Is a $15 hamburger too expensive?

[AsahinaKimi]

The $15 Locavore hamburger with fries. John Storey/Special to the San Francisco Chronicle

Hamburgers are having their turn in the spotlight, strong enough to tilt the trend-o-meter. Just about every upscale restaurant has a burger on the menu, regardless of the price point. On a good day you can still get a hamburger for a buck at McDonald’s, but you’ll pay 10 to 15 times more than that at a high quality sit-down restaurant. And that irks at least one reader, who complained about the $15 price tag on the burger at Locavore, which I reviewed in the Food & Wine section on Sunday.

OK-I know the food world is now enamored with the ability to make a simple burger into some sort of gourmet item. Fine. But lets get real here…so now a quality burger w/bacon (and cheese, that’s more money) is now going for 15 bucks. I mean, what is wrong with this this “picture”? Is this simply acceptable and indeed normal in a decent restaurant? I frankly don’t care how good the beef is (OK, unless it’s, say, Kobe) or how wonderful the bun is, 15 bucks is simply a rip-off for a BURGER!! and these same burgers 2-3 years ago were 10-12 bucks. When does it end? This burger fetish is out of control (and over-rated). Personally, Id rather spend 6 bucks on a steaming bowl of pho.

I guess it’s all relative. While it may seem pricy, a hamburger is always the least expensive main course on the menu and the hamburger at Locavore is really, really good. This one is topped with cheese, caramelized onions and crisp strips of bacon. Other main courses are $18 to $22.

For comparison, let’s take a look at five of my favorite places and see what you get for the money. These are all white tablecloth burgers, served in nicer surroundings than you’ll find at places that specialize in hamburgers such as Gott’s Roadside in the Ferry Building. There, a hamburger with lettuce, pickles and onions costs $6.99. If you want cheese, that’s $1 more. Fries are $2.69, so the total for a cheeseburger and fries is $10.68. Gott’s doesn’t have table service, so you stand in line to order and retrieve your food.


more..
http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/09/09/is-a-15-hamburger-too-expensive/

[Loudmxr]

1. I can make you a burger for about $5. The finest ingredients that will send you crazy.

Now when you mark up, mark on... I can never remember the difference, $15 at a restaurant is reasonable.

But they have to compete with me at home.

I am always disappointed in restaurant burgers... they aren't as good as mine.

BTW you have to like Danish Blue cheese. Which brand is.... not gonna tell you.

on edit... you have to spend about $50 in raw materials to get the final $5 burger. Then you make alot more.

[in_cog_ni_to]

60. My absolute favorite way to eat a burger...with Blue cheese.

YUM!

[Tx4obama]

2. Here's a link to a hamburger that costs $5000

http://www.luxuo.com/most-expensive/5000-hamburger-the-fleurburger.html

[Joe Bacon]

56. I'll save $4995...

...And I'll just pop over to In N Out for a Double Double with fries. And my tummy (AND WALLET) will be a lot happier...

[CakeGrrl]

61. Truffles - I should have known!

It reminds me of a Richard Jeni joke from a while back about a $15 English muffin at a hotel: "For $15, I assume the nooks and crannies are filled with cocaine!"

My sister and I discovered a local joint called Uneeda Burger last week - Not quite $10 for the burgers, but any sides (fries, onion rings) were a la carte and the shakes were $6 - but the one I had was darned good. Basically, you were probably getting out of there for $15-$20 for a full burger meal.

[Quantess]

3. Look, he bought it! If people are buying it

and the restaurant does good business, then I guess it isn't "too expensive".
Too expensive for me? Yes. I'd pick something else on the menu instead.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

4. I had a $40 hamburger recently

As I attempted to spend as little as possible on a business lunch I had no desire to be included in.

It was indistinguishable from something you might order at any "casual dining" chain restaurant, but was served with an attitude and pretensions.

