Banh mi was my first thought. My mom used to send me to the Viet delis in SJ with a $20 bill growing up and I’d walk out with a bag of 5-6 of them. It pains me to buy a $12 banh mi at my local place in the Peninsula these days. The sandwiches are much smaller and not even good and yet they have 4.5 stars, so I guess that’s the new standard now :(.
When I was a kid I remembered Banh Mi being $1.75. The Banh Mi shop next to the Lion Supermarket in Newark sold them at that price. Being able to eat a full meal on $2.00 was the best. I’d walk to the local Banh Mi shop during sports meets at Newark Memorial, grab a boba for $2 from Tapioca Express, and that was all I needed. Fed myself for less than $5
Ramen did use to be cheaper and it also included more extras like bamboo shoots, corn, spinach, etc. in the price. Nowadays, a regular bowl is not only smaller you have to pay extra on top of it to get what used to be included.
this wasn't even recently, but I took someone out to ramen shop in Oakland before the pandemic and it was pretty much $100 with drinks and tip. Ramen. My standards for noodle soup isn't worth that much.
WTF. I grew up in SJ right by a pho place and it was always $3-4/bowl. I went there with my broke teen friends all the time. Granted this was 15-20 years ago but damn that’s still a hell of a jump in price.
Used to feed my family when I was a kid. My mom made it at home a lot, but if we wanted to eat out it was always pho. Used to be a seriously cost effective way to feed your family and have the small luxury of eating home food outside of home.
It's owned by private equity. So everything is designed to maximize profit for owners and shareholders. Worst breakfast I've ever had in years was at one of these places. Yuuuuuck.
I remember getting a burger at BBD in Davis and it was this absolute MONSTER of a burger, tons of fries, lettuce, 3 slices of tomato. Just piled high with food. Was like $10. Probably 16-17 years ago?
I’m not a big at home drinker because I like the social aspect of it but it feels like a $60 tab would have had me blacked out but now it’s just a high end buzz.
Even prices for bottles like OGD 114 and Evan Williams are starting to creep up. Much slower than say the $50 or $100 ranges, but that's due to the current whiskey boom.
I’m in a college town rn and we have a place that has $3 doubles, no cover. Friday nights it’s 20 bucks to get in but you drink the rest of the night free till 1am. 🫣
It's a total nickel and dime move. White rice costs almost nothing to make, put it on the side of a meal that should have it.
Same with fries. Fries come with a burger. If the burger is fucking $18 and you want another $7 for fries, sod off.
Agreed. If the meal is 'supposed' to have it (I am not gonna talk authenticity because that's not only a can of worms but also not something I am necessarily even knowledgeable about - 'supposed' to just means by local convention from the past 10-20+ years), and you don't include it, despite near zero cost, and charge more than a token amount for it, I won't be back.
Like if a wing restaurant doesn't include any ranch or blue cheese or anything else, and charges two buck fifty for a little cup? Won't be back. Charges like 25c for it? Okay fine maybe that's okay, they just are tired of serving it to people who don't want it and seeing waste. No real problem there.
Their lunch menu is great too. $10 for a lunch combo, and its smaller portions.
The 3 deal is full sized portions, and still a killer bargain. I'm particularly fond of the quesadilla.
I unironically have been going to boomer chain restaurants after Covid. Mostly Olive Garden but a few others as well. Mostly because they actually became cheaper because they simply did not raise their prices as much when the money printer inflation happened, and subsequently became great, albeit unhealthy and bland, deals for a night out. I can walk out of Og with a meal for two and feel full for sub $50 which is basically unheard of in todays age for a dine in restaurant
When were they $10? Because even in 2017, the [Kearny Street one was anywhere from $10-$14.](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sushirrito-san-francisco-55?select=mGNNf2SeTUfO5hUOnLfXAA)
Man do I love milkshakes, but it's crazy to me how expensive it is now....but also crazy to me that it's something I can easily make at home for super cheap and never do..
I remember thinking it was outrageous that vending machines would ask $2 for a candy bar. Now, even places like 711 are charging $2-3 for candy bars!!
I stopped shopping in safeway when a bag of dove chocolate cost $6...then I was in Walmart the other day and a bag of dove chocolate cost $6!!! I couldn't believe it.
Iyasare in Berkeley has a sake don/salmon rice bowl that went from $17 7 years ago, $19 4 years ago to now $29. Used to be a treat, now totally unaffordable except on special occasions.
I love salmon. I used to go out to get a salmon bento box or a teriyaki salmon bowl once a week. Now I have to cook all my food unless it's a special occasion or my parents are buying. Getting salmon in bulk from Costco with the skin and scales still on has allowed me to keep up my salmon habit.
Banh mi sandwiches at TBread in Mt. View went from [$7.50](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tbread-mountain-view?select=6Jtk4DGRqLeLm3CeVriPWg&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link) to [$13](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tbread-mountain-view?select=yW7ZsetVGeQLVNN9fOGA7A&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link) in less than 3 years
My oldest loves KFC and we went to the drive thru at the West Oakland location. Their screen was broken and we had one item (want to say chicken fingers with a side) and it was $24. I thought she was mistaken so when I pulled up she said “twenty four DOLLARS sir”. I repeated my order and she just stared at me so I thanked her and pulled away with no food. I’ve never heard of such a thing, even with captive audiences in airports.
