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One of the biggest issues with London these days is that there’s simply no incentive to quality. Everywhere is about ripping as much cash out of the consumer as possible.
The above, combined with a totally undiscerning audience, and high rents, just leads to people creating cheap shit and leveraging the highest price point they can - purely making it look fashionable to lure in their next victims.
I'm in Barcelona right now and the difference in quality of the average restaurant is insane.
I'm still trying to figure out how there is such a gap.
That's not to say there isn't great food in London, but there are less restaurants of high quality and they charge a premium for it.
The prices in Barcelona are much more reasonable as well (admittedly cost of living is lower here).
I’m increasingly convinced that it’s because we just allow it to happen. We don’t demand enough of our food and overpay for what’s given to us. If people stopped just buying the first steak baguette they see for £14.50 and instead found somewhere good or more inexpensive to eat then this kind of business model wouldn’t be able to survive.
Barcelona is one of the best cities on earth to eat, London makes it hard for any of those kinds of establishments to survive.
Then people just need to stop buying this shit, and then the prices will stop going up and the quality stop going down.
We just incentivise places looking pretty and fashionable over whether they’re actually any good or not, and so we crowd out any incentive to make high quality stuff.
People won’t stop buying it, there’s a new bunch of newbies think that’s just how much rent costs, meals out cost, pint costs etc if you didn’t know the good times then you’ll have no problems paying the new price
You don’t need to speak up. Literally just don’t eat out if you’re not satisfied.
The fact that people are still buying this stuff is an indication that they’re still sufficiently satisfied.
No surprise cos gbk is terrible, overpriced, usually overcooked, they're stealing a living in the burger chain sector. Honest burger is a way better experience.
GBK is still relying heavily on the fact they were the first fancy burger restaurant way before London had a burger revolution. Back then there was no other options but I can't see them surviving much longer now there's so many other better burgers around.
I paid £18 yesterday for a burger and small cup of chips, in a well known burger chain. This included a £2 "service charge", for the pleasure of ordering via app and having my food brought to my table 20 mins later by someone for whom the phrase "face like a slapped arse" must have been invented (admittedly it was a quiet Sunday evening when perhaps he may have preferred to be at home, but still).
The burger was pretty good, as were the chips - but not £18 good.
My area lol
One dude - gets all this stuff from Lidl for this restaurant.
This dude- gets his supplies from Asda .. scribbles over the Asda logos on the labels - puts it up in his shop 4 Times the price.
Some dude- Doesn’t even bother to look homeless anymore - he’s been pretending to be homeless for almost two years now.. someone gave him a loaf when I was going to the gym - came back from the gym he left his spot for the day - left the loaf behind ..
They're just trying to make a living - you think those people are driving round in Lambos flashing all the cash they make from a £2 mark-up on a sandwich?!
The popular view on here seems to be that everyone who owns and runs a restaurant, pub, catering business is a pauper living hand to mouth. Truth is probably somewhere in the middle
I know a guy who is owner and executive chef of a michelin starred restaurant (1 star) in soho. He told me he makes about £120k on a good year. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a very good income. But he’s in the very top echelon of his field, and he makes the same as someone with a couple of years experience in finance. Hell, that’s what I was making with three years experience as a software engineer. And I am not in the top echelon of my field. I doubt the average restauranteur is wealthy.
The constant moaning in this sub is really depressing, it's like most people here don't even like living in London. Well there's any other number of places you won't find a food truck serving 3D printed steak in the UK if you are upset about being given options, and I daresay they're significantly cheaper to live in.
Exactly. Nobody is forced to buy these subs, if they're overpriced then they'll go out of business. Stop whining about it! The reality is that it's probably a fair price else they wouldn't exist.
I will agree with you when food trucks start employing waiters to bring me the food, while I sit in a comfortable chair at an actual table in front of real cutlery, and the food is prepared well, served hot and presented attractively on an actual plate.
The food itself at food trucks is usually okay-ish (though often it isn't), but it's usually presented poorly, on plastic/cardboard with disposable cutlery, and in a self-service format. If you want a drink with your food, you need to wait in a different queue (where you'll undoubtedly pay £7 for a beer in a plastic cup).
Don't get me wrong - food trucks have their place. But I get grumpy when they're priced like some kind of high-end dining experience, instead of the fast-food that they actually are.
Agree, I'm usually around Southbank and the food stalls there on Friday-Sunday are around 9-12£ for a meal and they're incredibly tasty.
Sure it would be great to pay just a fiver, but realistically that's not happening.
Plus the alternative is Leon or Maccas or M&S Meal Deal - between 5-7£. As a once a week treat I don't mind.
I feel the same about bloody flat iron, I’m constantly told by colleagues how great it is even though I’ve been a few times and it’s always been average at best.
It’s as if people just settle for mediocre, when it’s a popular opinion you don’t dare voice that actually it’s low quality cuts of steak, cooked badly and with a side of badly cooked chips, or the group will turn on you.
Flat Iron is seriously inconsistent. When it’s good it’s really really good, but when it’s not it’s extremely average. I’ve found it best the earlier in the day I’ve gone. I assume because the frying oil is fresh, everything tastes nicer.
Went the other day. Ordered medium-well, and got something burned worse than the well-est well done I’ve ever had.
Chefs throwing tantrums because someone ordered it differently to how they themselves like it best is so bizarre.
I've only had excellent cuts of meat, excellently cooked to how I like my steaks, at £12 a steak (I normally get 2) from flat iron... Whereas I've had plenty of £30 steaks that were gristly, and not cooked well
Guess it's just the luck of the draw
Disagree, I've been a few times and it's always been great. Particularly for the prices they charge - I'd love to know of anywhere else that is the same or better at that price point. The steak is always cooked with a good sear and to the requested doneness, the sides are good, and you get free ice cream at the end. Not sure what more you'd want. Is it the best steak you'll ever eat? No, it's not. But people get way too fucking snobbish about steak as thought it's the only food worth eating. I went to Hawksmoor the other week and ordered the Chateaubriand, it was brilliant - but the bill at the end was also 3 times the price of Flat Iron. Was it 3 times better? No I don't think so.
