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> A burrito that cost $5.50 in 2014 is now $13.95. They haven't been that cheap since the 90s. 10 years ago, they were around $10.
Yes, but I think some of this is also the increase in food worker minimum wage in California.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Food is so much cheaper (and better) in LA than SF. SF has such mediocre food for what you pay compared to any other city I’ve lived in*. You either have to fork over a few hundred to experience some of the stellar fine dining options in the city, or end up at some brunch place that’s probably pretty decent but you’re not leaving without at least $100 between two people. The good food in the Bay Area I’ve always foun…
I love Seattle and it’s food but yeah it’s really expensive by default - I haven’t spent enough time in the Bay recently to compare but it feels equally pricy. There are still reasonable & very good places though you just have to know.
Seattle had much better food 15 years ago. The average food quality has noticeably deteriorated at the same time as prices skyrocketed. It is a shame really.
Or a longtime establishment of the area offers 15$ ones - https://www.gorditosmexicanfood.com/menu#menu=burritos Granted these are massive compared to basically anywhere else.
There's a new second-order concern where I'm now alarmed by low prices. For example: I have no idea what johnsonville did to keep their brats at $4.99 over the past 5 years while the more local ones shot to $9-11, but it makes me grossed out and skeptical.
As the article notes, opposite effect in tech. I was perusing ipad mini and mac mini yesterday and couldn't believe what I paid $500 for in 2021. The amount of apple you get for $350 on the refurb market is absolutely batty. You can get a shitty intel mini for well under 100 bucks. Tempted to start slinging them around like chonky raspberry pis.
> A burrito that cost $5.50 in 2014 is now $13.95. They haven't been that cheap since the 90s. 10 years ago, they were around $10.
You do realise that the article has actual photos of the menus from different years, right?
What's your hypothesis here? They photoshopped the images?
People in SF have more money (on average) and so those selling things there price higher. Compare the average salary for $jobdescription in SF vs Minneapolis. The entire (very small) region has been a bubble of higher income and prices for a long time and is getting worse. It feeds on itself like a ratchet.
This is a key metric that the article doesn't properly account for when it comes to food prices. The asshole restaurateurs got an exception to the anti "drip-pricing" law that required all fees to be rolled into the listed cost: https://oag.ca.gov/hiddenfees
Yes, but I think some of this is also the increase in food worker minimum wage in California.
This is also debunked simple napkin math, even if the napkin math is generous to skeptics.
Let’s say you buy a product for $100 with these example costs:
$30 of the price goes to labor
$30 of the price goes to rent/utilities/“keeping the lights on”
$30 of the price goes to inputs (materials)
$10 of the price goes to profit.
Let’s say wages go up by 20%.
Labor goes up to $36, now your price is $106.
Wages went up by 20% but your price went up by 6%.
Maybe we have to add the labor of the input materials, but a lot of input materials have low labor costs than finished products in the restaurant industry. E.g., a tortilla from a tortilla factory doesn’t have 30% of its price represented by labor cost, since it’s made on an automated assembly line. Still, for ease, let’s just say our input materials went up by ~6% to $32
At the end of the day your total cost of your product went up 8% but all the employees got a massive 20% raise with net positive income.
Yes, but I think some of this is also the increase in food worker minimum wage in California.
> Onions that cost $9 a sack before COVID now run $80. Beef is up more than $2 a pound, adding $6,000 to his monthly costs. Labor adds another $3,000.