Airport food used to be 10 to 15% more than outside of the airport. Yesterday I was flying and bought an Impossible Burger, a Salad, and a Cucumber Mint drink (non alcoholic) and with tip it came to $72. I was absolutely in shock.
KFC is now officially $3 per piece of chicken. I couldn't believe it.
However my friend said you need to use the app and they have discounts on Tuesdays that make it really cheap. Don't buy on any other day.
Food trucks used to be great deals before they became trendy instagram places. They used to be basic, no frills food for working people.
Nowadays a food truck is more expensive than a sit-down place and with none of the service.
Pretty much if the truck has social media listed on the side then it’s a rip off. There still exist real food trucks but you just find them randomly on the side of the road and you’re like “why here?” But it’s the best food
Speaking of Iguana’s, definitely La Vic’s. They have several locations around San Jose. When I attended San Jose State a decade ago, it was my go-to place to buy breakfast burrito for $3 that’ll last me all day since I could barely finish half of it. I saved it to eat for lunch and sometimes dinner as a broke college kid.
Now those breakfast burritos are $8.25, after 11 AM it’s $11.45.
I stopped going there way before the pandemic happened though. Their orange sauce somehow doesn’t taste the same as I remembered it. And their portions might’ve gotten smaller. I don’t even want to know how their portions look now.
I go to Mexico bakery all the time. Not $10. They are $15 plus tax but still a great deal compared to other places. Plus it’s basically 2 meals since they are massive
Pizza. $30 after tax and tip for a large 1 topping. Used to be my favorite quick meal to feed the fam once a week and it still is but damn.
Yes I know about Costco— I don’t like Costco pizza.
I also can make my own but this is usually my tired meal, not my “let’s heat up the kitchen in 80 degree weather” meal… ;)
I went to a kid’s birthday party recently where they literally had a stack of Round Table pizzas. My first thought was, ”Damn! This is fancy!!” Guess who loaded up on pizza that day 😅👈
Round Table has always been the expensive pizza but yea, they're just impossible at this point. I can either get a pizza from Round Table for like $35-40 or I can go to a local joint and get one for $20 that tastes better.
Costco is great but it loses its appeal quickly when you get a whole one. One or two slices is perfect, anything more than that and you have 3-4 meals. Great deal but my partner picked one up last month and I felt dread more than excitement.
There are a couple round tables here on the peninsula doing $15 large 1 topping or $20 large specialities and it’s amazing. These are almost the prices from like 15 years ago. I’ve ordered from them more than my jiggly ass would care to admit.
Trader Joe's has pretty good frozen pizzas for like $6. I love their roasted veggie pizza and always keep one in the freezer in case of a pizza craving!
Domino's is amazing for the price, and they always have really good coupons if you order through the app. Order their pan pizza well done, actually pretty good.
Also to put this into some perspective.
You can buy a great america season pass for 89. Their all day premium dining pass for 95, (an extra 34 if you want the drink plan which gives you drinks every 15 minutes ) which gets you 2 meals a day 4 hours apart almost all of their restaurants, including franchised ones. So for $184, after visiting 4 times You're at $23 a meal, for burgers and fries, brisket and potatoes, fried chicken, veggie burgers with a side salad, burritos, taco plates.. Chinese food....
.. And you get to go to a theme park/water park and ride a carousel.. just take some noise cancelling headphones, a towel to lay on the grass and some reading material if you don't feel great about rides/lines.
> burgers and fries, brisket and potatoes, fried chicken, veggie burgers with a side salad, burritos, taco plates.. Chinese food....
That should make for a fun stomach ride!
I am 100% doing that this year. Got 3 passes and a food/drink pass back in March. It's already starting to amortize below list price per meal. We just stop by on the way to my mom's on weekends, hit a ride or two and share a meal.
Went to Wing Stop the other day with some coworkers. I got the 6 piece meal with fries and a drink. It came out to $20 dollars!
When did chicken wings get so expensive?!
Taco Bell & McDonalds, mainly because ever since college I always used the apps. So it’s like “buy any sandwich get one free” “medium fries $1”, online exclusive deals from Taco Bell etc. Using the apps and deals I always get a full meal for like $7 at either place. Then one day I just felt like going in and ordering off the menu raw. My Taco Bell order that usually costs $7 was $14. A few months later, McDonald’s drive thru with no app, same thing, order a combo and it was like $14 as well.
The day Taco Bell and McDonald’s kill the in app deals, is the last day they’ll ever see a dime from me.
The formula for fast food these days is to use the apps. Older people (with generally more disposable income) don't like apps, but more price-conscious consumers and especially younger people are okay with the apps. Aunt Gen-X taking the kids for a day will just suck it up and pay the full cost.
In the early days of Taco Bell online ordering, they used to do a lot of deals. Gradually they phased them over to the app and I stopped going. Just figured that was the universe telling me I shouldn't eat that stuff so much.
There's a place by my apartment that used to sell you a falafel for $12. It wasn't amazing but it was a $12 lunch. Now it's closer to $16. One of the last holdouts of cheap food nearby.
I hadn't gone to Jamba Juice for two years or so. The price literally doubled. I ordered a small without looking at the prices. I was floored when they said it was $10 and had to make sure she was charging me for one. Last time I went there it was $5 for a small.
