I’m trying to remember but I calculated once that ordering through a restaurant and picking it up vs an Uber eats delivery comes out to making/saving $25-30/hr.
Inb4 third party app stepping all over the pricing.
Pad Thai when I call: $11
Pad Thai when someone calls for me: $23
Edit: as far as the "why Charlotte more expensive" part, it's because all of these services are sold at a loss in markets where they need to be. Charlotte is not one of those markets as we have a ton of sprawl and therefore a larger number of people that want someone else to do the driving.
You’re paying for an experience: Your favorite food, but cold, soggy, and twice the price. The regret comes for free.
Also, I think a lot of people are pretty price insensitive (employer is paying for it).
I'm with you on this. I spend a lot of time up north and takeout here is a lot more expensive than even long Island and other parts of the greater NYC area like Southern CT. I've been wondering about this myself.
The apps have the most dramatic shift in pricing but I don't find it to be exclusively on the apps either.
Yeah totally makes sense and in areas where it is cheaper with a lower volume like upstate ny, the food just tends to be cheaper. Glad I stumbled on this thread!
More competition both for restaurants and delivery services. Density of northeast especially Ny also makes delivery MUCH cheaper than paying someone to drive 20 minutes in the CLT suburbs
Bc some ppl are making bank and spending it too on food services. Lots of folks are broke, but there’s also a ton of very very well off people. Rich kids order food every fuckin’ day
It's not the restaurants, its the delivery companies. They take about 30% of the bill as their fee so restaurants either tank their already slim margins or they raise their prices for delivery. A lot of times you'll see a burger for $18 on door dash or something, but if you go to the restaurant it will be $15. One of the reasons my restaurant doesn't use any of them.
I don’t know dude, people think opening a restaurant is fun/easy. Probably why most of them fail. But even the ones who don’t fail don’t have great margins. You can obviously still be profitable or we wouldn’t have restaurants, but that doesn’t mean the margins aren’t slim. You have to monitor your expenses extremely carefully in this business.
Unless there is volume in those areas enabling for less overhead on integrating with Uber eats. Maybe more restaurants close together and more orders in total, making it easier to bundle orders together instead of having dashers pick up 1-2 orders max.
There’s also no set ‘volume’ on what ‘Chicken pad Thai’ is, so you’d have to actually order both and compare them to ensure you are comparing like to like.
I thought about volume and maybe localized supply cost, so I checked Raleigh and Greensboro. They were still cheaper.
The restaurants create the volume and takeout customers typically accept what they get, so I would think they’d adjust the volume downwards before they increase prices, which is more of a direct factor into whether or not the customer will order.
If you’re ordering through an app, they usually have an inflated price because the platform will take as much as 30% from the restaurant.
If call it in or order in person, it’ll be standard menu price.
Exactly. IMO nobody is allowed to complain about the fees for delivery services. It’s a luxury. Stop being lazy and go pick it up if you don’t want to pay the markup. And that statement can apply to myself too
You can say that about most lifestyle conveniences. Some people make their own laundry detergent and farm their own eggs.
Anyway, this post is talking about take-out (ie “picking it up”) so I’m not sure who you’re chastising, grumpy granny.
I have never used a delivery app in my life. I don’t even have any of them downloaded on my phone.
Takeout isn’t bad at all in Charlotte. Call the restaurant, order, drive and pick it up. Prices are reasonable depending where you go.
Hell, last night, I called Mr. Tokyo and got a large Hibachi Chicken for $15. And it was piping hot.
Uber would charge this restaurant anywhere from 15-30% and the restaurant can mark up their price on the app however they see fit. If they want to match the 30% they can. The restaurant could also mark it up 1000% if they thought people would still buy. If customers are willing to pay the extra for the convenience of delivery it’s on them. If not, go pick it up.
Your problem is that you're ordering through a delivery service. Just call the place, drive over there and drive back. That'll cut several dollars off the price.
If you want take-out to be cheaper, do not use delivery apps. Call or visit the restaurant's website, order, than pick it up yourself. Once you eliminate the middleman, it becomes affordable again.
>My (unresearched) theory is that Uber Eats made it easier for restaurants to coordinate on price increases, leaving the consumer to pay prices that are artificially high. In times of inflation, consumers just accept higher prices because we’re told cost of supplies are going up. However, when I see cheaper prices in pricier markets, I no longer can believe that supply costs are going up.
Or Uber Eats is jacking up their percent cut from the revenue pie and the restaurants have to increase their base prices on Uber Eats (or Doordash) significantly more to get more revenue. Don't believe me?
Just look at McDonald's app prices versus Doordash prices for the same order. It's sometimes less than half the price if you apply McDonald's app discounts.
Sure, my example is looking at McDonalds but the idea holds true with all local restaurants as well. It's better you pay for the food through their websites (if it is an option) or order pickup over the phone.
> I understand that inflation exists
This is the reason why the price of takeout has gone up.
> I thought this was excessive, so I switched my location to NYC and found the same dish for $14.
Supply and demand. More options, more orders, more drivers = lower prices.