[Raine]

5. On The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network some of the trucks

were charging $15.00 for sandwiches from catering trucks! :wow: I know that the goal is to make a large amount of money to avoid being eliminated. Good gosh though the customer has to stand outside eating a $15.00 sandwich off a paper plate. No way would I pay that much and not even have a seat! x(

[DesertFlower]

6. ridiculous. denny's has a great hamburger

and fries for about $7.00.

[cali]

13. I can get a hamburger made from local grass fed beef and fries

for about 10 bucks at a restaurant in town that serves mostly food from local farms.

http://www.clairesvt.com/

[DesertFlower]

33. i don't cook much but when i make

hamburgers or meatballs i buy grass fed beef.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MineralMan]

29. It's certainly possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

It's a useful skill.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Then don't eat it.

Hell, In & Out Burgers are really good.. I don't eat burgers anymore, but if I was in California and I wanted a burger, that's where I'd go.

[sce56]

62. I take it you never seen where they get the beef for InNOut?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=141x31044
In this post you can see how the cattle going to In n Out are kept on a shity feed lot so massive it is visible from space!
From http://www.invisible5.org/index.php?page=fresnocoalinga



Located near Coalinga, the Harris Ranch conglomerate includes the Harris Feeding Company, Harris Ranch Beef Company, Harris Farms, a hotel with two restaurants, a thoroughbred horse division and an airport. The 800-acre Harris Ranch feedlot is located east of the I-5 on the Fresno-Coalinga Road. The feedlot can process up to 250,000 head cattle annually. At any given time, seventy to 100 thousand head of cattle are present at the lot. Cattle typically spend twelve to sixteen months grazing before arriving at the feedlot at 650 to 750 pounds. Once there, the cows spend three to four months fattening up to an additional 400 pounds before they are slaughtered at Harris Ranch's Selma plant.

Now the largest cattle feeder on the West Coast, Harris Ranch produces nearly 200 million pounds of beef a year but is still considered a moderately sized operation. The nation's largest operations located in the Midwest and Texas feed can feed over 400,000 head of cattle at one time. Mega-feedlot operations such as these pose significant human and environmental health threats including surface and groundwater contamination and air pollution including emission of greenhouse gases.

Through a process called rumination, cows generate methane gas as a digestive by-product. Globally, ruminant livestock produce about eighty million metric tons of methane annually, accounting for about twenty-eight percent of global methane emissions from human-related activities. In the U.S., cattle emit about 5.5 million metric tons of methane per year into the atmosphere, accounting for nineteen percent of global human-related methane emissions. After carbon dioxide (also produced by livestock), methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. Although methane breaks down within the atmosphere in ten years it has the potential to trap twenty percent more heat than carbon dioxide.



I gave up beef after I found out the Red Cross will no longer take my blood due to time spent in Europe in the 80's and the Bush admin kept ranchers from testing all their beef to garuntee disease free beef!

[Warren DeMontague]

63. I probably should have been clearer in that post-- I don't eat beef either.

I haven't eaten it for over 10 years, so the sourcing on it isn't a concern.

I agree, though, if you want to raise your awareness of how fucked up massive factory farming is, down the 5 or 101 from SF to LA on a really hot day. I think the foul odor on the 5 is from a pig operation, but I could be wrong.

[KansDem]

9. DAMN!!! Now I'm hungry for a 'burger!

x(

...and it's 4:25 a.m.!!!

[JI7]

10. how much better does it taste than some cheaper burgers ?

so far the best burgers i have tried are casual non chain type places costing under 5 dollars.

[xmas74]

51. The best burgers in my town are from local greasy

spoons where they fry the patty, toast the bun, and slather it in toppings. Much, much cheaper and they use locally grown meat as they've done for many years.

[Uben]

11. Yeah, $15 is too much, but.....

...who ya gonna call? If you want a burger and it's $15, you can pay the price or eat something else. I rarely eat out because I live rurally. If I have a burger, I cook it. I use 80/20 ground chuck on a gas grill with hickory chips for smoke. BEst damn burger you've ever eaten! A slice of red onion, a slice of pepperjack cheese, some Kosher dills, iceburg lettuce, and bacon if you like it, and mustard. And the bun has to be grilled.




