Centenno makes fair points. We all love discussing the great food for low costs in certain areas of LA, but rarely discuss the low wages, sometimes questionable sourcing, and lack of employee benefits that make those prices possible.
That said, there are times where the sourcing obsession goes too far. If celebrity farmer spinach is not tasting much better than 30% cheaper (and also organic) spinach is, chefs should consider using the ālesserā product.
sheās certainly not the first person to make this argument
In other words, eating out is becoming more expensive, and the trend is only going to continue.
David Chang:
Because hereās the thing no one wants to hear: Restaurant food is too cheap.
Our bowl of Momofuku ramen should cost $28. That would cover the true cost of the āfoodā plus a reasonable (and not remotely greedy) margin. I put āfoodā in quotes because every tiny part of a restaurant is in the cost of that dish, from dripping faucets to broken plates. But you know what? I sell that ramen for $17, because if I charged $28, people would say itās too expensive. Itās on us, as restaurateurs, to get better at running our businesses (and break fewer plates), but the bottom line is that food needs to get more expensive for you, too.
I think the nails the bottom line though:
The truth is that eating out is going to have to get far more expensive if the business model is to survive. I guess the question is whether people will accept that cost or not. For me it comes down to value ā as much as I love soft-shell crabs, it just doesnāt seem worth it to pay $30+ for one of them. I get that itās a question of perception, but as a consumer thatās an important distinction. How can you create the perception of value even with rising costs?
I ask this out of curiosity as someone with little-to-no knowledge of the industry: what model needs to change? And why? The restaurant industry has been around for hundreds (thousands?) of years, so have we reached some sort of restaurant tipping point (nice pun alert) where restaurants will cease to exist unless food prices / compensation go up?
Seems to cost about $100pp to eat dinner out in LA at most decently nice restaurants these days, no matter what kind of food they serve. Definitely adds up!
Restaurants like LASA in downtown LA are a nice reprieve, stunning value for money IMO.
Sure, of course this is just rough ball-park and anecdotal on my part, but most of the āpopularā big hitters seem to cost about $100 with 2-3 drinks per person. Bestia, Shibumi, Republique, Hereās Looking at You, Sotto, Broken Spanish, etc. seem to be in that $85-110 per person (with plenty to drink) range. Hell I think I even spent $80pp at Din Tai Fung once.
the way i see the economy going, i expect that most places will have to adjust/revise their menus as spending habits/levels of disposable income continue to change. some places will probably go out of business since they canāt afford to pay a living wage that keeps up with the price of rising rents, especially here in the southland.
you can even see the impact on fast food and the demographic that they serve. i donāt know if itās all of them or just the one, but i recall seeing a ā2 whopper combos for $10ā sign which i now understand to be a pretty good deal when fast food combo meals are apparently approaching $8-9 (or about as much as a lunch entree at a number of great chinese places in the SGV. iād rather go get a beef roll, thanks). chains like mcdonalds & BK have come out with āvalueā menus - and IIRC they used to be called dollar menus until those prices began to riseā¦ iām more aware of this mainly because iāve been feeding the homeless for six years now. most of them are on government assistance (EBT) which now also includes/replaces food stamps. $200 a month for food probably works if you have a roof over your head, but you canāt buy cooked food with EBT - except at selected fast food places. and $6 a day wonāt even buy most combo meals anymore.
the point is weāre not just talking high end restaurants and their clientele being affected by rising costs.
Good for you for feeding the āhomeless.ā I deliberately put that in quotes as some are living in motels so canāt cook. We have a group here in Reno that serves dinner Tues/Weds/Thurs and they have as many as 300 turn out. This link will show some sample meals : We Care Volunteers | Reno NV Sorry for going off topic but I like to promote this sort of thing anytime I can.
good for you. and since weāve gone there, i got 501(c)3 status late last year for:
with a long term goal of funding a community center so we can attract volunteers to a single location so folks donāt have to travel to different places for meals every night of the week.
