The $14 Burrito: Why San Francisco Inflation Feels Higher Than 2.5% • Hacker News Board

Re: The $14 Burrito: Why San Francisco Inflation Feels Higher Than 2.5%

#101

Post by Aloisius » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

ZeroConcerns wrote: post #57

9x39 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They said they used Yelp photos, which seem like you can verify this. Here's one from 2014, $5.50 https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/taqueria-canc%C3%BAn-san-fra... Here's one from 2015, $6.99 https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/taqueria-canc%C3%BAn-san-fra...

Yeah, I did in fact read the original article, and the glossy (unreadable) and undated photographs did not convince me. Therefore, the Taco Bell comparison, and the rest of my comment.

I used to eat there regularly. It had been $4.99 for years and jumped to to $5.50 in 2014.

$5.50 - dated March 14, 2014: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/taqueria-cancun-san-francisc...

$5.50 - dated February 28, 2014: https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/taqueria-cancun-san-francisc...

Mind, that's a regular burrito and it was one of the cheaper ones in SF. El Farolito was around $6 at the time. La Taqueria started at $8 for people who liked to splurge. El Papolote's yuppie burritos were like $10.

The price at Taqueria Cancun jumped again in 2014 iirc after La Taqueria won best burrito in the US normalized the higher price and got them some press (Taqueria Cancun was in one of the final brackets).

Re: The $14 Burrito: Why San Francisco Inflation Feels Higher Than 2.5%

#102

Post by HardwareLust » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 1:21 PM UTC

linguae wrote: post #63

I quit eating out in the Bay Area over a year ago (except for socializing) because the prices feel painfully expensive to me while my pay hasn’t increased anywhere near the rate of restaurant price hikes. $14 for a burrito that cost roughly half as much a decade ago is painful, while my salary hasn’t doubled (I’m not a FAANG engineer). It’s not just burritos; it’s $10+ fast food combo meals, $15 deli sandwiches, etc.…

It's not just SF, I'm in Philly and the situation is the same for me. Eating out used to be almost a daily ritual, now I'm down to getting a pizza once a month at best.

Re: The $14 Burrito: Why San Francisco Inflation Feels Higher Than 2.5%

#103

Post by dangus » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 6:50 PM UTC

Aloisius wrote: post #100

dangus wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with your last paragraph. This math is not obvious to most laypeople. Many people think that if a McDonald’s worker’s salary goes from $10 to $20 that their Big Mac will go from $4 to $8. My napkin math is extremely generous to minimum wage haters. It assumes that everyone is getting a raise and therefore all costs of all goods are going up. It also assumes basically a worst case scenario restaurant indust…

And what about price increases because people can now afford to pay more for the same product?

Prices don’t just magically go up that way?

If I live in India the PlayStation 5 isn’t magically price reduced to $100 just because my income is lower. Similarly, it doesn’t magically become $5,000 if I live in Monaco.

Re: The $14 Burrito: Why San Francisco Inflation Feels Higher Than 2.5%

#104

Post by Aloisius » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 11:46 PM UTC

dangus wrote: post #103

Aloisius wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about price increases because people can now afford to pay more for the same product?

Prices don’t just magically go up that way? If I live in India the PlayStation 5 isn’t magically price reduced to $100 just because my income is lower. Similarly, it doesn’t magically become $5,000 if I live in Monaco.

Depends on what we're talking about.

A PS5 is sold globally and subject to arbitrage. If someone from Monaco can easily purchase a PS5 from India for $4500 less, they or a reseller, likely will, preventing that level of price discrimination.

A game only sold on Steam so there's essentially no competition? Regional pricing based on what the market will bear is common. People in India actually do pay a whole lot less for the exact same game on Steam than someone in say, the US.

Locally purchased goods/services are somewhere in between, but the less price sensitive customers are, the less likely they're going to shop around for a deal effectively reducing price competition between businesses on the low end at least (people will still travel 60 miles to save $2000 on a $40,000 car even if they won't go two blocks to save $1.00 on a $5 carton of eggs).