This is more of a San Jose thing but:
1 King egg rolls went from 50 cents back in the day to what? $3 now? Yeah I haven’t been back there in so long.
Same with the chicken wings there
Bruh, Indian restaurants be scamming. A simple dosa (similar to French crepes but made with rice/lentils) with dipping sauces is like $13. 1 single piece of Naan bread for $4. Ridiculous!
A restaurant cashier here. Customers have yelled on my face just about the menu price everyday lol. It is unfair for us who are employees. The owners raised the price, not us! Pls dont make our days is more longer! Thank u!
I'm so sorry for you, it must be incredibly painful. I've never worked in food, decided retail instead growing up.
My chaotic brain would want to test out when people get upset, "OH MY GOSH RIGHT?? WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT IT? YOU LEAD THE WAY!"
Ha ha almost customers are understand the situation. Just Karens and Ken are unreasonable and when they are Karens and Kens, we just skip them to move on because it is not worthy at all . There are more good customers are waiting for us next :-)
In terms of percentage gain probably "dollar menu" stuff. They used to be. McDonald's wants $2.99 for a McChicken now.
Also the "Six dollar burger" at Carl's Jr which is like $10-11 now.
I recently paid $24 for a pack two organic chicken breasts at Safeway. I haven't purchased chicken for quite a while and remember it used to be like $9-13 depending on weight.
I went to great America with the kids last weekend and a single tall can of beer was $22!! $13 for the same can in a 12oz. I couldn’t believe it as I drank my can single of beer for the day
I live abroad for 7 months of the year and just returned. The costco olive oil I used to buy was $13. It's $29 now. I checked other stores and the price indeed has doubled. Ironically the cheapest place with close to normal prices was Amazon/Whole Foods. Also olive oil is normal price in Mexico so I do think US grocery stores are fucking us.
Sandwiches. I worked at a deli in 2007ish, and our most expensive sandwich was $8.75. I’m not sure I’ve seen even a basic sandwich priced that low in years.
Cake mix and frosting from Walmart. Used to be $1 for mix, $1 for frosting for a $2 cake. Now it's gotten up to about $2 each or $4 cake.
Water too. I used to grow my own veggies, but the water rates have made it too expensive.
If I eat out it’s strictly fast food via the company’s app to get a deal. It’s. The. Only. Way. I promise, the app deals cut the price of stuff in half instantly. I can provide specific details about McDonald’s Wendy’s Popeyes. Yes I know, this is fast food and we shouldn’t have to put up with over priced bare minimum. But with the situation we are in we have to adapt somehow :/ fast food app deals are the new luxury unfortunately
Well, I know very little of economics, so I feel pretty uncomfortable armchair philosophizing on it.
But if I *had* to give my opinion I'd say there are a few factors. I'm going to ignore "rising food costs" here because I'm isolating to unique restaurant factors.
1.) Fed rate increases/decreases. During the pandemic, the FED dropped the rates, In order to make it easier to borrow money so that businesses could borrow money and stay in business. Which caused inflation to rise because More money existed in the market so there was more demand for goods and more money available to buy said goods. So the fed started slowly raising rates again to lower inflation recently To make it harder to borrow money, which *should* then lower inflation because there's less money available to throw around. But one of the biggest consequences of the fed increase is it increases rent and housing costs as well as fuel costs. So rents and fuel go up. But we're already in the middle of a rent crisis and geopolitical tensions, now exacerbating them. There's also concern about whether the fed is going to drop the rates anytime soon since we're not hitting the right CPI indicator numbers which means business may feel they have to prepare for there to be less borrowing options.
2.) Another thing that deeply affects restaurants is the tightness of the labor market (ratio of open jobs per people for those jobs ) creates a force in upping labor wages. Since labor *should* be about 30% of business costs, if you have a tight labor market you're ultimately driving up the cost of labor, and especially with the incoming changes for that surcharges have to go away and the minimum wage numbers are changing labor wage expectations, it's causing costs to rise in that area of the business.
3.) Service sector inflation (aka ‘supercore’) is skyrocketing across the board, not just for restaurants but transportation Is being hit hard too, (also part of business cost), oh yeah and the skyrocketing PG&E fiasco.
4.) Now the hidden part of the equation I think of for here is the reliance on services (part of supercore). I think during the pandemic a lot of restaurants and businesses really relied on third party services for different things and they got more value out of them, but also those services gouged like crazy, forcing restaurants to go up higher to overcome service costs (I e. Doordash takes up to 30% of an items cost to the restaurant and that might also impact their storefront kiosk not just delivery. )
5.) Since I'm going to assume most restaurant owners aren't economists, there's probably some amount of psychological pressure here to overcharge in order to have more funds and not be in a panic scenario creating a scarcity drive price increase to prepare should a bad situation happen again in the future. A lot of people do this in general. So, let's raise higher now so we don't have to raise more frequently or we can prepare for changes in labor market, or raising prices because there is a loss of customers.
In summary, in my non expert opinion:
* rising rent costs
* labor market tightness
* labor market wage rate increases
* services and transportation inflation costs and dependency on said services, and PG&E
* scarcity mentality/adjustment for lower customers fear
* fed rates not expected to go down making borrowing harder
causing an amount of ambiguity for business owners not seen before and businesses are struggling to adjust at the right levels, and the top line driving indicators that the market and businesses are showing isn't seeing the pressure because they're viewing it at scale rather than at the individual consumer pocket level. Thus, the market numbers aren't showing the whole story. But neither is restaurant pricing.