(setting out some meat to thaw, that sounds too damn good right now!)

[MrSlayer]

12. Not if you're willing to pay for it,

If no one buys the burger because of its price, he'll lower it.

[Betty88]

14. its pricy but not an outrage

Park Slope NY yesterday we had a very nice brunch, I had a burger that was in that price range, it was really good. Around here I think the average is $12-$15, fast food burgers will run you 7 or 8, when all is said and done, and are made from crap.

[Dorian Gray]

18. Hah...

Park Slope now has Bare Burger, all organic and expensive burgers. They're good. Worth the price? Once, maybe. But there is a 5 guys down the street, so it's really up to the patron.

[Missy Vixen]

15. The Marriott Marquis in NYC charges $20 for a cheeseburger n/t

[WinkyDink]

16. Mad Cow is getting pricier!

Why, yes, that IS why I now eschew beef, veal, etc.

I spent time enough in England in the 80's to be X'ed out of the Red Cross donor list---because of J-K fears on their part. That's when I knew it was really real.

[enough]

17. The other day I saw a photo of a beautiful plate of sliced heirloom tomatoes at a restaurant

in New York City for $18.00. I was laughing because it looked exactly like the beautiful plates of heirloom tomatoes we have from my garden all summer.

Then I started thinking: could I sell those tomatoes to end up on that plate in NYC and actually make a profit, if I count my own labor as being worth anything at all? I decided that the end price of $18.00 on the plate in NYC would be nowhere near high enough to make it worth it for me to sell those tomatoes to a buyer from that restaurant.

[mmonk]

19. Wow, what a burger.

I would need a saw. Would I pay that much for a burger? No, not really.

[kentuck]

20. Dang dat shore looks gud...

:-)

[B Calm]

21. How many pounds of Ground Chuck can you buy for 15 dollars?

[quaker bill]

22. Not if you can afford it

and given they pay the guys who make it accordingly.

[mulsh]

23. rip off SF restaurant prices, come over to the east bay

go to True Burger or Kwik Way, both on Grand Ave in Oakland. Get pretty much the same stuff on your burgers for around $6.00. Both places are owned and run by cooks who worked at high end restaurants for years.

BTW most sandwiches and burgers in the financial district, downtown or trendy joints run over $10.00 these days. That's so even in trendy east bay eateries.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. That looks hideous.

I can get an amazing burger at Freddie's Frozen Custard for 6 bucks with shoe string fries! And it has fried onions.
That is just....gross.

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. Nah. What the hell, if you can afford it, have two!

Me, I'm a Krystal / White Castle guy and always will be. LUUUUUUUUUUV them li'l gutbombers!

By the time it reaches the end of your digestive system, it's all the same anyway.

[SoCalDem]

26. My best friend had a $1500.00 burrito

She had just sold a car and the cash was in her purse, which was stolen at El Torito..

To this day, she cannot bring herself to eat at an El Torito:(

[MineralMan]

27. There are some major differences between a $15 burger in

a really good restaurant and a fast food burger. First, and most important, the meat is hand-chopped from a piece of beef. What that means is that you can have your burger rare or medium-rare without worrying about E. coli. Second, the cheese on your burger doesn't come from a block of factory American cheese. You might get aged cheddar or gorgonzola or something else, but it won't come in slices wrapped in plastic. Third, the bun will be baked either at the restaurant or at a bakery and will not dissolve into library paste as you eat it. The fries will be prepared as souffle potatoes, with two fryings at least. They'll be very good.

Finally, you'll be sitting at a table, waited on by someone whose job it is to make your meal a pleasure. You can have your burger with a glass of nice wine, as well, if you choose.

If you don't want to pay for those things, there's a Burger King a few blocks down the street. If you prefer a bowl of pho, you can buy that at another place, too. It's a choice people make. It doesn't really seem worthy of note. Now, if you were being charged $150 for that burger, you'd have a point.

[MadHound]

28. Well, perhaps pricing is differenct where you are,

But even with a burger such as you describe, the price is nowhere near that high. I can get the same quality of burger locally for about half the price.

