McDonalds is kind of expensive.....

[tvguy]

Soda costs close to literally nothing for chain restaurants like that.

.

Working a Little League snack bar sure opened my eyes to that. 16 ounce serving of Pepsi products costs us .0126 cents.......and Pepsi gives us the cups for free for the advertising. That's the delivered price, with Pepsi providing the fountain equipment too, maintaining it, and comine out to shutg it down in the fall and firing it up again in the spring.

 

[Erin1700]

And see, around here, Red Robin could be giving the burgers away for free and I still wouldn't eat them. I have never once gotten a Red Robin burger that wasn't RAW in the middle even when I've specified well done.

I agree! I never order a burger there anymore. Yuck!

 

[disneychrista]

That about 7 dollars a person. Where else could you get a burger and fries and a drink for that

Exactly. That meal would be close to $12 - $15 per person at a local dinner. Drink $3, Burger $5, Fries $3 plus tax $1 plus tip $2 = $14

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Working a Little League snack bar sure opened my eyes to that. 16 ounce serving of Pepsi products costs us .0126 cents.......and Pepsi gives us the cups for free for the advertising. That's the delivered price, with Pepsi providing the fountain equipment too, maintaining it, and comine out to shutg it down in the fall and firing it up again in the spring.

If that is indeed the cost you are paying, then the local Pepsi bottler is giving your organization a very special deal (which makes perfect sense, since it's a non-profit and they're trying to engender brand loyalty).

My wife and I own several restaurants, both franchise and independent, and the actual cost generally ranges from $0.012 per ounce to $0.008 per ounce, and the cups are definitely not free (and generally run between $0.04 and $0.12 each, plus lids at $0.02-$0.04 each and straws, which cost about $0.015 each), plus the CO2, which is difficult to price per ounce but has a cost. So while soda does indeed have a significant markup, it's not "free" by any stretch. For example, a large soda at McDonald's (which I assume is 32 ounces) probably costs the franchisee about $0.25-$0.35, plus the royalties they pay to corporate, which I think are around 5-7% (we don't own a McDonald's, but we do own a few of a large franchise brand so I'm basing my speculation off the deals that are in place with those brands and their soda vendors of choice).

The dollar menu is a means of drawing guests in and trying to upsell them, as well as an example of a high volume, low margin sales strategy that is definitely working for them!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

And see, around here, Red Robin could be giving the burgers away for free and I still wouldn't eat them. I have never once gotten a Red Robin burger that wasn't RAW in the middle even when I've specified well done.

We've never had that problem, thankfully. Also never been charged for plate sharing. If places are going to give you enough food for 2, they should expect you to share LOL

 

[tvguy]

If that is indeed the cost you are paying, then the local Pepsi bottler is giving your organization a very special deal (which makes perfect sense, since it's a non-profit and they're trying to engender brand loyalty).

My wife and I own several restaurants, both franchise and independent, and the actual cost generally ranges from $0.012 per ounce to $0.008 per ounce, and the cups are definitely not free (and generally run between $0.04 and $0.12 each, plus lids at $0.02-$0.04 each and straws, which cost about $0.015 each), plus the CO2, which is difficult to price per ounce but has a cost. So while soda does indeed have a significant markup, it's not "free" by any stretch. For example, a large soda at McDonald's (which I assume is 32 ounces) probably costs the franchisee about $0.25-$0.35, plus the royalties they pay to corporate, which I think are around 5-7% (we don't own a McDonald's, but we do own a few of a large franchise brand so I'm basing my speculation off the deals that are in place with those brands and their soda vendors of choice).

The dollar menu is a means of drawing guests in and trying to upsell them, as well as an example of a high volume, low margin sales strategy that is definitely working for them!

Does your soda contract require you to buy your cups from Pepsi? As I recall they talked about that with us, with them charging for the cups and lids, and we pointed out we could buy cups and lids at Smart and Final for about a penny each, and suddenly Pepsi threw in the cups and lids for free.
I will add, they also "donated" an $1,100 electornic scoreboard with a big PEPSI on the top of it.
It is a huge game for Little Leagues to get the best "deal" from soda companies for their snack bars. We were Pepsi, couldn't even get product delivered......so we went Coke, and Coke threw in a $500 donation and all equipment . Then RC becamse the official soda of Little League, and we got $1,000 and all equipment to switch. Then Pepsi stepped up with that last offer. Seems we changed soda brands about every 2 years over the 7 years I was on the Board of Directors.

 

[mhsjax]

Not counting the drink (which costs McDonalds pennies), that's about what I pay for a "build your own" 1/3 pound burger, with a LARGE side of waffle fries at my favorite neighborhood place. Sit down restaurant. I get my choice of toppings, including things McDonalds doesn't even offer, my choice of bread or wrap (6 choices total), my choice of one of 8 cheeses. For quality, McD's can't touch it. Not even close.

I don't see the fascination with that place. My kids hate it. They refuse to go to McD's. EVER.

I like it ok, 2of my kids like it but the 3rd won't touch it. I like the sound of your burger joint, but you lost me at the waffle fries, none of us like them. I do love me some McDonalds fries, but their burgers, not so much.

 

[MIGrandma]

Haven't been to Red Robin in years. I guess a $10 burger is a better deal if you split it......but.....and not to hijack the thread, am I the only one to notice how many restaurants are now posting that there is a charge for plate splitting....usually around $5 ? Guess it was cutting into their business, and the cost of running the place is the same, even if customers are splitting an order.

I think charging a customer for "plate splitting" is ridiculous. It doesn't cost much to wash an extra plate for goodness sakes. If I owned a restaurant I would much prefer a couple come in for dinner and split a meal, than not come in at all.