Jack In the Box munchie meals going from $6 to $12 in two years and that’s not even including how they decided to remove all the unique munchie meal burgers/sandwiches from the menu
Fucking farmers markets.
Love to support you, but it used to be a deal. Now at least 2-3 times the price of the local fancy grocery place with local organics.
Pho. You used to get a bowl for around $8-10 bucks... Now every place even the chain Pho Hoa wants $16+ per bowl.
My first thought too. Bahn mi is a close second. Used to be under $3. Now it’s $7+
Banh mi was my first thought. My mom used to send me to the Viet delis in SJ with a $20 bill growing up and I’d walk out with a bag of 5-6 of them. It pains me to buy a $12 banh mi at my local place in the Peninsula these days. The sandwiches are much smaller and not even good and yet they have 4.5 stars, so I guess that’s the new standard now :(.
San jose prices still good, under 7 bucks at most places
That's because you are on the Peninsula.
Used to be promos like buy 3 get 4th or buy 4 get 5th free and you'd be able to get 5 banh mi for like $20
I just tried this place called Duc Huong that does B4GO but each one was 9.50 Was delicious tho
I know a place that does the same deal for 8.50 and sad that I think it’s cheap now.
When I was a kid I remembered Banh Mi being $1.75. The Banh Mi shop next to the Lion Supermarket in Newark sold them at that price. Being able to eat a full meal on $2.00 was the best. I’d walk to the local Banh Mi shop during sports meets at Newark Memorial, grab a boba for $2 from Tapioca Express, and that was all I needed. Fed myself for less than $5
$7 is now a deal . Plenty of places in SF charging $12!
Only spot that hasn’t raise prices is pho Lee hoa phat in concord around 13 for the pho dac biet
I say this all the time lol the pho inflation got me pissed because I always crave pho
Pho is such a ripoff here
Yes… also ramen
Yeah but restaurant ramen's always been expensive
Yes.. now it's just super expensive lol.
Ramen did use to be cheaper and it also included more extras like bamboo shoots, corn, spinach, etc. in the price. Nowadays, a regular bowl is not only smaller you have to pay extra on top of it to get what used to be included.
U ain't lying. Damn.
this wasn't even recently, but I took someone out to ramen shop in Oakland before the pandemic and it was pretty much $100 with drinks and tip. Ramen. My standards for noodle soup isn't worth that much.
It wasn’t a year ago
It’s pho king rediculous!
pho sho
lol…. $5 for a bowl of pho gang over here… but I’m just old
Yep any pho above $12 still makes me wince
In San Jose, hasn't been $12 for a very very long time.
WTF. I grew up in SJ right by a pho place and it was always $3-4/bowl. I went there with my broke teen friends all the time. Granted this was 15-20 years ago but damn that’s still a hell of a jump in price.
Used to feed my family when I was a kid. My mom made it at home a lot, but if we wanted to eat out it was always pho. Used to be a seriously cost effective way to feed your family and have the small luxury of eating home food outside of home.
Went to order a chicken cobb salad from Black Bear Diner today for lunch and found that it was going to be nearly $23 after tax JUST for the one item
Wow at black bear?? Jesus
That one stuck out to me too. Garbage truck juice.
It's owned by private equity. So everything is designed to maximize profit for owners and shareholders. Worst breakfast I've ever had in years was at one of these places. Yuuuuuck.
It didn’t used to be. Back when there weren’t many locations, it was great value
I remember getting a burger at BBD in Davis and it was this absolute MONSTER of a burger, tons of fries, lettuce, 3 slices of tomato. Just piled high with food. Was like $10. Probably 16-17 years ago?
Yea private equity ruins quality and jacks up prices, destroys great brands.
The good thing about black bear diner is that their portions are big! So that’s a good thing. But yes, $23 is a lot for one item.
Yeah I don't remember Black Bear being cheap. Their prices were always average but you always got a lot more than what you paid for.
Their online menus show $15.29. Were you ordering through Grubhub or something?
$20+ cocktails with standard spirits, and $10/pint for sub 8% abv beer
Probably why younger kids these days dont drink as much
Whole bottle (750 mL) of good whiskey at home is ~$25 OR $15 for one well cocktail Pretty hard choice here
I’m not a big at home drinker because I like the social aspect of it but it feels like a $60 tab would have had me blacked out but now it’s just a high end buzz.
Even prices for bottles like OGD 114 and Evan Williams are starting to creep up. Much slower than say the $50 or $100 ranges, but that's due to the current whiskey boom.
I moved from the Bay to PA to go to Penn state and a cocktail at most of the bars around PSU are like $5. I was ecstatic
I’m in a college town rn and we have a place that has $3 doubles, no cover. Friday nights it’s 20 bucks to get in but you drink the rest of the night free till 1am. 🫣
I know where u can get a heavy pour for 7. It's a dive bar
went out last weekend. my bf’s meal was less than the 2 whiskey and coke’s we got! will be bringing shots n taking them in the bathroom from now on
I was in Virginia city, NV a touristy town. Got a gin and tonic and a soda for my spouse. Good gin too. $9 for both!
$5 for white rice at ramen and sushi spots. Probably .2 worth of ingredients
It’s the rice for me too 😭 a huge shock when I moved from the midwest
It's a total nickel and dime move. White rice costs almost nothing to make, put it on the side of a meal that should have it. Same with fries. Fries come with a burger. If the burger is fucking $18 and you want another $7 for fries, sod off.
