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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

#141

Post by akiselev »

billc8 wrote: post #83
PakG1 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Supermarkets have to operate at scale, and their inventory has to be a relative mirror image across all locations, as well as match prices they plan and advertise in advance. To enable that standardization, there's a lot of central planning, and I imagine also a lot of centralized logistics. These farmer market-style operations are much more fluid and flexible.

How does El Super do it because they appear to operate at scale. A friend said it could be cheaper labor cost and I just saw this- http://elsupermarkets.com/supply-chain-act They reference slavery and human trafficking, and say they investigate reports of it but don't audit their suppliers. I don't have specifics but I think you could buy apples for 80 cents a pound, and everything else is just unbelievably cheap. I'…

They appear to operate at scale but they dont, at least not when compared to the major national chains. El Super has 40 stores in California and a few hundred more in Latin America whereas Safeway and Kroger have about 2500 stores each, in a market that is more picky about the appearance of produce and other factors not relevant to most other markets.

El Super, Superior, Superking, etc also source their products differently and there can be huge variation between stores depending on the neighborhood socioeconomics.l

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#142

Post by mikekchar »

whack wrote: post #41

"Chinatown is way cheaper... I figured the prices were cheap because the selection is all C-grade bok choy and yesterday’s bananas. Wrong again! Chinatown’s 80-plus produce markets are cheap because they are connected to a web of small farms and wholesalers that operate independently of the network supplying most mainstream supermarkets." So what's stopping the mainstream supermarkets from doing the same thing, under…

I've looked into this a bit and it seems to be a problem of distributors. Essentially there are very few distributors in North America. In some cases there is only one distributor. If you need volume, you must buy from those distributors.

The retail price for unprocessed vegetables is somewhere around 4 or 5 times the price paid to the farmer. The big exception is milk where in most countries there are laws on the retail price. Milk is about twice the farm price. This gives you an understanding of how much the distributors are shaving off.

If you are running a small shop and you have connections to non-traditional distributors, you can probably cut the price in half. Which is what the article is claiming. But they will never be able to scale it because they just don't have access to most of the food.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#143

Post by eternalban »

This is not unique to CT. For example, you could -- last checked a few years ago -- get quite good and inexpensive fruits and vegetables around Lefferts Garden (below SE end of the Park) in Brooklyn. My personal speculation back then was that it was either a case of jacked up prices in Manhattan or a form of subsidy for that demographic.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#144

Post by nommm-nommm »

wutbrodo wrote: post #128
tn13 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second that. It is very much like saying there is free healthcare in Venezuela. Fruits and Vegetables are cheaper in Mexican stories, Indian (dots) stores and Chinese Stores than say Walmart or Target. But they are in substantially lower quality. Of course if you are regular and you personally cook then you will have a very good understanding what which store has the cheaper and best stuff. In my experience Onions,…

> Indian (dots) stores Huh?

It's a very impolite but common way that Americans differentiate the two groups of people that are called Indians when the context isn't clear. Native Americans (feathers) and people from India (dots). Feathers refers to Native headdress and dot refers to a bindi, the decoration commonly worn by Hindu women.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#145

Post by jghn »

jimmywanger wrote: post #124
jghn wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Just like if you're heading into a restaurant called "Shanghai Dumpling House" you're probably getting dumplings." Be careful with this. At least in the US, the English name often has very little to do with the Chinese name, and it's the latter which is meaningful. As an example there's a place in Boston's Chinatown called the "Dumpling House" (or something along those lines) but the Chinese name is something like "…

Agreed. Not to be creepy, but is this the place you're talking about? https://www.yelp.com/biz/gourmet-dumpling-house-boston-3 (Food is very important to me) They seem to be known for their shanghai soup dumplings. This is a great book if you like eating out. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005GSYYQ2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?... Basically, if you show up at an ethnic place and order what the other ethnic people are getting,…

Yep, that's the one. It's not that their dumplings are bad or anything like that, it's just not as much a forte of theirs as the English name would lead you to believe.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#146

Post by jsprogrammer »

iamben wrote: post #12
jsprogrammer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be nice if the Google link were on the front page instead of having to waste many seconds dealing with this bullshite (go to page, full text loads, split second later screen flashes and locks down, make it out to HN, look for Google link, almost flag post, wait for discussions to load, find Google/web link, wait,find correct link, reload same content, discover fluff).