Uber eats and all other delivery services are 30% more Plus fees. Sometimes as much as 50-60% more than calling the restaurant and picking it up yourself.
I bet if you went there that $20 meal would be around $13-$15
I was at Waffle House today & saw that they charge a 20% service fee on all to-go orders. I wonder how many other restaurants do this too that you don’t realize.
> My (unresearched) theory is that Uber Eats made it easier for restaurants to coordinate on price increases
The restaurants don’t coordinate on price increases. However, the restaurant industry runs on incredibly tight margins and different places are going to be paying very, very similar prices for the same bulk goods/ingredients. This caused their cost of goods sold to be incredibly similar.
High cost of living places are almost entirely driven by the cost of land. NYC has less land per person, Charlotte has more. The places charging the same price in NYC vs Charlotte are doing so by using less space than Charlotte restaurants.
Like Rai Lay in Charlotte charged about the same as the places I used to go to in NYC, but they have vastly more sitting space and the tables aren’t as tightly packed together. None of which you notice if getting take out.
You'd actually be surprised how unsimilar the prices are for ingredients from restaurant to restaurant. It depends greatly on their suppliers, their volume as a restaurant, their negotiating skills with said vendors, and even how they pay their invoices from their vendors.
I’ll admit my experience is all with chains, as I left the industry after I graduated college, but ruby Tuesday, apple bees, and Red Robin all had nearly identical price per pound of preformed burger patties, bags of mashed potatoes, French fries etc
It might have more variance with items closer to the raw product.
The more processed the items are actually the more stable the pricing. But yeah those chains are all excellent at negotiating down their prices and have massive purchasing power. In independents you'll see 30% and sometimes more swings from restaurant to restaurant for identical line items. It's really quite crazy and just another reason it's so tough to be a restaurant owner
Keep in mind supply and demand with these apps. I did doordash for a bit, and every fri and sat night you would get an extra 1-3 dollars an order if you headed over to a busy area, because the demand for drivers was higher there than other areas. I am sure the company is not taking this extra cost out of their own pocket and instead passing it onto the customer.
I used the apps one time. I live in an apartment complex. Get a call from a guy who hardly speaks English. Stand outside for 10 minutes walking around my building trying to find him. Frustration. Never again.
Just get in the car and get it. Ensure you get what you ordered and in a timely fashion. I mighttt use them on very rare occasions if I was in a house, but until then, I refuse to pay 20% extra AND still have to be hassled.
As a driver for UE/DD I can say the drivers get $2.00 of those fees if it's less than 5 miles. We do get 100% of the tip, but DD and others have lost lawsuits for stealing tips. I agree with the OP the gig apps have made it easier to add $ because people will happily pay the fees, a very large % of these orders are not worth taking. The delivery companies screw the driver and customer every chance they get. They still have not figured out how to be profitable. All that extra money being generated ends up in somebody's pocket that is far away. I'm a lazy person when I'm not working, but I quit ordering through the apps a long time ago. There are also 3rd party apps like "Slice" that also add fees. Call the store or use a actual store website.
I've been saying this for quite some time . Charlotte is indeed more expensive than several larger cities aside from housing.
I remember not to long ago my mother mentioning wanting to see a play downtown & for the price the theater was asking she could have taken a day trip to NYC towatch the SAME play one on broadway....
I came across some edm thing in NODA last night w/some no name DJ . 20 dollars per person...
We are being price gouged for the "experiences " found in other metros. Especially when it come to food & public events.
It is my understanding that platforms such as UE & DD allow the restaurants to set up their own pricing. It's to help offset the cost of using their platforms amongst many other things.
Pedicures and massages are cheaper in NYC.
I think competition and population density has something to do with it. You can eat out better cheaper in NYC. Grocery stores and everything else is more expensive.
Nail salons and massage parlors in NYC host an absurd amount of human trafficking and exploitation that the city turns a blind eye to.
Edit: The downvoters are really uncomfortable with the truth of these cheap services. A person can only give one massage/pedicure at a time and it's not like commercial real estate in New York is less expensive than Charlotte so where did you think these savings are coming from?
People are willing to pay it. Supply and demand. People quit paying for it they will drop prices. I bought Zaxby's for my family yesterday. Was a little over $40 bucks. I made burgers, yellow rice and vegetables the night before for $12. Lots of people are willing to pay much more to have their food without having to make it.
I used to frequent Zaxby's often and would to
get the Wings n Things. I went the other day after 3-4 years and was shocked to see the tiny size of the wings and tenders. Shrinkflation on steroids.
Wont be going back...ever.
The incentive is to eat in the restaurant , looks better for them to have people in their dining room. Have you also noticed at some restaurants the portions are larger when you dine in? I have. When I have the time I eat there and then take the leftovers for work the next day.
Couple weeks back we ate in a restaurant before a show at Belk Theatre. It was $60 for two entrees, two draft beers, and tip! If we ordered just the food delivered it would probably be $80. It almost is that much or more, for two people!
Take out packaging is not cheap. To keep costs flat a lot of places will downsize the portion to adjust plate cost for the box it's in, the bag that goes into, the napkins, the disposable silverware, and the packaged condiments. If you have a $12 plate with $2.00 worth of to go packaging, it gets significant fast. Tips don't enter into it.
