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The Classic American Diner

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Re: The Classic American Diner

#151

Post by dugmartin »

jen729w wrote: post #142
vikingerik wrote: post #123

Earlier 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

I've heard the rule of thumb in a well run restaurant business is 30/30/30/10:

    1. 30% food costs
    2. 30% labor costs
    3. 30% overhead
    4. 10% profit margin

Re: The Classic American Diner

#152

Post by dugmartin »

HoldOnAMinute wrote: post #64
solomonb wrote: post #23

I love diners but they aren't affordable anymore! I want a cheap simple meal and bad coffee. The diners that seem to survive in this market end up up-scaling their menus. : (

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…

I miss pre-COVID prices. Our local diner is now $20+ for a simple breakfast (eggs, toast, bacon, coffee/tea) for two people. Pre-COVID is was ~$10 with tip.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#153

Post by xhkkffbf »

gyomu wrote: post #52
dylan604 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

Things just don’t really convert neatly because the shape of what people spend money on in life hasn’t evolved uniformly. Food appears somewhat cheaper, housing much cheaper; but clothing and tools/appliances were much more expensive. Things like student debt and healthcare costs are also interesting to compare and wildly differ over time & place. Also common for the average middle class person to spend a sizable per…

Travel and vacation were much rarer. Many jobs gave only 2 weeks a year of vacation. Many jobs didn't include travel. That's changed with the invention of cheap airlines. Alas, some like SWA have changed their business model.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#154

Post by xhkkffbf »

teaearlgraycold wrote: post #133
hackingonempty wrote: post #22

One 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)

> $0.05 hotdogs ($1.17) Costco not that far off.

The Costco dogs are bigger too than the hot dogs from that era. Much bigger.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#155

Post by throwup238 »

dugmartin wrote: post #151
jen729w wrote: post #142

Earlier 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

I've heard the rule of thumb in a well run restaurant business is 30/30/30/10: 1. 30% food costs 2. 30% labor costs 3. 30% overhead 4. 10% profit margin

That’s a good rule of thumb, minus the profit margin.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#156

Post by xhkkffbf »

joecool1029 wrote: post #43

NJ got snubbed in this submission. We still have tons of independent diners (around 450 according to this article: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1241959475/new-jersey-diners-... )

And a number of restaurants that might as well be diners, but they're just a tad fancier.

I'm thinking of the Chatterbox in Ocean City, NJ, for instance. Grace Kelly used to be a waitress.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#157

Post by dzonga »

I sometimes forget ford used to make cars more than trucks.

the prices in that article shows the diners were cheap enough for a working man to eat daily there - a 10c dinner in 1940 - would be $2.38 today.

you can't find a hot meal for $2.30 anywhere in the states or Western Europe today.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#158

Post by frikskit »

trhway wrote: post #77
gyomu wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things just don’t really convert neatly because the shape of what people spend money on in life hasn’t evolved uniformly. Food appears somewhat cheaper, housing much cheaper; but clothing and tools/appliances were much more expensive. Things like student debt and healthcare costs are also interesting to compare and wildly differ over time & place. Also common for the average middle class person to spend a sizable per…

I use "super-baskets" like say US GDP per capita >The June 1940 photograph along Hwy 1 in Maryland had $0.05 hotdogs ($1.17) and $0.10 burgers ($2.34). 1940 $779 to today's $94K GDP per capita gives $6 for the 1940 $0.05 hotdog.

94K GDP/Capita for US is wildly off it’s around 66K.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#159

Post by chiph »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #17
chiph wrote: post #10

I took a visitor from Finland to a Jim's location in Austin, and they were in awe. "It's just like from the movies!" (because it was - it has been used several times as a filming location). If you have a classic diner in your town, take your foreign guests there for the experience.

Jim's is legit amazing. I end up going very rarely but every time I do it's been a perfect diner experience. I tried their liver and onions (an aquired taste it turns out I don't really have) and a slice of some meregiune pie and idk, it really transported me, the food is always very real tasting, it's hard to isolate what it is that makes so much food taste manufactured now. It's like Donns Depot, places that connec…

I've never had a bad meal there. My favorites are the pancakes and the chicken-fried steak.

Re: The Classic American Diner

#160

Post by kulahan »

Klonoar wrote: post #146
kulahan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

TIL! I’ve been to PNW, but I was too busy eating clam chowdah to notice.
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