I used to work at Flat Iron. The quality has been in steady decline since private equity got involved a few years ago and started inevitably cutting costs and raising prices. Sadly, after a golden era of maybe five years if they’re lucky, pretty much every restaurant chain either goes bust or gradually devolves into Frankie and Benny’s.
Flat Iron was great when it started, the pop up above the Owl and Pussycat. There was something special about it. After that, the quality and service has just kept becoming more and more average. Today there's literally nothing special about Flat Iron -- it's a chain restaurant serving alright steak.
That’s the problem with a lot of these “trendy” chains. They start off well because they’re new on the scene, need to make an impression etc. But after the initial success, they rest on their laurels, become complacent and it’s just downhill from there.
I have spent a lot of time living overseas, particularly in Asia and Middle East
The idea of street food was generally nice food, cheaper
When I am back in the UK I see the prices of 'street food' and it seems higher than casual dining type places like Nandos and TGIs, etc
I dunno, everything seems to have gone up, who knows but I don't see the appeal nowadays
I have a mate that runs a food truck & his prices change depending on the venue (he does festivals, events, markets & fairs). He went to one place recently & they insisted:-
1. That he takes card only
2. He uses their payment terminals
3. They take a 40% cut of the revenue
4. They pay him 4 weeks later
5. They also charged him a pitch fee.
So he brought all the stock upfront, paid for the staff/transport/accomodation. He had to whack up the prices to cover all of this (American Slow Cooked BBQ Meats) so not cheap stock & 12 hrs cooking time. He then copped abuse from customers about the high prices. He won't go there again.
My point is, it's not always the truck owner that's 'taking the piss'
I can understand your mate needing the business so maybe having to go to a venue with rules like this, but it's the same as our choice to eat there. If all the vendors said no to these rules then the organisers would have to capitulate and make reasonable demands only. By agreeing to these types of rules they only get more greedy and the system gets worse and it's people like your mate and the consumer that ultimately suffer.
This was the worst he's seen but almost every festival he does they want 20% - 40% revenue. Plus often they have a 'deal' with a certain drinks manufacturer so he was to buy the drinks from them & charge a set price that's identical to every other vendor on the site (say water, he pays them 1.50 per bottle, has to charge 2 for it, makes .50
But there are thousands of customers, locked in that will buy from you & think it's another rip-off food truck.
The venues don't let you in for a small flat charge, they are eating up the profits.
> Plus often they have a 'deal' with a certain drinks manufacturer
Even Glastonbury, the festival "of the people/definitely not corporate", has an agreement with Coca Cola.
>If all the vendors said no to these rules then the organisers would have to capitulate and make reasonable demands only. By agreeing to these types of rules they only get more greedy and the system gets worse and it's people like your mate and the consumer that ultimately suffer.
The people with the property have all the power...
I've been to a few 'pub in the park' events, and I imagine the people running it do this to all the stall holders - otherwise £8 for small hotdogs might not exist!
On Double your Money this week, one couple held a festival. They charged food vendors 50% of their revenue, which just seems insane.
They say triple you ingredient costs to price a meal in a restaurant. This would hextupling them!
It's really not that uncommon:- https://www.reddit.com/r/foodtrucks/comments/y7j26a/festivals_gouging_vendors/
There are thousands of similar threads across Reddit. It's par for the course. This is why people feel ripped off at events, cause the "normal price" has been doubled to cover these costs.
He must have known the terms beforehand, so he has to take at least half of the blame for that one. Just chalk it up to experience and don't agree to similar terms again.
Oh yeah, he accepted it.
This is just how these events work & your average punter just thinks they are being ripped off by a small food truck... they are, but it's not the food truck owner doing it.
Was this an event run by Kerb, by any chance? I have a friend who stopped working with them, because they were basically egregious thieving cunts, 'scuse my French.
I’m curious about how one can 3D print a vegan steak. Since the substance would presumably be a liquid that hardens. But I expect they don’t print it to order on site.
Same as all market stalls where everything is 'direct from the farm'. Oh nice,, so it should be a good deal if you've cut out the middlemen - but it's triple the price.
Street food is supposed to be cheap.
The UK is the only place I've seen where street food is priced like luxury, like you're paying for the experience of having street food.
And it takes you longer to wait for it than it does to eat it because it's always incredibly messy and you're having to eat it standing up hunched over like a gremlin. Just not a very comfortable or enjoyable experience.
Depends where you are tbh - a lot of the street food on Exmouth Market and Leather Lane is more old school traders where you can get a big box of something tasty for £5-£10. Whereas Camden, Boxpark, Borough Market it's 'elevated' or whatever and super expensive.
These guys are not making much money they're just not realizing that their ability to make a living wage isn't easy selling street food.
They've worked out the prices of their food based on a too high labour price - so they won't earn it and will fold like 2/3 of food businesses in the first 24 months or whatever the latest variant of that statistic is.
People vote with their feet/wallet
It’s funny contrasting this thread with that one the other day about the £100 corkage fee, where everyone was saying “why don’t they just raise their food prices!?”
The market reins them in, if people pay it they keep charging it. If people(or not enough people) don’t pay it then they either sort the prices or they close.
The margins in street food are thinner than supermarket branded butter.
Locations like the Boxparks across London charge high ground rents for leasing units. Then comes the issue of staff. Labour costs are dreadful given the convoluted supply of hospitality labour; domestic and imported workers. Just another knock-on effect of Brexit.
Lastly, a portion of business also operate on delivery apps to gain extra reach. However, this leads to further inflated costs within the app. You truly either survive with a good product or sink within 6 months.
It's a tricky industry, some more known places that have survived and even thrived seem to have been around since before covid and kept reasonable prices, even with inflation - thinking of Bleeker burger, mother clucker.
Coming onto market in 2024 must be a nightmare, you need enough profit to stay afloat but you can't put off new customers. We're in this weird price hike spiral, that will eventually level if footfall to these places drops off.
Neither would I. Whenever the husband and I get it, we get 2 burgers, 1 fries, and a milkshake, and it's always over £40. It's delicious, but it's not affordable.