Reminds me of when I worked at the local diner, a lot of couples would split the hot beef sandwich. I would ask the cook to split it in the kitchen, to save the couple from having to do it themselves. My boss put a stop to it saying they got "extra food" by having it split in the kitchen. I didn't say a word but I didn't agree.

The whole hot beef came with a full sandwich which was cut in half and put on the platter, then two ice-cream-scooper scoops of mashed potatoes in the center and smothered in brown gravy. Put half the sandwich and one scoop of potatoes on each plate, add gravy. How is that "giving the customer more food" than if it was on one plate?

She was never one for making it convenient for the customer though. I felt bad having to tell people they had to start dividing it themselves. Such a mess with the gravy.

 

[Sparkly]

Maybe ours is cheaper then- a small cheeseburger and fries cost me £1.88 which is about $3. Yay for the value menu!

 

[tvguy]

I think charging a customer for "plate splitting" is ridiculous. It doesn't cost much to wash an extra plate for goodness sakes. If I owned a restaurant I would much prefer a couple come in for dinner and split a meal, than not come in at all.

I don't disagree, but I am seeing it more and more. I guess the flip side is the cost in running a restaurant isn't the food, it's the labor, and other overhead.....so to have a customer occupying a table and not spending anything would have a cost to the business.

 

[SandrA9810]

Haven't been to Red Robin in years. I guess a $10 burger is a better deal if you split it......but.....and not to hijack the thread, am I the only one to notice how many restaurants are now posting that there is a charge for plate splitting....usually around $5 ? Guess it was cutting into their business, and the cost of running the place is the same, even if customers are splitting an order.

There's a small chain of restaurants that we recently discovered. The food is good, but the prices for an adult meal is around $10-15 each plate. Only during their busy times, they will not let me order off the kids menu. So instead of ordering two meals, my bf orders one, and I pick off his.

 

[leight]

I only do McDonald's as a cheap drive-thru treat and convenience for me. I will order dd1 the two cheeseburger meal- upgrade to a large fry/soda and order dd#2 a chicken sandwich of the dollar menu. When I do this I usually have extra cups from home( like when we're grabbing something to eat to watch dh play soccer) and have a drink for myself or get two dollar drinks and make sure they get even amounts of drink from the large that I split with them. We split the fries between the 3 of us and dd#1 and I each get a reg sized burger. Never costs more than $8 for the 3 of us and its pure convenience and a treat. I did see that the price of the two cheeseburger meal went up locally about $0.50 so $8 is probably $9 now but still an ok deal for the convenience of drivethru. I do go thru drivethru for coffee at least once a week because at $1- its a great deal. I will order something off the dollar breakfast menu when I'm hungry.

I like sonic's brown bag lunch- two burgers, two fries and two reg drinks for $6.99- a pretty good deal.

 

[threeboysmom]

McDonalds is my "go to" when I need a cheap meal. I visit at least once a week.

Double cheeseburger or McChicken sandwich $1.00
Small fry $1.00

I drink water back at my office.

Super cheap! Lunch cost me $2.00 plus tax. I'd never order any of those "value" meals, lol.

 

[LBIJim]

McDonalds is my "go to" when I need a cheap meal. I visit at least once a week.

Double cheeseburger or McChicken sandwich $1.00
Small fry $1.00

I drink water back at my office.

Super cheap! Lunch cost me $2.00 plus tax. I'd never order any of those "value" meals, lol.

Those "value meals" are anything but. I only go to McD's three or four times a year and always get 2 or 3 or 4 items off the dollar menu. It's about the same amount of food as ones of the value meals for a lower price.

As for the cost of fountain drinks, my company figures it's about 2 cents per ounce. That's for the syrup, water, CO2, cups, lids, straws, ice, plus the machinery and depreciation, maintenance, overhead, allowance for spills, etc. A 32oz. drink becomes profitable a little over 64 cents to the customer. Normal price varies among locations $1.39 to $1.59. Occasionally there are promos for 99 cents.

Jim

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Does your soda contract require you to buy your cups from Pepsi? As I recall they talked about that with us, with them charging for the cups and lids, and we pointed out we could buy cups and lids at Smart and Final for about a penny each, and suddenly Pepsi threw in the cups and lids for free.
I will add, they also "donated" an $1,100 electornic scoreboard with a big PEPSI on the top of it.
It is a huge game for Little Leagues to get the best "deal" from soda companies for their snack bars. We were Pepsi, couldn't even get product delivered......so we went Coke, and Coke threw in a $500 donation and all equipment . Then RC becamse the official soda of Little League, and we got $1,000 and all equipment to switch. Then Pepsi stepped up with that last offer. Seems we changed soda brands about every 2 years over the 7 years I was on the Board of Directors.

Sorry, I didn't see this reply or your question.

Reading about your experiences, I really think it must be a deal for Little League, which again makes great business sense for the bottling company, as there is no way that they can be making money with those types of deals but they are engendering brand loyalty and getting lots of great advertising.

To your question, while I'm not active in the daily operations of any of the restaurants (we thought they'd be fun to own; they kind of are, but we're happy they're profitable because they are a pain even as a "passive" investment) I do know a few of the answers. We have to buy our franchise cups (which are branded with the logos of the franchise brands) from our food vendor and they are definitely not free, but a few times we have needed paper Coke cups (not Pepsi ones ever) for large offsite catering events or when we had supply-chain issues and we had to buy them. I'd prefer to buy them, though, as they are cheaper than our "branded" cups, which run a few cents more each and are Styrofoam, which I do not like on principle, but it's in our franchise agreements so obviously we adhere to the rules.

It could just be our bottler, but I suspect most, of not all, of them charge businesses and donate supplies to charities, which makes sense in terms of corporate citizenship.