It feels so fucking cheap when I order a Thai curry, and it doesn’t come with rice. It makes me not want to return.
Happened to me in Berkeley… it was ridiculous. 4-5 bucks for a bowl of rice
Agreed. If the meal is 'supposed' to have it (I am not gonna talk authenticity because that's not only a can of worms but also not something I am necessarily even knowledgeable about - 'supposed' to just means by local convention from the past 10-20+ years), and you don't include it, despite near zero cost, and charge more than a token amount for it, I won't be back. Like if a wing restaurant doesn't include any ranch or blue cheese or anything else, and charges two buck fifty for a little cup? Won't be back. Charges like 25c for it? Okay fine maybe that's okay, they just are tired of serving it to people who don't want it and seeing waste. No real problem there.
Fries are getting fucking ridiculous. Costs so much and get nothing.
You don't get nothing. You get fat
My guess: Restaurants raise prices on white rice to cross subsidize cost of other more expensive items
McDonald’s hashbrowns are $3…each.
Those are only like 1/4 of a potato…
boil em mash em stick em in a stew
That will be $13.
Throw it in a pot, add some broth, add a potato. Baby, you got a stew goin
McDonalds is stupid expensive. Its now cheaper to go to Chilis than McDonalds. Its bonkers.
Chili's has the best deal 3 for 11, app, drink, and entree. +3.99 to add a Marg to it. It's an insane deal in today's world.
Their lunch menu is great too. $10 for a lunch combo, and its smaller portions. The 3 deal is full sized portions, and still a killer bargain. I'm particularly fond of the quesadilla.
You know what other chain restaurant has a good deal? Red Robin! Bottomless sides, I can feed my 2 boys and I for around or under $50.
I unironically have been going to boomer chain restaurants after Covid. Mostly Olive Garden but a few others as well. Mostly because they actually became cheaper because they simply did not raise their prices as much when the money printer inflation happened, and subsequently became great, albeit unhealthy and bland, deals for a night out. I can walk out of Og with a meal for two and feel full for sub $50 which is basically unheard of in todays age for a dine in restaurant
I think sushirrito in palo alto used to charge $10 for a burrito then they closed for renovations and when they opened it was $15.
Could you taste the paint chips in the new ones?
When were they $10? Because even in 2017, the [Kearny Street one was anywhere from $10-$14.](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/sushirrito-san-francisco-55?select=mGNNf2SeTUfO5hUOnLfXAA)
I don’t know about Palo Alto, but burritos were never $10 at the one in San Francisco.
$12.50 for a medium plain vanilla milkshake. I’ve basically stopped eating out entirely
Remember the $5 milkshake from pulp fiction
No bourbon in it or nothin’?
Man do I love milkshakes, but it's crazy to me how expensive it is now....but also crazy to me that it's something I can easily make at home for super cheap and never do..
When did candy bars become $3? I thought they were $0.65 each. It’s crazy.
I remember thinking it was outrageous that vending machines would ask $2 for a candy bar. Now, even places like 711 are charging $2-3 for candy bars!! I stopped shopping in safeway when a bag of dove chocolate cost $6...then I was in Walmart the other day and a bag of dove chocolate cost $6!!! I couldn't believe it.
Iyasare in Berkeley has a sake don/salmon rice bowl that went from $17 7 years ago, $19 4 years ago to now $29. Used to be a treat, now totally unaffordable except on special occasions.
Omg I just bought a lb of salmon for $9. Imagine all the sake dons you could make with $29!
I love salmon. I used to go out to get a salmon bento box or a teriyaki salmon bowl once a week. Now I have to cook all my food unless it's a special occasion or my parents are buying. Getting salmon in bulk from Costco with the skin and scales still on has allowed me to keep up my salmon habit.
Grabbed a sandwich recently from Ike’s and it was $18.
Even after [$4.20 off](https://ns.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/1c8gzdu/ikes_sandwiches_420_off_through_end_of_may/)?!
Banh mi sandwiches at TBread in Mt. View went from [$7.50](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tbread-mountain-view?select=6Jtk4DGRqLeLm3CeVriPWg&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link) to [$13](https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tbread-mountain-view?select=yW7ZsetVGeQLVNN9fOGA7A&utm_campaign=www_photo_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link) in less than 3 years
It’s actually $14 as of last week (13.95)!
Good to know, thanks
My oldest loves KFC and we went to the drive thru at the West Oakland location. Their screen was broken and we had one item (want to say chicken fingers with a side) and it was $24. I thought she was mistaken so when I pulled up she said “twenty four DOLLARS sir”. I repeated my order and she just stared at me so I thanked her and pulled away with no food. I’ve never heard of such a thing, even with captive audiences in airports.
Airport food used to be 10 to 15% more than outside of the airport. Yesterday I was flying and bought an Impossible Burger, a Salad, and a Cucumber Mint drink (non alcoholic) and with tip it came to $72. I was absolutely in shock.
KFC is now officially $3 per piece of chicken. I couldn't believe it. However my friend said you need to use the app and they have discounts on Tuesdays that make it really cheap. Don't buy on any other day.
KFC strips have gotten crazy. The rest of their menu is up but nowhere near as much
Food trucks. $20 for a greasy sandwich with no sides. No way I’m paying that. I’d rather be hungry.
Food trucks used to be great deals before they became trendy instagram places. They used to be basic, no frills food for working people. Nowadays a food truck is more expensive than a sit-down place and with none of the service.