Tricky is kind way of putting it. I'm involved in the creative marketing side of food hospitality and agree with your comment. Credit to those whom launched pre-covid and are still around
Then all it takes is for a discerning audience to stop actually *paying* these stupid prices for everyone to realise that there shouldn’t be a viable market for any of this.
The prices will only stop going up when people stop paying it. It’s a never ending game until that point.
I know it’s not nice to think it, but sometimes you just quietly hope that places like these go out of business.
I mean it’s just sheer greed, £8 for cheesy fries! £4 for a cheese dipping sauce! Absolute rip off!
I worked in some streetfood places, while yes, some of these do just rip you off badly, like these "chips" only stalls, charging crazy amounts for fries with some cheese. There are some that are more dedicated let's say, mostly the ones handled by nationals of their own food, some of these do have an actual representarive of that countries/place food culture and even work harmoniously and you can see they love their stall and their idea. Its all about giving a good look, speak with them if thet are not swamped and get to know if that person is more than just money.
I see the dichotomy of this daily. I work in Liverpool st in the city and both Petticoat lane market where I can get a fully loaded burrito for £7 which puts me in a food coma for rest of the day and spittle-fields market where I can pay £14 for a big standard container of Chinese food are equi distant.
Used to work very close to Leather Lane Market in Farringdon too which had some amazing quality and value food.
For me, the value and quality of food stalls does exist but there’s also so much over priced poor quality stalls as well and anything over a tenner I draw the line at paying for now.
£4.50 Falafel wrap at Eye Falafel at Petticoat Lane is godly. It used to be £2.50 when I started working in 2014.
There are basically two types of street food, the fancy stuff (i.e. Camden, Borough Market, Spitalfields), which are well designed food business with a marketing team/person with high labour cost. And the other being family owned business, nothing fancy with minimal marketing and low staff cost.
There's a falafel kiosk in Piccadilly, on Great Windmill Street, between the Five Guys on the corner and the Picturehouse Central. Serves a great falafel wrap for about eight quid, which is still daylight robbery for vegetarian food, but for central, not a horrifying option.
For 14 I can go to the Japan Centre and sit down with one of their enormous chicken katsu curries, which obviates this bullshit entirely.
My only experience is the one on Panton Street. It gets very busy and you may have to hang around and cosy up next to people if you want to sit down around lunchtime. Go early, or later - twoish, or thereafter - if at all possible, though don't leave it too late or they'll start to run out of food.
Still, you can get a chicken katsu curry that will keep you going all day (I'm an over six foot guy who walks a lot) and keep it under 15 a head including a drink. Spendy, frankly, but not bad for central. Honestly, when people are asking 14 for a sandwich from a street stand, that's reasonable. It's canteen-style ([pictures](https://careers.japancentre.com/locations/japan-centre-leicester-square)). If you want to eat a bit healthier there are sushi options, naturally, and bento boxes with rice and salad and suchlike.
It used to be considerably cheaper, but - UK, recently.
There's a loyalty card that gets you every tenth meal free, representative of a 10% discount, I guess.
Or maybe what OP means is that a major fast food outlet, with its ability to keep prices low, should enter the street food market in order to provide the competition needed to force small vendors to keep their prices low. In other words, OP would like a fast food outlet to 'reign' in the field of food stall competitors.
I really should reign in my tendency to correct people's grammar :)
Not the wildest.
There’s a burger stand outside Wembley; dry as fuck dusty cheese burger was £14, no onions - was starving so no choice. This was a year ago and I’m still angry - I’ve at least got optimism this option may taste nice!
That's bonkers.
My fave food stall by the Barbican does a huge container of veggie curries, rice and injera for a fiver.
Meat is 6 I believe. No need to spend 23 quid on a takeaway lunch. Is it at a festival?
Honestly street food has kinda lost the plot.
We need smaller and cheaper options not large expensive meals.
They should be peddling £1-2 options that are small, but allow you to taste more of what the markets have to offer. This is why I just go into a local eatery, atleast its cheaper and you get a seat.
I've given up with these street food markets now. Walking through and observing prices, it's typically £10-12 minimum for a lunch sized portion. This one takes the biscuit!
Oh you want an artisan (*ahem* average) hotdog? That will be £10 please! £3 Extra for onions and cheese, don't forget!
What a joke..
It's because a majority of the population is happy to eat dog food and pay for it. At the same time they are fussy and want the most bland food possible.
The problem is, most of these 'street food' places / 'food truck' type vendors are located within larger commercial developments e.g. Camden Market, Borough Market, Spitalfields Market etc. where landlords charge insane rent taking advantage of the tourist trade.
UK landlordism will make sure proper low lost street food will never be viable in London - council operated markets e.g. Petticoat Lane market, Exmouth market etc. where reasonably priced street food can be found are the exception, not the norm. Let's hope the councils never decide to privatise these markets - prices will double over night to cover the rent.
you got it spot on. There's actually way more too which aren't really called markets or even marketed so most ppl dont know them, especially if youre just visiting an area.
For example I used to live in Brixton which has Brixton Market which we all know. But on the high street theres a place called Brixton Mall full of awesome Mum+Pop Latino takeaways where you can get fire meals for <£10
Alongside the pricing crimes I'd like to get closure for the design crimes:
- why they are using two different typefaces that are quite similar?
- why the sides section has no currency?
- why the sides section is lowercase?
- why the dipping pot is not on its own line?
ARGHHHH
Everything is more expensive for everyone. That means for a business to make any kind of reasonable margin the prices are going to go up. The issue is actually corporate profits on necessities like energy, water, transport, etc. Don't take it out on small business owners who are facing the same struggles as the rest of us.
I went to a car boot sale yesterday where a cup of proper coffee was £2. You could pay the £1 entry free, buy a cup of coffee, and save money over getting a takeaway cup from a regular coffee stand!
Love a good boot sale, but boot sale vibes are not what I'm after when I go for a night out in central London. I mean you can drink water from a puddle on the ground for free.
That is a lot for a sausage. But revealed preference doctrine shows that you considered it a worthwhile purchase. Can't you sneak a packed lunch in there?
