chinese culture, you don't expect everything to be good and available during all seasons. At a Whole Foods, you can reasonably be assured of asparagus in the winter time. In Chinatown, things are only available when they're in season, like a farmers' market. Also, if you've ever ordered at a Chinese restaurant with a Chinese family, you'll see this phenomenon. Instead of orderin…

There's a lot of western restaurants (Admittedly usually on the higher end) who change their menus seasonally, if not daily to reflect whats available. Its part of what the whole farm-to-table phenomenon is about.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#34

Post by ceejayoz »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

Growing up, I remember Marina Foods in Cupertino being much fresher than the other grocers. > Chinatown’s green grocers, in contrast, buy their stock from a handful of small wholesalers operating from tiny warehouses right in the neighborhood Chipotle tried hyper-localised procurement and processing. That backfired, since heterogeneity in sourcing and processing means heterogeneity in quality control. How do these ma…

> How do these markets avoid food poisoning their customers?

If you buy veggies, it's on you to wash them.

If you buy prepared food that includes veggies, it's on the vendor to wash them.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#35

Post by venomsnake »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

Growing up, I remember Marina Foods in Cupertino being much fresher than the other grocers. > Chinatown’s green grocers, in contrast, buy their stock from a handful of small wholesalers operating from tiny warehouses right in the neighborhood Chipotle tried hyper-localised procurement and processing. That backfired, since heterogeneity in sourcing and processing means heterogeneity in quality control. How do these ma…

Lets start with the obvious - a modern food is disgustingly safe compared to what a human immune system is capable of handling. No matter what Madison Avenue has tried to convince the US public - a single or couple of bacteria won't kill you.

And if you mean prepared Chinese food - have you seen the burners under the woks - they look, sound and consume fuel at comparable rate to a jet engine. It is very intense style of cooking using high heat for small amounts of time. The surfaces (where all the nasty stuff is) on everything that has went trough it are thoroughly sterilized.

Stuff like pickling, acids in the dressing also make the non heat treated stuff safe.

It is hard for people with normal immune system to get hurt by modern food.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#36

Post by kelukelugames »

tnuc wrote: post #24
kelukelugames wrote: post #16

This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce? If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.

The volume of retail produce passing through Chinatown (NYC) is by far the largest in the city. Profits are made by volume not by large mark ups. Free market has its advantages.

Let's assume basic economics. If more people like the author shed their belief that poor quality causes low prices then more customers would shop in Chinatown, which shifts the demand curve up. Now the supply and demand curves intersect at a higher price point.

Marketing has the side benefit of disassociating Chinatown groceries and low quality for the author's social circle. As a Chinese American, I feel this is a good thing.

Of course this is mental masturbation and I'm missing nuance. I appreciate the conversation.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#37

Post by jakobegger »

I've had a similar experience with small turkish shops in Vienna. The vegetables are cheaper, fresher, and there's more varity than in the major supermarket chains.

I believe it comes down to centralisation. Major supermarkets only deal with large wholesalers than can deliver produce reliably to a large number of shops.

A small shop on the other hand is happy to buy a single crate of whatever salad just happens to be available cheaply.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#38

Post by kelukelugames »

rakpol wrote: post #31
kelukelugames wrote: post #16

This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce? If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.

Perhaps there's more to it than snobbery? Take, as an anecdote, this list of food safety incidents in China [1]. Whether or not that's comparable to the issues in the North American food supply chain, someone felt that there was enough concern surrounding the quality Chinese food to write an article about it. Food for thought. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety_incidents_in_China

Exactly. This is why I use the word prejudice. We can extrapolate this to Muslims. Though the conversation won't be as lighthearted.

I think snob effect is the main factor, as I listed it first. Assuming I jumped to xenophobia as the deciding factor is biased. Of course how we view Muslim immigrants and Chinese produce are orders of magnitude apart in impact.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#39

Post by schnable »

kelukelugames wrote: post #16

This is the snob effect. People like the author believe produce is cheaper because of poor quality. Does Chinatown respond by lowering prices further because people won't buy poor quality produce? If it weren't for prejudice then Chinatown groceries might price for more profit. The customers are missing out too. Marketing can fix this.

Not sure about NYC Chinatown, but in Philly Chinatown there are a lot of recent immigrants who work for minimum wage or lower, which keeps costs down.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#40

Post by hackuser »

I don't understand how this works out:

> Because the wholesalers are in Chinatown, they can deliver fresh produce several times a day, eliminating the need for retailers to maintain storage space or refrigeration

Somebody has to store the inventory someplace, incurring those storage costs, whether it's the retailer, wholesaler, or someone further upstream. And regardless of who stores it, I'd expect those costs to have the same effect on the consumer's price.

Unless the farmers literally harvest multiple times per day, wash/clean/prep the merchandise, and deliver it to the wholesaler. That seems unlikely.

Also, what about the lost economy of scale of selling and delivering to a bunch of small wholesalers, and in a physically hard-to-access location (Chinatown in Manhattan)?

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