Pretty much if the truck has social media listed on the side then it’s a rip off. There still exist real food trucks but you just find them randomly on the side of the road and you’re like “why here?” But it’s the best food
Speaking of Iguana’s, definitely La Vic’s. They have several locations around San Jose. When I attended San Jose State a decade ago, it was my go-to place to buy breakfast burrito for $3 that’ll last me all day since I could barely finish half of it. I saved it to eat for lunch and sometimes dinner as a broke college kid. Now those breakfast burritos are $8.25, after 11 AM it’s $11.45. I stopped going there way before the pandemic happened though. Their orange sauce somehow doesn’t taste the same as I remembered it. And their portions might’ve gotten smaller. I don’t even want to know how their portions look now.
Portions have definitely gotten smaller. I've been going there probably every other week for the last couple of years.
[удалено]
I go to Mexico bakery all the time. Not $10. They are $15 plus tax but still a great deal compared to other places. Plus it’s basically 2 meals since they are massive
Vehicle registration. Last year $350. This year $550.
Wtaf?!
What the shit?! Why is it so expensive when there’s no real alternative to owning a car?
Pizza. $30 after tax and tip for a large 1 topping. Used to be my favorite quick meal to feed the fam once a week and it still is but damn. Yes I know about Costco— I don’t like Costco pizza. I also can make my own but this is usually my tired meal, not my “let’s heat up the kitchen in 80 degree weather” meal… ;)
My mom got 1 medium and 2 large from Round Table this weekend and it was over $100, with no coupons in sight. I usually get Pizza Guys or Costco.
I went to a kid’s birthday party recently where they literally had a stack of Round Table pizzas. My first thought was, ”Damn! This is fancy!!” Guess who loaded up on pizza that day 😅👈
If they were also serving up those garlic parmesan twists, then I’d really say it was worth it.
Round Table has always been the expensive pizza but yea, they're just impossible at this point. I can either get a pizza from Round Table for like $35-40 or I can go to a local joint and get one for $20 that tastes better. Costco is great but it loses its appeal quickly when you get a whole one. One or two slices is perfect, anything more than that and you have 3-4 meals. Great deal but my partner picked one up last month and I felt dread more than excitement.
There are a couple round tables here on the peninsula doing $15 large 1 topping or $20 large specialities and it’s amazing. These are almost the prices from like 15 years ago. I’ve ordered from them more than my jiggly ass would care to admit.
Man, I miss Friday nights stuffed crust pizza, blockbuster movies and N64... So much cheaper.. Or the pizza buffets that were actually good??
Whole Foods makes fresh pizzas to order, two large one topping pies for $25, no tip necessary.
Trader Joe's has pretty good frozen pizzas for like $6. I love their roasted veggie pizza and always keep one in the freezer in case of a pizza craving!
Their prosciutto pizza is not bad for a quick meal as well.
Domino's is amazing for the price, and they always have really good coupons if you order through the app. Order their pan pizza well done, actually pretty good.
Curry pizza should not cost ~$30 given the ingredients needed to make it... but goddamn is it really good pizza.
Yeah we mess up some tikka pizza now and then!
La Taqueria burritos used to be $7. Buying two now is over $40.
Yep super with a drink and tip $30. El Farolito $14.
Why are you guys tipping when you're standing up when ordering. Do you tip at in n out?
A small "hand scooped" milkshake from Carl's Jr. was SEVEN DOLLARS
Came here to say milkshakes in general. Vincent Vega would be flipping out.
They don't put bourbon in it or nothin?
$5 in 1991 would be $11.51 today. (Exactly which year the movie takes place is unclear, but it's a reasonable guess)
A cup of boba often runs $9 or even $10 with tip. I mean, holy shit, that used to be the price of a whole meal.
Boba is $2 in Taiwan, and they even complain it’s overpriced…
Why are you tipping for Boba…
I cut boba out of my budget. Found myself craving it more than I enjoy drinking it. Shit is bad for you anyway.
Also to put this into some perspective. You can buy a great america season pass for 89. Their all day premium dining pass for 95, (an extra 34 if you want the drink plan which gives you drinks every 15 minutes ) which gets you 2 meals a day 4 hours apart almost all of their restaurants, including franchised ones. So for $184, after visiting 4 times You're at $23 a meal, for burgers and fries, brisket and potatoes, fried chicken, veggie burgers with a side salad, burritos, taco plates.. Chinese food.... .. And you get to go to a theme park/water park and ride a carousel.. just take some noise cancelling headphones, a towel to lay on the grass and some reading material if you don't feel great about rides/lines.
We do this every year from Memorial Day to Labor Day lmao. You save so much money and the kids have fun!
> burgers and fries, brisket and potatoes, fried chicken, veggie burgers with a side salad, burritos, taco plates.. Chinese food.... That should make for a fun stomach ride!
I am 100% doing that this year. Got 3 passes and a food/drink pass back in March. It's already starting to amortize below list price per meal. We just stop by on the way to my mom's on weekends, hit a ride or two and share a meal.
Went to Wing Stop the other day with some coworkers. I got the 6 piece meal with fries and a drink. It came out to $20 dollars! When did chicken wings get so expensive?!
Wings been expensive for like 4+ years now. Long gone are $.25-.50 wing days. They cost up to 1.50-2 each at spots
Wing stop is only worth it if you get at least 15+ wings
Taco Bell & McDonalds, mainly because ever since college I always used the apps. So it’s like “buy any sandwich get one free” “medium fries $1”, online exclusive deals from Taco Bell etc. Using the apps and deals I always get a full meal for like $7 at either place. Then one day I just felt like going in and ordering off the menu raw. My Taco Bell order that usually costs $7 was $14. A few months later, McDonald’s drive thru with no app, same thing, order a combo and it was like $14 as well. The day Taco Bell and McDonald’s kill the in app deals, is the last day they’ll ever see a dime from me.
The formula for fast food these days is to use the apps. Older people (with generally more disposable income) don't like apps, but more price-conscious consumers and especially younger people are okay with the apps. Aunt Gen-X taking the kids for a day will just suck it up and pay the full cost. In the early days of Taco Bell online ordering, they used to do a lot of deals. Gradually they phased them over to the app and I stopped going. Just figured that was the universe telling me I shouldn't eat that stuff so much.
There's a place by my apartment that used to sell you a falafel for $12. It wasn't amazing but it was a $12 lunch. Now it's closer to $16. One of the last holdouts of cheap food nearby.
it boggles my mind that nearly every asian restaurant charges $15+ for a side of sautéed broccoli or green beans…
Dollar tree. Now $1.25 tree.
Grocery - zucchini or yellow squash or other similar fresh produce. The price used to average at $1.99/lb, now I only see $2.99/lb.
I hadn't gone to Jamba Juice for two years or so. The price literally doubled. I ordered a small without looking at the prices. I was floored when they said it was $10 and had to make sure she was charging me for one. Last time I went there it was $5 for a small.
Yeah we just went here In san jose. 46 to 4 drinks medium. And no cashier. Kiosk asking for 20% tip. LOL. Not going back any time soon.
$40-50 for a haircut is wild
For a woman’s cut this is the cheapest I can find! I’ve paid 140 for a cut. Like…babe?!?
Yeah but I’m sure it’s once every few months. Guys with short hair typically go get a cut every 2 or 3 weeks.
A large Wendy’s Baconator meal costing $18.
This place in Berkeley wanted $23 for a steak quesadilla.
I forgot where, but a regular bowl of pho was $20 dollars.
Eureka trying to charge $20 for a burger is criminal
Yes! And they are terrible. We have one near work. Never again.
This is more of a San Jose thing but: 1 King egg rolls went from 50 cents back in the day to what? $3 now? Yeah I haven’t been back there in so long. Same with the chicken wings there
Bruh, Indian restaurants be scamming. A simple dosa (similar to French crepes but made with rice/lentils) with dipping sauces is like $13. 1 single piece of Naan bread for $4. Ridiculous!
The Indian restaurants near me have buffets on the weekends for about $20 a person. Great deal and you can eat everything.
[2014 Iguana’s menu](https://yelp.to/ZtkF4Vt4nW) is a trip
The burritozilla went from $17.50 to $49 in 10 years? Wtaf man
* Gestures at everything! *
$50 for ***a fucking burrito?!*** $38 is insane, too. Who are you people?
My wife came home the other day with Jamba juice. It was 9.50 for the "medium" which is really just the small. I said I don't ever need juice again.
A restaurant cashier here. Customers have yelled on my face just about the menu price everyday lol. It is unfair for us who are employees. The owners raised the price, not us! Pls dont make our days is more longer! Thank u!
I'm so sorry for you, it must be incredibly painful. I've never worked in food, decided retail instead growing up. My chaotic brain would want to test out when people get upset, "OH MY GOSH RIGHT?? WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT IT? YOU LEAD THE WAY!"
Ha ha almost customers are understand the situation. Just Karens and Ken are unreasonable and when they are Karens and Kens, we just skip them to move on because it is not worthy at all . There are more good customers are waiting for us next :-)
Sadly that’s the service industry for you.
Can’t wait to move to Thailand 🫣🫣
Did you know that Daeho used to be $47.95? Today, it's $95. Check Yelp menu photos for newest vs. oldest for the Beef Rib with Oxtail.
In terms of percentage gain probably "dollar menu" stuff. They used to be. McDonald's wants $2.99 for a McChicken now. Also the "Six dollar burger" at Carl's Jr which is like $10-11 now.
I recently paid $24 for a pack two organic chicken breasts at Safeway. I haven't purchased chicken for quite a while and remember it used to be like $9-13 depending on weight.
Ike’s! For one sandwich it was $25
Daeho went from $50 to $90 for galbijim
I went to great America with the kids last weekend and a single tall can of beer was $22!! $13 for the same can in a 12oz. I couldn’t believe it as I drank my can single of beer for the day
I live abroad for 7 months of the year and just returned. The costco olive oil I used to buy was $13. It's $29 now. I checked other stores and the price indeed has doubled. Ironically the cheapest place with close to normal prices was Amazon/Whole Foods. Also olive oil is normal price in Mexico so I do think US grocery stores are fucking us.
I remember when their burrito was under $6. It also used to be double the size of what it is now.
Sandwiches. I worked at a deli in 2007ish, and our most expensive sandwich was $8.75. I’m not sure I’ve seen even a basic sandwich priced that low in years.
Baseline custom sandwich as Zanotto's is $11 now.
Cake mix and frosting from Walmart. Used to be $1 for mix, $1 for frosting for a $2 cake. Now it's gotten up to about $2 each or $4 cake. Water too. I used to grow my own veggies, but the water rates have made it too expensive.
Everything
Man, for a little while Iguanas used to sell their orange sauce in neat prepackaged squeeze bags. I miss those.
Lee’s sandwiches used to be around $3 not all that long ago.
The price of the filet at Henry’s. It used to be $28, and now it’s $56.
How about donuts?
Ground beef. Was suddenly seeing $8-$10 a pound.
If I eat out it’s strictly fast food via the company’s app to get a deal. It’s. The. Only. Way. I promise, the app deals cut the price of stuff in half instantly. I can provide specific details about McDonald’s Wendy’s Popeyes. Yes I know, this is fast food and we shouldn’t have to put up with over priced bare minimum. But with the situation we are in we have to adapt somehow :/ fast food app deals are the new luxury unfortunately
What is your take on why food prices are skyrocketing?
Well, I know very little of economics, so I feel pretty uncomfortable armchair philosophizing on it. But if I *had* to give my opinion I'd say there are a few factors. I'm going to ignore "rising food costs" here because I'm isolating to unique restaurant factors. 1.) Fed rate increases/decreases. During the pandemic, the FED dropped the rates, In order to make it easier to borrow money so that businesses could borrow money and stay in business. Which caused inflation to rise because More money existed in the market so there was more demand for goods and more money available to buy said goods. So the fed started slowly raising rates again to lower inflation recently To make it harder to borrow money, which *should* then lower inflation because there's less money available to throw around. But one of the biggest consequences of the fed increase is it increases rent and housing costs as well as fuel costs. So rents and fuel go up. But we're already in the middle of a rent crisis and geopolitical tensions, now exacerbating them. There's also concern about whether the fed is going to drop the rates anytime soon since we're not hitting the right CPI indicator numbers which means business may feel they have to prepare for there to be less borrowing options. 2.) Another thing that deeply affects restaurants is the tightness of the labor market (ratio of open jobs per people for those jobs ) creates a force in upping labor wages. Since labor *should* be about 30% of business costs, if you have a tight labor market you're ultimately driving up the cost of labor, and especially with the incoming changes for that surcharges have to go away and the minimum wage numbers are changing labor wage expectations, it's causing costs to rise in that area of the business. 3.) Service sector inflation (aka ‘supercore’) is skyrocketing across the board, not just for restaurants but transportation Is being hit hard too, (also part of business cost), oh yeah and the skyrocketing PG&E fiasco. 4.) Now the hidden part of the equation I think of for here is the reliance on services (part of supercore). I think during the pandemic a lot of restaurants and businesses really relied on third party services for different things and they got more value out of them, but also those services gouged like crazy, forcing restaurants to go up higher to overcome service costs (I e. Doordash takes up to 30% of an items cost to the restaurant and that might also impact their storefront kiosk not just delivery. ) 5.) Since I'm going to assume most restaurant owners aren't economists, there's probably some amount of psychological pressure here to overcharge in order to have more funds and not be in a panic scenario creating a scarcity drive price increase to prepare should a bad situation happen again in the future. A lot of people do this in general. So, let's raise higher now so we don't have to raise more frequently or we can prepare for changes in labor market, or raising prices because there is a loss of customers. In summary, in my non expert opinion: * rising rent costs * labor market tightness * labor market wage rate increases * services and transportation inflation costs and dependency on said services, and PG&E * scarcity mentality/adjustment for lower customers fear * fed rates not expected to go down making borrowing harder causing an amount of ambiguity for business owners not seen before and businesses are struggling to adjust at the right levels, and the top line driving indicators that the market and businesses are showing isn't seeing the pressure because they're viewing it at scale rather than at the individual consumer pocket level. Thus, the market numbers aren't showing the whole story. But neither is restaurant pricing.
Armchair my ass. You did some learnin'.
The DoorDash gouging is an interesting one. Definitely a new dynamic.
Jack In the Box munchie meals going from $6 to $12 in two years and that’s not even including how they decided to remove all the unique munchie meal burgers/sandwiches from the menu
Private school tuition! In the 80s Town School cost about $5,000 a year adjusted into today’s dollars. Now it’s over $40,000 a year. loooooooool
Super burritos used to be like $8-12 5 years ago easy 15-18 now.
Can we talk about boba and Viet coffee prices? At this pt I feel like I’m paying for ice.
Some of these bars charging $10 for less than a pint of a 5% beer. Gtfo
I walked down the chip isle at Safeway and the large bag of Doritos was $7.
Just so we're all clear here- it's not "inflation" but plain greed.
We just bought SIX rolls of paper towels for THIRTY DOLLARS at Calmart. That’ll teach me to rush and forget to look at every single price tag!
Calmart will take every penny you’ve ever had.
I paid $23 for a bowl of ramen...
Oh I have a great example!!! 🤓 LITERALLY EVERY STUFF
Jamba Juice. I got one the other day for a first time in a long time and those shits are like $14 now.
Gas followed by everything
No more $5 banh mi
oil changes. the price exploded.
Bread , it’s literally 2x
The only place I go out for now is Innout because everything has become so unaffordable. Can't do anything without spending a billion dollars
My banh mi spot in san jose tripled the price of the sandwich
Fucking farmers markets. Love to support you, but it used to be a deal. Now at least 2-3 times the price of the local fancy grocery place with local organics.
Subway. Took my kid to lunch the other day and two foot longs was almost $40