I like reading about these classic food cultures. It's fascinating how some traditions stay the same for decades
The Classic American Diner
141–150 of 172 posts
Re: The Classic American Diner
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if portion size is comparable. We may have inflation in more than one sense: prices have gone up, and perhaps the size of burgers and hot dogs have also increased. No doubt I can find portion size clues if I look around. Haven't done so yet.
One other thing to compare is business and health regulations. Compliance with that is certainly more involved and costly today than in 1940 and would account for part of the price.
I'd love someone to build a tool that shows the price of that burger, say, and breaks it down to the input cost.
Burger: $5.00
----------------
Meat: $0.20
Bun: $0.05
Staff: $0.25
Insurance: $4.50Re: The Classic American Diner
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I desperately miss the 90's and the middle class we used to have. I also miss basic cheap eats. If someone tried to make an authentic type of diner today, it would immediately become swamped with influencers. How can I get away from all this? Is there a town somewhere where everyone is over 45 and there is no cell service and a full meal is $5? Heck I would settle for a small NorCal town that doesn't have gangs or me…
Your imagined past was enabled on the back of exploitation poor people and minorities.
That hasn’t gone away, so I don’t think that’s the difference that makes a difference here.
Re: The Classic American Diner
#144One of my hobbies is looking up old prices in the BLS CPI calculator to see what they would cost today (March 2026 is the latest data.) The June 1940 photograph along Hwy 1 in Maryland had $0.05 hotdogs ($1.17) and $0.10 burgers ($2.34). The Feb 1959 photograph from the NYC diner advertises a $0.45 burger ($5.14) and probably a $0.75 steak sandwich ($8.57)
These prices adjusted for today's value seem off though. I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find a diner burger for $5.14 anywhere. No, fast food joints are not the same here and not part of this discussion. Where is the discrepancy? I've never really trusted these "adjusted for inflation" type numbers. I'm not an economist so I have no idea how they are calculated, but they've always just felt off to me. Usually,…
Dick's Drive in Seattle (IMHO an expensive city) charges $5.75 for their deluxe burger on Doordash.
https://www.doordash.com/store/dick's-drive-in-seattle-77050...
Re: The Classic American Diner
#145Re: The Classic American Diner
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waffle House is your jam. Only in the southern US unfortunately
WH is all over the place in the US. I live in CO and go regularly. I’m 90% sure I saw one when I was in Utah.
You guys are two ends of the spectrum; WH exists in more than just the south, but it still doesn’t show up nationwide - e.g no PNW locations.
Re: The Classic American Diner
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
One other thing to compare is business and health regulations. Compliance with that is certainly more involved and costly today than in 1940 and would account for part of the price.
I'd love someone to build a tool that shows the price of that burger, say, and breaks it down to the input cost. Burger: $5.00 ---------------- Meat: $0.20 Bun: $0.05 Staff: $0.25 Insurance: $4.50
The problem with this model is that the staff and insurance are essentially fixed costs, so if they sell 500 burgers on Saturday but only 250 on Tuesday, then the insurance cost-per-burger on Tues is double what it is on Sat. Staffing might increase by an extra body or two on the busy days but won't double, so it also has a much higher cost-per-burger on Tues.
I am not a restauranteur, just a customer (and observer) but I dont think many restaurant operators understand this concept either. Many seem to be raising prices to cover higher costs-per-item due to fewer customers to spread the fixed costs over. And then the higher prices turn more people off, now prices need to be raised again. Death spiraling themselves.
Re: The Classic American Diner
#148In SF/LA there's Mel's which has been around since 1947. Unfortunately I've had some pretty bad meals there (the one a across from the Metreon). In SoCal there's also Ruby's. It not "classic" (started in 1982), but their original location is on the Balboa Pier which is pretty great ( https://maps.app.goo.gl/WoWrLEmGwPbVaumq5 )
What about the one in the park over on the shore by Sunset, did it reopen?
Re: The Classic American Diner
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd love someone to build a tool that shows the price of that burger, say, and breaks it down to the input cost. Burger: $5.00 ---------------- Meat: $0.20 Bun: $0.05 Staff: $0.25 Insurance: $4.50
The problem with this model is that the staff and insurance are essentially fixed costs, so if they sell 500 burgers on Saturday but only 250 on Tuesday, then the insurance cost-per-burger on Tues is double what it is on Sat. Staffing might increase by an extra body or two on the busy days but won't double, so it also has a much higher cost-per-burger on Tues. I am not a restauranteur, just a customer (and observer)…
Insurance is not a fixed cost. Property and auto insurance are, but liability is a percentage of sales, its fixed for a year then adjusted for next years planned sales.
Re: The Classic American Diner
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fun to see all that, but curious why I haven't seen any on any of my trips across the UK and Ireland. I even asked some locals and they did not know of any diners anywhere in the country. I would've thought they would've been all over it.
The UK has these "American Diner" chains too: https://okdiners.com/ I thought that the "Elvis Diner" was practically a meme in the UK, actually. Hah.
Interesting. In my mind (west coast US) our diners are more Nighthawks than Happy Days. Smoking or non-smoking?