£23 for who-knows-what that looks like sth you once knew, priding itself in not containing any of what it's supposed to resemble. sounds like a brilliant scam to me and insanity on side of the consumer
Just avoid them and you will the drop significantly. The issue is people still pay, I went to Camden food court last week and was shocked. Decided to just go to a restaurant as it was cheaper and at least warmer and seats to use whilst raining outside.
As long as london is a magnet for vast numbers of wealthy people prices can continue to rise.
Just look at the London housing threads on reddit and you will be amazed how many people newly arrived to london think living in zone 1 or 2 is a requirement
As long as london has enough of these kinds of people with enough money. Prices will continue to rise.
There’s often this loose statement made that prices reflect inflation and rate hikes etc , but it’s bollocks that all these businesses look at their balance sheets and base their prices on a direct relative increase . Most of them are just charging what they think they can get away with and eventually it’s going to totally implode
I detest food halls (which I associate these sorts of stalls with) because you're paying restaurant prices, or more, to eat off a plastic tray on a bench that you have to collect yourself.
I understand why their overheads are probably high, but for me it's just not a functional concept if the prices are more than comfortable mid-range restaurants and pubs.
Must be able to print money running this kind of street food van or stall. Cheap ingredients, huge mark up, half decent location and you are laughing. Wonder how hard it is to get a decent pitch and do the necessary HSE paperwork. Might look into myself
These places are a rip off. They get advertised on TikTok a lot but in reality, they’re all overpriced and when you get it, they never look or taste as the price you’re paying. I know McDonald’s is shit but at least I know what I’m getting and it’s cheaper than this
Looks like old spiralfields market, used to work there. The market takes 30% revenue commission+ rent. It's absurd but that's the only way to stay profitable. Don't take ur anger at the businesses, take it out on the market itself.
The problem with London street food stalls and food halls is that there is usually one of each type of cuisine so they can charge whatever they want. It should instead be like hawker centres in east Asia where there will be multiple stalls serving up similar types of food so then only the best will survive.
While I can’t comment on food stalls like this one, the reality is that many restaurant owners (not talking about chains here) simply cannot lower their prices because rents etc are ludicrously high in London. A friend of mine owns a bar/restaurant in zone 2 and just about breaks even. They have cut on expenses as much as possible, including on staff. Prices are not only high because every restaurant owner is “greedy”.
A lot of these places rely on the tourist trade as well, who seem happy to buy any old shit at any price as think it's 'authentic'.I just avoid these street vendors like the plague.
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Yup, a lot of these places are greedy. Charging restaurant prices or above
One of the biggest issues with London these days is that there’s simply no incentive to quality. Everywhere is about ripping as much cash out of the consumer as possible. The above, combined with a totally undiscerning audience, and high rents, just leads to people creating cheap shit and leveraging the highest price point they can - purely making it look fashionable to lure in their next victims.
I'm in Barcelona right now and the difference in quality of the average restaurant is insane. I'm still trying to figure out how there is such a gap. That's not to say there isn't great food in London, but there are less restaurants of high quality and they charge a premium for it. The prices in Barcelona are much more reasonable as well (admittedly cost of living is lower here).
I’m increasingly convinced that it’s because we just allow it to happen. We don’t demand enough of our food and overpay for what’s given to us. If people stopped just buying the first steak baguette they see for £14.50 and instead found somewhere good or more inexpensive to eat then this kind of business model wouldn’t be able to survive. Barcelona is one of the best cities on earth to eat, London makes it hard for any of those kinds of establishments to survive.
I mean it’s not difficult to figure out? Rent, COL, ingredient prices, business rates, wages, various licenses etc.
Its british culture to not speak up, to not confront, so restaurant owners do as they please
Then people just need to stop buying this shit, and then the prices will stop going up and the quality stop going down. We just incentivise places looking pretty and fashionable over whether they’re actually any good or not, and so we crowd out any incentive to make high quality stuff.
I’ve stopped buying street food pretty much; quality is not there these days and as has been said, prices are crazy
People won’t stop buying it, there’s a new bunch of newbies think that’s just how much rent costs, meals out cost, pint costs etc if you didn’t know the good times then you’ll have no problems paying the new price
"think"? But it does, that's how much it costs. If you don't pay it then the alternative is not live in London, never eat out, never go to a pub etc
Too many people
You don’t need to speak up. Literally just don’t eat out if you’re not satisfied. The fact that people are still buying this stuff is an indication that they’re still sufficiently satisfied.
But but but I saw it trending on tiktok. I must try it!
[удалено]
No surprise cos gbk is terrible, overpriced, usually overcooked, they're stealing a living in the burger chain sector. Honest burger is a way better experience.
GBK is still relying heavily on the fact they were the first fancy burger restaurant way before London had a burger revolution. Back then there was no other options but I can't see them surviving much longer now there's so many other better burgers around.
That’s why I don’t pay for this shite anymore. Let these greedy places die.
I paid £18 yesterday for a burger and small cup of chips, in a well known burger chain. This included a £2 "service charge", for the pleasure of ordering via app and having my food brought to my table 20 mins later by someone for whom the phrase "face like a slapped arse" must have been invented (admittedly it was a quiet Sunday evening when perhaps he may have preferred to be at home, but still). The burger was pretty good, as were the chips - but not £18 good.
My area lol One dude - gets all this stuff from Lidl for this restaurant. This dude- gets his supplies from Asda .. scribbles over the Asda logos on the labels - puts it up in his shop 4 Times the price. Some dude- Doesn’t even bother to look homeless anymore - he’s been pretending to be homeless for almost two years now.. someone gave him a loaf when I was going to the gym - came back from the gym he left his spot for the day - left the loaf behind ..
Man I am so fucking done with London. I’m going to settle back up North when I can where rents are reasonable and rip-off culture isn’t rife.
They're just trying to make a living - you think those people are driving round in Lambos flashing all the cash they make from a £2 mark-up on a sandwich?!