[Chan790]

42. I had to look at profiles to see where you both were...

I'm in suburban DC, MD-side. I have no idea where MH is...but I want to move there. I can only imagine how cheap salads are there if you can get a premium burger for $7.

The burger in the picture up-top if it were being served at Ray's, Clyde's, Old Ebbet or someplace of a similar level of cuisine...would be $25-$30. For what MM is paying, your choices are Fuddruckers or Five-Guys. For half that, you might be able to get an Angus Deluxe and fries at McD if you don't get a combo...no beverage.

Boy am I glad I'm a vegetarian. Even as a foodie, I'd have a hard time spending $15-$25 on lunch (excluding beverages) if I wanted to.

[WillowTree]

55. Sure you can.

[Atman]

30. I guess you've never bought lunch at a ski resort.

$10-15 burgers are the norm, and they sure as hell don't look like the one pictured. "Too expensive" is a relative term; if you're simply hungry without a lot of cash, you probably wouldn't be eating at Locavore anyway. McDonald's dollar menu would do the trick.

[Raven]

31. Yesterday I had a meatloaf w/cheese sandwich, french fries and

a pickle and a soda for $15 at a little restaurant in Acton, Massachusetts. The sandwich was absolutely delicious and I would order it again but it certainly wouldn't be a daily routine. :-)

[UTUSN]

32. Th'older you get, th'less you can eat. Doggie bag it for 3 meals, so it's worth it. n/t

[aikoaiko]

34. Sure. I've paid much more for much less in my life.

[marmar]

35. Isn't that the standard burger price at an amusement park?

nt

[BiggJawn]

36. Yep, don't like a $15 buger? Then don't BUY the damn thing.

Really, how much of a no-brainer is that?

A Pub I used to eat at advertised "The Elbow Room PBJ" for $400. It was a PBJ sammich and a bottle of Dom Perignon.
I don't know if they sold very many of them or not.

Evidently enough people are OK with paying $15 for a burger that Locavore can keep them on the menu.

[Hugabear]

37. Don't like the thread? Then don't READ the damned thing.

Really, how much of a no-brainer is that?

You have a problem with people expressing their opinion on various topics? Nowhere do I see the OP suggesting that expensive burgers should be banned, or that there should be some sort of regulation. The OP was merely asking if others thought $15 was too much for a burger.

[BiggJawn]

40. Where did I say I didn't like the thread?

This is the second thread I've been in today where I apparently didn't express myself well enough and was criticized for something I didn't intend. Maybe I should quit for the day.


FWIW, I do think $15 is rather salty for a burger and I think it's a marketing ploy.

Did I clarify myself to suit you now?

[Fokker Trip]

43. Wow, overreact much?

The previous poster said nothing about regulations or banning anything. Did you actually read the post? Miss your coffee this morning? Just quit smoking?

You sure seem aggressive for someone with the word "Hug" in their username.

[madville]

38. That is probably about right for what they are offering based on food cost

As a general rule the menu price should be 3x the food cost. That $1 burger at Mcdonalds, probably doesn't have more than $0.30 of ingredients in it.

The most expensive part of a quality burger is the beef. I can buy Angus chuck roast here for $2.68 a pound and use it to make an 8 oz patty for $1.34. Add a good bun, cheese, bacon and condiments plus a side of fries and you are probably looking at a food cost of around $2.50-$3.00, so a menu price of $7-9 dollars for that item would be in line.

You start talking about using a pricey cut, organic, grass-fed, filet, whatever, you could easily be looking at $3-$4 for just the food cost of the beef, $5-$6 for the whole offering, giving you an appropriate menu price of $15-$20.

A restaurant buying wholesale in bulk should be able to have lower food costs than that anyway but you have to look at what they are doing on their menu as well. They might have a food cost that's 20% of menu price on some items and 40% on other items but they balance out, like a burger has a 25% food cost and the steak and lobster is 40% but they average out.