"waste seconds" Come on, really? I'm sort of hoping you're being ironic!? I mean - you're reading articles on HN about fruit and veg in Chinatown. On a Sunday. A few seconds isn't worth getting angsty about :-)

Wasted time is a waste. I'd rather not. Seems like it would be seconds to implement the feature and would save man-years of time.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#147

Post by steveax »

throwaway_bob wrote: post #63

I lived on henry street for a while, and I can't say that I know anything about the back end of the distribution network, but I can say this article is missing a lot of things about the front end. The produce is cheaper than a standard western store, but the quality is much more varied. Moreover, the market (in the economic sense) seems really efficient. If you see something cheap in Manhattan chinatown in every stor…

> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets.

Having worked produce in both regular chain markets, and in "gourmet natural foods" markets, I can assure you that this is a common practice.

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#148

Post by ams6110 »

steveax wrote: post #147
throwaway_bob wrote: post #63

I lived on henry street for a while, and I can't say that I know anything about the back end of the distribution network, but I can say this article is missing a lot of things about the front end. The produce is cheaper than a standard western store, but the quality is much more varied. Moreover, the market (in the economic sense) seems really efficient. If you see something cheap in Manhattan chinatown in every stor…

> For example, I have seen one place where if they have baskets of strawberries, and some of the strawberries are getting moldy, they will by hand separate out the non moldy ones, toss the moldy ones, and repackage the baskets. Having worked produce in both regular chain markets, and in "gourmet natural foods" markets, I can assure you that this is a common practice.

Makes sense to me. I get moldy strawberries so often at the local supermarket that I absolutely open the container and rumage around before I buy. If they bothered to remove the moldy ones for me, I'd appreciate it.

What's the alternative? Should they be throwing away the entire container?

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#149

Post by steveax »

akiselev wrote: post #71
driverdan wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At a Whole Foods... I'm curious why did you compare to Whole Foods? They are far more expensive than a regular grocery store and their food is not better.

Have you shopped at Whole Foods or Bristol Farms for seasonal products? Compared to the major grocery store chains their produce is leaps and bounds better. I don't believe in the organic marketing crap but their food, especially when it comes to fruit, is amazing, unlike anything you can find at Kroger, Publix, or Safeway. Cherries, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, pears, apples, tomatoes, and countl…

Part of this is due to volume. A chain like Safeway needs massive volume to supply all their stores. A smaller chain can be more selective in what they buy because they need smaller amounts. Smaller chains are also more willing to deal with local farms directly for regional supply.

In PDX, I'd rank the produce quality as:

1) farmers market (unlike many cities, in Portland the vendors are the farmers) 2) Zupans - on the spendy side but quite good 3) Whole Foods 4) Fred Meyers 5) New Seasons - small local chain, but lousy buyers 6) Safeway

Re: Why Fruits and Veggies Are So Cheap in Chinatown

#150

Post by tn13 »

wutbrodo wrote: post #128
tn13 wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second that. It is very much like saying there is free healthcare in Venezuela. Fruits and Vegetables are cheaper in Mexican stories, Indian (dots) stores and Chinese Stores than say Walmart or Target. But they are in substantially lower quality. Of course if you are regular and you personally cook then you will have a very good understanding what which store has the cheaper and best stuff. In my experience Onions,…

> Indian (dots) stores Huh?

Clarification: Americans confuse Indians between those from Bharat/India and Native Americans. Dots and feathers is a common way to differentiate between both. I am from India.
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