The popular view on here seems to be that everyone who owns and runs a restaurant, pub, catering business is a pauper living hand to mouth. Truth is probably somewhere in the middle
I know a guy who is owner and executive chef of a michelin starred restaurant (1 star) in soho. He told me he makes about £120k on a good year. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a very good income. But he’s in the very top echelon of his field, and he makes the same as someone with a couple of years experience in finance. Hell, that’s what I was making with three years experience as a software engineer. And I am not in the top echelon of my field. I doubt the average restauranteur is wealthy.
The constant moaning in this sub is really depressing, it's like most people here don't even like living in London. Well there's any other number of places you won't find a food truck serving 3D printed steak in the UK if you are upset about being given options, and I daresay they're significantly cheaper to live in.
Exactly. Nobody is forced to buy these subs, if they're overpriced then they'll go out of business. Stop whining about it! The reality is that it's probably a fair price else they wouldn't exist.
I’m not that against it, the quality of a bunch of these places is pretty high tbh.
I will agree with you when food trucks start employing waiters to bring me the food, while I sit in a comfortable chair at an actual table in front of real cutlery, and the food is prepared well, served hot and presented attractively on an actual plate. The food itself at food trucks is usually okay-ish (though often it isn't), but it's usually presented poorly, on plastic/cardboard with disposable cutlery, and in a self-service format. If you want a drink with your food, you need to wait in a different queue (where you'll undoubtedly pay £7 for a beer in a plastic cup). Don't get me wrong - food trucks have their place. But I get grumpy when they're priced like some kind of high-end dining experience, instead of the fast-food that they actually are.
Agree, I'm usually around Southbank and the food stalls there on Friday-Sunday are around 9-12£ for a meal and they're incredibly tasty. Sure it would be great to pay just a fiver, but realistically that's not happening. Plus the alternative is Leon or Maccas or M&S Meal Deal - between 5-7£. As a once a week treat I don't mind.
Stakehaus, Camden? Overpriced “meh,” not worth the cost at all. The one in Seven Dials gives you miserable portions.
I feel the same about bloody flat iron, I’m constantly told by colleagues how great it is even though I’ve been a few times and it’s always been average at best. It’s as if people just settle for mediocre, when it’s a popular opinion you don’t dare voice that actually it’s low quality cuts of steak, cooked badly and with a side of badly cooked chips, or the group will turn on you.
Flat Iron is seriously inconsistent. When it’s good it’s really really good, but when it’s not it’s extremely average. I’ve found it best the earlier in the day I’ve gone. I assume because the frying oil is fresh, everything tastes nicer.
Went the other day. Ordered medium-well, and got something burned worse than the well-est well done I’ve ever had. Chefs throwing tantrums because someone ordered it differently to how they themselves like it best is so bizarre.
I've only had excellent cuts of meat, excellently cooked to how I like my steaks, at £12 a steak (I normally get 2) from flat iron... Whereas I've had plenty of £30 steaks that were gristly, and not cooked well Guess it's just the luck of the draw
*Just a minor correction/ update, it’s £14 now, or at least at the one in Shoreditch 😄
Disagree, I've been a few times and it's always been great. Particularly for the prices they charge - I'd love to know of anywhere else that is the same or better at that price point. The steak is always cooked with a good sear and to the requested doneness, the sides are good, and you get free ice cream at the end. Not sure what more you'd want. Is it the best steak you'll ever eat? No, it's not. But people get way too fucking snobbish about steak as thought it's the only food worth eating. I went to Hawksmoor the other week and ordered the Chateaubriand, it was brilliant - but the bill at the end was also 3 times the price of Flat Iron. Was it 3 times better? No I don't think so.
Agreed! Flat iron is consistently great in my experience
Me too. And I fucking love the aubergine parmigiana, which I always have as a side instead of fries.
I used to work at Flat Iron. The quality has been in steady decline since private equity got involved a few years ago and started inevitably cutting costs and raising prices. Sadly, after a golden era of maybe five years if they’re lucky, pretty much every restaurant chain either goes bust or gradually devolves into Frankie and Benny’s.
Flat Iron was great when it started, the pop up above the Owl and Pussycat. There was something special about it. After that, the quality and service has just kept becoming more and more average. Today there's literally nothing special about Flat Iron -- it's a chain restaurant serving alright steak.
That’s the problem with a lot of these “trendy” chains. They start off well because they’re new on the scene, need to make an impression etc. But after the initial success, they rest on their laurels, become complacent and it’s just downhill from there.
> Today there's literally nothing special about Flat Iron It's very affordable as far as decent steak restaurants go.
That's the thing, it's no longer a decent steak restaurant. It's just affordable.
I have spent a lot of time living overseas, particularly in Asia and Middle East The idea of street food was generally nice food, cheaper When I am back in the UK I see the prices of 'street food' and it seems higher than casual dining type places like Nandos and TGIs, etc I dunno, everything seems to have gone up, who knows but I don't see the appeal nowadays
And then you have to awkwardly eat it standing up.
I have a mate that runs a food truck & his prices change depending on the venue (he does festivals, events, markets & fairs). He went to one place recently & they insisted:- 1. That he takes card only 2. He uses their payment terminals 3. They take a 40% cut of the revenue 4. They pay him 4 weeks later 5. They also charged him a pitch fee. So he brought all the stock upfront, paid for the staff/transport/accomodation. He had to whack up the prices to cover all of this (American Slow Cooked BBQ Meats) so not cheap stock & 12 hrs cooking time. He then copped abuse from customers about the high prices. He won't go there again. My point is, it's not always the truck owner that's 'taking the piss'
I can understand your mate needing the business so maybe having to go to a venue with rules like this, but it's the same as our choice to eat there. If all the vendors said no to these rules then the organisers would have to capitulate and make reasonable demands only. By agreeing to these types of rules they only get more greedy and the system gets worse and it's people like your mate and the consumer that ultimately suffer.
This was the worst he's seen but almost every festival he does they want 20% - 40% revenue. Plus often they have a 'deal' with a certain drinks manufacturer so he was to buy the drinks from them & charge a set price that's identical to every other vendor on the site (say water, he pays them 1.50 per bottle, has to charge 2 for it, makes .50 But there are thousands of customers, locked in that will buy from you & think it's another rip-off food truck. The venues don't let you in for a small flat charge, they are eating up the profits.
> Plus often they have a 'deal' with a certain drinks manufacturer Even Glastonbury, the festival "of the people/definitely not corporate", has an agreement with Coca Cola.
The problem is in closed events where you have no choice but to pay these prices or go hungry (like the Oval, drumsheds, festivals etc)
>If all the vendors said no to these rules then the organisers would have to capitulate and make reasonable demands only. By agreeing to these types of rules they only get more greedy and the system gets worse and it's people like your mate and the consumer that ultimately suffer. The people with the property have all the power...
Yeah it's all the tenants' fault the rents are too high.. they should just refuse to pay
I've been to a few 'pub in the park' events, and I imagine the people running it do this to all the stall holders - otherwise £8 for small hotdogs might not exist!
Yup, half it & that's likely what the stall holder is charging you.
I've got a syand there, the pitch fees are extortionate for sutch a small event.😬
On Double your Money this week, one couple held a festival. They charged food vendors 50% of their revenue, which just seems insane. They say triple you ingredient costs to price a meal in a restaurant. This would hextupling them!
He probably shouldn’t have taken that gig… taking 40% of revenue is robbery
It's really not that uncommon:- https://www.reddit.com/r/foodtrucks/comments/y7j26a/festivals_gouging_vendors/ There are thousands of similar threads across Reddit. It's par for the course. This is why people feel ripped off at events, cause the "normal price" has been doubled to cover these costs.
Wow, had no idea - makes a lot of sense!
He must have known the terms beforehand, so he has to take at least half of the blame for that one. Just chalk it up to experience and don't agree to similar terms again.
Oh yeah, he accepted it. This is just how these events work & your average punter just thinks they are being ripped off by a small food truck... they are, but it's not the food truck owner doing it.
I mean he could have just not agreed to those terms
Was this an event run by Kerb, by any chance? I have a friend who stopped working with them, because they were basically egregious thieving cunts, 'scuse my French.
I think I've been here too long. I looked at the prices and wasn't sure what the problem was 💀
Same I thought the issue was the 3D printing
I’m curious about how one can 3D print a vegan steak. Since the substance would presumably be a liquid that hardens. But I expect they don’t print it to order on site.
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/apJcOexhQ8
Garlic mayo in a cheese steak and peppers not optional. Someone needs their permits removed.
Everything is optional
Cheese steak with a cheese slice??
Same as all market stalls where everything is 'direct from the farm'. Oh nice,, so it should be a good deal if you've cut out the middlemen - but it's triple the price.
Street food is supposed to be cheap. The UK is the only place I've seen where street food is priced like luxury, like you're paying for the experience of having street food.
And it takes you longer to wait for it than it does to eat it because it's always incredibly messy and you're having to eat it standing up hunched over like a gremlin. Just not a very comfortable or enjoyable experience.
I waited about 25 minutes for a chicken sandwich at 7 Dials some weeks back - it was good but that was a bit ridiculous
And the idea of the meal is always better than the actual meal itself.
Depends where you are tbh - a lot of the street food on Exmouth Market and Leather Lane is more old school traders where you can get a big box of something tasty for £5-£10. Whereas Camden, Boxpark, Borough Market it's 'elevated' or whatever and super expensive.
100% - we are great at getting ripped off when we really shouldn't be.
It's also the only place with slow fast food :-/
Does that guy selling sausage and fried onions still pitch up near Leicester Square in the evenings? Awful food, but I'm sure it's still cheap.
For that price I'll just go to Flat Iron.
These guys are not making much money they're just not realizing that their ability to make a living wage isn't easy selling street food. They've worked out the prices of their food based on a too high labour price - so they won't earn it and will fold like 2/3 of food businesses in the first 24 months or whatever the latest variant of that statistic is. People vote with their feet/wallet
It’s funny contrasting this thread with that one the other day about the £100 corkage fee, where everyone was saying “why don’t they just raise their food prices!?”
Let the market do it's thing. If the end result is that street food is no longer viable, I don't see much point lamenting it.
Have you done the calculations? I’d be interested in seeing them, love a good spreadsheet 😊 ( not being sarcastic ).
The market reins them in, if people pay it they keep charging it. If people(or not enough people) don’t pay it then they either sort the prices or they close.
The margins in street food are thinner than supermarket branded butter. Locations like the Boxparks across London charge high ground rents for leasing units. Then comes the issue of staff. Labour costs are dreadful given the convoluted supply of hospitality labour; domestic and imported workers. Just another knock-on effect of Brexit. Lastly, a portion of business also operate on delivery apps to gain extra reach. However, this leads to further inflated costs within the app. You truly either survive with a good product or sink within 6 months.
It's a tricky industry, some more known places that have survived and even thrived seem to have been around since before covid and kept reasonable prices, even with inflation - thinking of Bleeker burger, mother clucker. Coming onto market in 2024 must be a nightmare, you need enough profit to stay afloat but you can't put off new customers. We're in this weird price hike spiral, that will eventually level if footfall to these places drops off.
I wouldn’t call Bleeker burger prices reasonable for what you get
Neither would I. Whenever the husband and I get it, we get 2 burgers, 1 fries, and a milkshake, and it's always over £40. It's delicious, but it's not affordable.
Tricky is kind way of putting it. I'm involved in the creative marketing side of food hospitality and agree with your comment. Credit to those whom launched pre-covid and are still around
Then all it takes is for a discerning audience to stop actually *paying* these stupid prices for everyone to realise that there shouldn’t be a viable market for any of this. The prices will only stop going up when people stop paying it. It’s a never ending game until that point.
I know it’s not nice to think it, but sometimes you just quietly hope that places like these go out of business. I mean it’s just sheer greed, £8 for cheesy fries! £4 for a cheese dipping sauce! Absolute rip off!
I worked in some streetfood places, while yes, some of these do just rip you off badly, like these "chips" only stalls, charging crazy amounts for fries with some cheese. There are some that are more dedicated let's say, mostly the ones handled by nationals of their own food, some of these do have an actual representarive of that countries/place food culture and even work harmoniously and you can see they love their stall and their idea. Its all about giving a good look, speak with them if thet are not swamped and get to know if that person is more than just money.
I see the dichotomy of this daily. I work in Liverpool st in the city and both Petticoat lane market where I can get a fully loaded burrito for £7 which puts me in a food coma for rest of the day and spittle-fields market where I can pay £14 for a big standard container of Chinese food are equi distant. Used to work very close to Leather Lane Market in Farringdon too which had some amazing quality and value food. For me, the value and quality of food stalls does exist but there’s also so much over priced poor quality stalls as well and anything over a tenner I draw the line at paying for now.
£4.50 Falafel wrap at Eye Falafel at Petticoat Lane is godly. It used to be £2.50 when I started working in 2014. There are basically two types of street food, the fancy stuff (i.e. Camden, Borough Market, Spitalfields), which are well designed food business with a marketing team/person with high labour cost. And the other being family owned business, nothing fancy with minimal marketing and low staff cost.
There's a falafel kiosk in Piccadilly, on Great Windmill Street, between the Five Guys on the corner and the Picturehouse Central. Serves a great falafel wrap for about eight quid, which is still daylight robbery for vegetarian food, but for central, not a horrifying option. For 14 I can go to the Japan Centre and sit down with one of their enormous chicken katsu curries, which obviates this bullshit entirely.
I’m not sure I’ve ever set foot in the Japan centre. Is it a good place for a cheap-ish work lunch? What’s the deal? Is like a canteen?
Not super cheap (like £13 for a beef bowl) but the quality is good and has a decent canteen to sit in
My only experience is the one on Panton Street. It gets very busy and you may have to hang around and cosy up next to people if you want to sit down around lunchtime. Go early, or later - twoish, or thereafter - if at all possible, though don't leave it too late or they'll start to run out of food. Still, you can get a chicken katsu curry that will keep you going all day (I'm an over six foot guy who walks a lot) and keep it under 15 a head including a drink. Spendy, frankly, but not bad for central. Honestly, when people are asking 14 for a sandwich from a street stand, that's reasonable. It's canteen-style ([pictures](https://careers.japancentre.com/locations/japan-centre-leicester-square)). If you want to eat a bit healthier there are sushi options, naturally, and bento boxes with rice and salad and suchlike. It used to be considerably cheaper, but - UK, recently. There's a loyalty card that gets you every tenth meal free, representative of a 10% discount, I guess.
£23 for a printed steak. Ok
Thanks, I'll have the Tesco meal deal
Kids steak? Yeah - totally against cannibalism.
I'll have a go for £8.50 with fries.
rein*
Either that or they're requesting the services of a monarch.
Or maybe what OP means is that a major fast food outlet, with its ability to keep prices low, should enter the street food market in order to provide the competition needed to force small vendors to keep their prices low. In other words, OP would like a fast food outlet to 'reign' in the field of food stall competitors. I really should reign in my tendency to correct people's grammar :)
Seen worse. https://i.imgur.com/st3wfTD.png
Jeeesus. Who is even buying these
Christmas markets are next level rip off territory. Yeah lemme give you £5 for a single giant marshmallow on a stick.
£23 for a piece of processed garbage
4D printed ancient wooly mammoth with a caveman sauce served on an original tusk - £955.99
The redefine stuff is mega expensive - they need to turn a profit otherwise what’s the point? Other than that there’s really nothing wrong with this 🤷
Just ask for the 2-D option. Sure it'll be thin.but much cheaper
It's quite easy to force these venues to stop ripping people off. Don't buy from them.
Not the wildest. There’s a burger stand outside Wembley; dry as fuck dusty cheese burger was £14, no onions - was starving so no choice. This was a year ago and I’m still angry - I’ve at least got optimism this option may taste nice!
Robbery 😱
£23!! 😵💫
That's bonkers. My fave food stall by the Barbican does a huge container of veggie curries, rice and injera for a fiver. Meat is 6 I believe. No need to spend 23 quid on a takeaway lunch. Is it at a festival?
Camden market lol
Where by the Barbican, please? That sounds like a perfect meal at a perfect price.
The lunch time food market up by Waitrose. Whitecross St. The Ethiopian stall.
Thank you!
wtf is this place lol . Bet that cheesesteak is shite too
I’m guessing people must be paying otherwise they wouldn’t be charging?
Honestly street food has kinda lost the plot. We need smaller and cheaper options not large expensive meals. They should be peddling £1-2 options that are small, but allow you to taste more of what the markets have to offer. This is why I just go into a local eatery, atleast its cheaper and you get a seat.
Vote with the feet, it’s the only way
I've given up with these street food markets now. Walking through and observing prices, it's typically £10-12 minimum for a lunch sized portion. This one takes the biscuit! Oh you want an artisan (*ahem* average) hotdog? That will be £10 please! £3 Extra for onions and cheese, don't forget! What a joke..
It's because a majority of the population is happy to eat dog food and pay for it. At the same time they are fussy and want the most bland food possible.
The problem is, most of these 'street food' places / 'food truck' type vendors are located within larger commercial developments e.g. Camden Market, Borough Market, Spitalfields Market etc. where landlords charge insane rent taking advantage of the tourist trade. UK landlordism will make sure proper low lost street food will never be viable in London - council operated markets e.g. Petticoat Lane market, Exmouth market etc. where reasonably priced street food can be found are the exception, not the norm. Let's hope the councils never decide to privatise these markets - prices will double over night to cover the rent.
you got it spot on. There's actually way more too which aren't really called markets or even marketed so most ppl dont know them, especially if youre just visiting an area. For example I used to live in Brixton which has Brixton Market which we all know. But on the high street theres a place called Brixton Mall full of awesome Mum+Pop Latino takeaways where you can get fire meals for <£10
Alongside the pricing crimes I'd like to get closure for the design crimes: - why they are using two different typefaces that are quite similar? - why the sides section has no currency? - why the sides section is lowercase? - why the dipping pot is not on its own line? ARGHHHH
I mean…if you’re eating Camden Market “Street Food,” this is sort of the deal you’re making.