[Posteritatis]

59. Interesting info there

Feels sort of similar to my own experience in an entirely different field. I do estimation for a home restoration company and got a bit of an education so far on the direct cost of actually doing the specific work on someone's house on the one hand, versus the cost of paying for that and the operating costs of the whole business on the other. The gulf can feel really surprising at points, but as with the restaurant example it can make more sense when looking into stuff like that.

[madville]

65. Rule of thumb in the restaurant business is 33% food cost max

33% food cost, 33% overhead, 33% labor, 1% profit if you are lucky j/k

[Odin2005]

39. It's catered to the conspicuous consumption crowd, IMO

So it being that expensive is the whole point.

[madville]

41. Just checked out their menu, the burger is the cheapest entree offered at dinner

They probably sell a bunch, people always see the higher prices on everything else and say "Oh, I'll just have the burger"

[Sheepshank]

44. I imagine overhead in SF is huge

in comparison to down town Dennys'ville in Small Town USA.

Much of the operational costs are buried in the item purchased by the consumer. I know of national clothing retailers where the very same item costs a lesser amount in the burbs than in a high cost per Sq Ft mall.

Supply and demand doncha know. If people are buying, they are selling.

I would pay more to eat on the deck looking out over the ocean, than in a diner next to a railroad track.

[fishwax]

45. as the article says, burgers are usually the least expensive entre on the menu

So given the price range of the menu it makes sense to me. It would be silly to expect to go to a restaurant where most entrees are 18-30 bucks and expect a burger to cost what it does at Chili's.

If I were going to a restaurant like that, though, I probably wouldn't be ordering the burger, because I doubt they could be that much better than a burger I make at home, whereas I would expect that some other items on the menu would.

[Safetykitten]

46. Ask the 10 buck an hour guy making it.

[XanaDUer]

47. I saw some feature in one of those check-out-line mags

they all look the same to me, so I don't remember which one it was, but, now high-end junk food is the rage. Cheetos with broccoli something-or-other was one (puke-inspiring) dish (and not the broccoli part of it).

Some type of extra-expensive "candybar" modeled on a cheap one.

Etc.

[itsrobert]

48. How much do people pay for pasta and sauce?

Less than a dollar to make at home. But in an Italian restaurant......

[rucky]

49. Yep. That's a bigger ripoff, imo.

unless it's homemade pasta, which is labor intensive.

[JI7]

54. it's only worth it at places that make pasta, there is a local place near my work

that makes the pasta. you can taste the difference and it's worth it.

but there are a lot of places where they just buy in bulk what you can buy yourself and pour sauce and any other toppings on.

i think i went to marie callendar or some other chain once and it tasted like one of those boxed pasta meals i had before.

[KamaAina]

50. A previous Bay Area burger discussion yielded the phrase "second mortgage burgers"

One poster was singing the praises of Kirk's Steakburgers in the South Bay, and another called them "second mortgage burgers". Priceless. Burgermeister in SF is another example. And there are strictly burger joints, whereas Locavore is a full-service restaurant.

[RB TexLa]

52. no

[sfpcjock]

53. Only for us ;)

[Posteritatis]

57. I might pay $15 for a good enough one, but I certainly wouldn't do it often. (nt)

[Liberal_in_LA]

58. Not for a rich person

[undeterred]

64. Makes me glad to be a vegetarian.

[cherokeeprogressive]

66. If it's payday and the burger is really really good, nope. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

67. Hey Ferb, I know what we are going to do today!

Slurrrrrrrrrppppppppp....but damn that looks good!

[Occulus]

68. That looks really really damn good

I don't know if I'd pay $15 for it- I'd have to try it to decide if it's worth that much- but it does look very delicious.

[Abin Sur]

69. If enough people are willing to pay $15 it's not overpriced by definition.

[jmowreader]

70. The big question is, how do you eat the thing?

Seeing as how it won't even fit in your mouth...

[Le Taz Hot]

71. $15.00 for a heart-attack-on-a-plate.

Just looking at that greasy pile of goo makes me gag. I don't get it. :shrug: