Local restaurant getting creative

[disneysteve]

We all know restaurants are struggling to stay in business. A favorite local chain is now offering a selection of grocery items for pickup along with your meal. Milk, eggs, butter, some fruits and vegetables, raw steaks and chicken breasts, and yes, even toilet paper and paper towels. And the prices look pretty reasonable.

This is one of our favorite places. We eat there about once a month. I hope this helps them weather the storm. It's too far to be convenient for us for takeout or else we'd do our part to help, but we'll definitely get back there as soon as we can once they open up for regular dining again.

[Jluke]

Don’t they serve cold items on the menu?

get some sandwiches, throw them in a cooler for the ride home and leave a nice tip.

just a thought.

of course NJ may be in lockdown. So that’s another challenge.

[bjl584]

I'm seeing more and more of this.
Businesses are getting creative in a struggle to survive.
Hopefully they can weather the storm

[disneysteve]

Don’t they serve cold items on the menu?

get some sandwiches, throw them in a cooler for the ride home and leave a nice tip.

No, actually they don't. They are only serving a limited menu and everything except for a salad (and they only have 2 of those) is hot food. I don't really even think their regular menu has much in the way of cold items. It's not that sort of place.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

We have a lot of restaurants in my neighborhood. I wish I would hear of some of them re-distributing their regular wholesale deliveries this way. I'd sure rather meet someone at the back door of a restaurant and carry away a small box of items than get a Fedex or InstaCart delivery or go traipsing through a supermarket. Also I do want to keep neighborhood businesses above water.

[disneysteve]

We have a lot of restaurants in my neighborhood. I wish I would hear of some of them re-distributing their regular wholesale deliveries this way.

Actually, I've seen a few stories about how a significant amount of wholesale food is getting redirected to the retail market. Restaurant volume is way down and supermarket volume is way up, while food production is essentially the same. So many companies are changing their focus and packaging and shipping a lot more of their product for the retail market.

Just one more reason why the panic buying and hoarding at the grocery stores is totally unnecessary. There is no shortage of food. In fact, there's an abundance.

[ua_guy]

That's good to hear. We've drastically cut down on eating out, obviously. I've been a little leary of take out and delivery stuff for fear of increased exposure, but that was overcome with the monotony of literally eating at home for 3 weeks straight combined with the fact that I'm not an awesome cook.

We caved and called up the local Indian place, which is just a few months old. He's still in business so we indulged on a big order. It was so good that we did it 2 days later again. We also called the local pizza place this last weekend and they have instituted their own "no-contact" delivery and we enjoyed a great big pizza.

[myrdale]

Looking at prices on ULine, for the economy toilet paper, $46 for a case of 96 rolls, or $0.48 per roll.

Offering a free roll of toilet paper with every meal, would be a decent gimmick to get people in the drive through!

[greenskeeper]

local pizza joint recently moved into a former bank building....bet they are wishing they kept the drive-up window

[QuarterMillionMan]

Hawaii restaurant added $2 inflation fee without disclosures until getting sued.

Consumer attorney files suit against popular restaurant chain for ‘deceptive’ inflation fee (hawaiinewsnow.com)

[ua_guy]

Restaurant food prices keep going up. Price of a sandwich is up almost 30% at this one place I like and drink prices have increased too. But alcohol prices really haven't increased (I'm paying the same bottle price at the liquor store as I was 2 years ago), and wages haven't really increased in the restaurant space around here - they've typically been high minimums in this area for a couple of years now.

There's a widening gap between the cost of goods and what they're selling for, even with inflation added in. I'm not sure if things like meals at restaurants on an average have been historically cheap, or if we're entering an era of places just opportunistically jacking their prices.

[disneysteve]

Restaurant food prices keep going up. Price of a sandwich is up almost 30% at this one place I like and drink prices have increased too. But alcohol prices really haven't increased (I'm paying the same bottle price at the liquor store as I was 2 years ago), and wages haven't really increased in the restaurant space around here - they've typically been high minimums in this area for a couple of years now.

There's a widening gap between the cost of goods and what they're selling for, even with inflation added in. I'm not sure if things like meals at restaurants on an average have been historically cheap, or if we're entering an era of places just opportunistically jacking their prices.

The bolded part is definitely true to a large extent. I just read something about that the other day but I don't recall where. Companies are posting record profits. Their material costs have started declining. But they are continuing to increase prices anyway. At that point, it's plain old greed. Charge as much as you can get away with while still blaming it on inflation, even if the inflation is no longer actually occurring.

[ua_guy]

The bolded part is definitely true to a large extent. I just read something about that the other day but I don't recall where. Companies are posting record profits. Their material costs have started declining. But they are continuing to increase prices anyway. At that point, it's plain old greed. Charge as much as you can get away with while still blaming it on inflation, even if the inflation is no longer actually occurring.

I wasn't willing to believe arbitrary price-jacking (a very scientific term) early-on when we first started seeing inflationary pressure, I knew all prices would generally rise--and they did. Inflation is still higher than normal, but it really depends on the industry and type of good, now, because certain things have fallen. But many prices have risen well beyond what inflation suggests, and at this point I'm willing to believe that is manipulation and greed.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Businesses are having hard times finding and keeping workers. Nevermind supply chains, inflation, government handouts, etc. Setting mandatory minimum wages of $19 might be the kiss of death for many businesses. And you all are compaining of higher prices, mandatory tips, added on service charges, etc. Did you not see it coming?

[kork13]

My family was in the nearby bigger city for dinner tonight, so we stopped at Smashburger for dinner. It's a middle-size national chain, "fast casual" .... And literally waited for over 45 minutes to get 3 hamburgers + fries. Yes, they were busy when I ordered. But for the last 15 minutes, I was the only person waiting, while 3 Uber Eats (or equivalent) orders got pushed through. They did the fries at minute 20, and then our order continued to get delayed & jumped by online orders while it cooled off.

It was enlightening to watch.

The kitchen was on disarray & the manager barely was keeping it on the rails. Clearly, he was understaffed, both for numbers & experience. One more experienced-seeming gal up front was trying to drive the kitchen's pace & order flow, but then the kitchen staff complained to they manager ("she's being controlling!") then she backed off... And orders stalled even worse. There were 3 cashiers that seemed lost & were doing alot of things besides taking orders -- emptying trash (reasonable), getting their own meals/drinks (justifiable, though not all at once), and squawking back to the kitchen. Twice the manager huddled his entire staff into the kitchen to try getting them back on track. The kitchen didn't know what it was doing or how to time & sequence orders. When I finally got my order, the experienced gal was very apologetic, but I only felt bad for their situation. I was very hungry, and just said "no worries", thanked her, and left. The team simply was not prepared to handle a busy dinner rush, and couldn't work together to save their lives.

I don't know exactly to what factors I attribute my experience, but I think all of the things we've been discussing here for a while are all contributory (among others). But more than anything, this experience (and many others like it recently) are really just driving me to dislike going to restaurants more & more. It's not worth the time, money, patience, or frustration to go out to eat when I can just cook something (anything) myself & enjoy the food & experience far more.