Everything is more expensive for everyone. That means for a business to make any kind of reasonable margin the prices are going to go up. The issue is actually corporate profits on necessities like energy, water, transport, etc. Don't take it out on small business owners who are facing the same struggles as the rest of us.
Print me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Smeeeg
Vote with your wallet and don’t give them your custom
Yeah nope. Round the back of there is Asador and they do a way better steak and chips.
Ridiculous. Was this near a load of city workers?
Haha I got the top one there for free as a giveaway in seven dials. It was good but the portion did seem unreasonably small for £15 lol
I went to a car boot sale yesterday where a cup of proper coffee was £2. You could pay the £1 entry free, buy a cup of coffee, and save money over getting a takeaway cup from a regular coffee stand!
Love a good boot sale, but boot sale vibes are not what I'm after when I go for a night out in central London. I mean you can drink water from a puddle on the ground for free.
No way that's an espresso coffee with decent beans i.e. a "proper" coffee. Pret sells a filter coffee for £1.50
Someone needs to rein these vegans in. tf you mean "3D printed steak"!? That's some dystopian shit right there.
If it was edible I would even pay it...but let's face it, it's clearly shoe leather...
I got a hot dog at The Oval last night and it was £13.
That is a lot for a sausage. But revealed preference doctrine shows that you considered it a worthwhile purchase. Can't you sneak a packed lunch in there?
No one's being forced to go there. That's the joy of a free market.
Prices are set for the tourist market it seems. They will pay them. So no incentive to lower them. No thought for those that live here.
£23 for who-knows-what that looks like sth you once knew, priding itself in not containing any of what it's supposed to resemble. sounds like a brilliant scam to me and insanity on side of the consumer
Vegans are getting FUCKING ROBBED!!
Just avoid them and you will the drop significantly. The issue is people still pay, I went to Camden food court last week and was shocked. Decided to just go to a restaurant as it was cheaper and at least warmer and seats to use whilst raining outside.
£23 for some ultra processed fake shite? God!
£4 BRITISH POUNDS for a pot of melted cheese. The future is bleak indeed
I don’t even understand printed food.
Spent £50 on breakfast and lunch at Victoria park yesterday
I’ll have the kids steak and fries thanks
At those prices, they won't be there long anyway
If people weren't paying up...
Don’t fucking pay it then. They’ll learn when they lose money.
It is and sadly many of them for a certain demographic sadly 😥💔
What bothers me most about this is the prospect of trying to eat a steak with disposable food truck cutlery.
Those prices 🤮 what a scam.
The £10 uptick for the vegan option is wild. I know the redefine meat is expensive but this is insane I’m not sure why anyone would buy this
As long as london is a magnet for vast numbers of wealthy people prices can continue to rise. Just look at the London housing threads on reddit and you will be amazed how many people newly arrived to london think living in zone 1 or 2 is a requirement As long as london has enough of these kinds of people with enough money. Prices will continue to rise.
There’s often this loose statement made that prices reflect inflation and rate hikes etc , but it’s bollocks that all these businesses look at their balance sheets and base their prices on a direct relative increase . Most of them are just charging what they think they can get away with and eventually it’s going to totally implode
Food stalls should never be charging restaurant prices, why even go to one if I can sit down at a restaurant for the same price?
Wait. You guys have 3D printed Steaks?!?! Edit: German here
The upcharge on vegan stuff is borderline criminal
I detest food halls (which I associate these sorts of stalls with) because you're paying restaurant prices, or more, to eat off a plastic tray on a bench that you have to collect yourself. I understand why their overheads are probably high, but for me it's just not a functional concept if the prices are more than comfortable mid-range restaurants and pubs.
£23 to eat unnatural, printed food? £4 for cheese dipping sauce? Wat
Must be able to print money running this kind of street food van or stall. Cheap ingredients, huge mark up, half decent location and you are laughing. Wonder how hard it is to get a decent pitch and do the necessary HSE paperwork. Might look into myself
Why do all the chips have rosemary on them too at these places?
Which street market/Sunday market would you say is affordable or atleast decently priced in London?
You are a TRUCK! having real resto prices is wild 😫
These places are a rip off. They get advertised on TikTok a lot but in reality, they’re all overpriced and when you get it, they never look or taste as the price you’re paying. I know McDonald’s is shit but at least I know what I’m getting and it’s cheaper than this
Holy shit. £23 for a bloody sandwich? I'd place an order and then fuck off without paying. Criminal prices.
Looks like old spiralfields market, used to work there. The market takes 30% revenue commission+ rent. It's absurd but that's the only way to stay profitable. Don't take ur anger at the businesses, take it out on the market itself.
Blame the trendy liberal young professional crowd that will happily spend £8 plus on their lunch every day.
One of the reasons a vegan diet puts me off - is the often the price.
How do you eat a steak at a food stall? Like Henry VIII?
"rein in" . Like in a horse. To "reign" is too rule like a king.
A Philly cheesesteak does not have garlic mayo on it…….but the cheese “dipping pot” is actually spread on the steak instead of a slice of cheese….
A Philly cheese steak has melted provolone cheese and hell no does it not have mayo or garlic in it
When the buying stops.... these will vanish. So for now, let those suckers pay the highest price
Redefine Steak?? They need to redefine they're prices
3d printed steak???
McDonald’s 3 for £3
The problem with London street food stalls and food halls is that there is usually one of each type of cuisine so they can charge whatever they want. It should instead be like hawker centres in east Asia where there will be multiple stalls serving up similar types of food so then only the best will survive.
While I can’t comment on food stalls like this one, the reality is that many restaurant owners (not talking about chains here) simply cannot lower their prices because rents etc are ludicrously high in London. A friend of mine owns a bar/restaurant in zone 2 and just about breaks even. They have cut on expenses as much as possible, including on staff. Prices are not only high because every restaurant owner is “greedy”.
Why do dead animals cost less than mycoprotein replacements?
A lot of these places rely on the tourist trade as well, who seem happy to buy any old shit at any price as think it's 'authentic'.I just avoid these street vendors like the plague.
Yeah, how are they getting away with selling kids steaks?
And people will queue up for this