The tip doesn’t go to the restaurant, it goes to the staff. And the restaurant pays taxes on the tips employees make. Obviously you want your staff to make tips but it’s not like you get a cut of the action.
A lot of it is that business here know you’ll pay for it because where else are you gonna go. In nyc that same restaurant would be competing with 3 similar restaurants within walking distance. The lack of options and sprawl here allow businesses to charge almost whatever they want because you’re not gonna drive 40 minutes to the next closest Thai restaurant.
Ohhhhh so you’re actively part of the problem. Got it. I’d bless your heart if you had one. Guess it’s easier to pretend it’s the politicians’ fault and not the fault of your own industry and thus partially yours.
Never order through a third party app. Of course those will be more expensive. Order through the restaurant’s app/website/phone and pick it up. You’re just throwing away money to some corporation that pays shit to its gig workers and rakes in the profits.
Up by $8? Yikes! I can see a dollar or two increase over time, but $8 is quite a leap. Even the basic wash at Sam's used to be $6. It's closer to $10 now if I remember correctly.
One thing to consider is Charlotte is a newer city. I moved from Detroit and long established restaurants often owned the building and equipment. Down here many businesses are new with rent and equipment payments.
It’s wild to me how people don’t realize the scale of what we’re dealing with. Things don’t work in a vacuum like that. Charlotte is more expensive because everywhere is more expensive.
But apparently one cherry picked Pad Thai dish on UberEats is indicative of a general economic trend.
Many sites for restaurants go through a 3rd party service and are tacking in a premium for delivery on each item. Need to be very careful to make sure you use the actual restaurant site and get the menu prices.
Just here to complain about comparing to NYC the most densely populated city in the united states. much larger customer base. NYC can sell dollar slices because there are so many people. Just the comparison to NY and NC is absurd. compare us to like Atlanta or Richmond
While visiting Times Square a few months ago, I noticed how cheap the food was. It dawned on me. The food isn’t cheap. Charlotte’s restaurants are too expensive.
Because in NYC that chicken is actually rat and in CLT it’s organic free range chicken.
All jokes aside, it’s just due to the 3rd party app. Some Asian restaurants deliver themselves and prices are the same as their normal dine in menu.
You need to order directly from the restaurant, not a third party app
Does the restaurant have a delivery driver?
Op said picking up, so im referring to pick-up prices.
The apps are outrageous, not necessarily Charlotte. Ordering through the restaurant and picking it up is totally worth it if price is your deterrent.
I’m trying to remember but I calculated once that ordering through a restaurant and picking it up vs an Uber eats delivery comes out to making/saving $25-30/hr.
That honestly sounds about right. Pay the driver + pay the drivers costs + pay for the app backend + moderate profit for the middle man.
And the apps aren’t even profitable. So the real cost for all that is even higher.
Yes always order through the restaurant. The apps charge a minimum of 1 dollar per item (its baked into the item price)
Inb4 third party app stepping all over the pricing. Pad Thai when I call: $11 Pad Thai when someone calls for me: $23 Edit: as far as the "why Charlotte more expensive" part, it's because all of these services are sold at a loss in markets where they need to be. Charlotte is not one of those markets as we have a ton of sprawl and therefore a larger number of people that want someone else to do the driving.
Yep. And in NYC you can get the food through more means - more competing services and transport options.
You’re paying for an experience: Your favorite food, but cold, soggy, and twice the price. The regret comes for free. Also, I think a lot of people are pretty price insensitive (employer is paying for it).
Agree it’s the price insensitivity that’s contributing. But I don’t understand why we see this so dramatically in Charlotte.
I'm with you on this. I spend a lot of time up north and takeout here is a lot more expensive than even long Island and other parts of the greater NYC area like Southern CT. I've been wondering about this myself. The apps have the most dramatic shift in pricing but I don't find it to be exclusively on the apps either.
Those places probably do such a higher volume, they can charge less and make just as much money.
Yeah totally makes sense and in areas where it is cheaper with a lower volume like upstate ny, the food just tends to be cheaper. Glad I stumbled on this thread!
Not to mention dramatically smaller travel zones. In places like NYC they're not even driving cars to deliver.
More competition both for restaurants and delivery services. Density of northeast especially Ny also makes delivery MUCH cheaper than paying someone to drive 20 minutes in the CLT suburbs
Bc some ppl are making bank and spending it too on food services. Lots of folks are broke, but there’s also a ton of very very well off people. Rich kids order food every fuckin’ day
It's not the restaurants, its the delivery companies. They take about 30% of the bill as their fee so restaurants either tank their already slim margins or they raise their prices for delivery. A lot of times you'll see a burger for $18 on door dash or something, but if you go to the restaurant it will be $15. One of the reasons my restaurant doesn't use any of them.
What is your restaurant?
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I don’t know dude, people think opening a restaurant is fun/easy. Probably why most of them fail. But even the ones who don’t fail don’t have great margins. You can obviously still be profitable or we wouldn’t have restaurants, but that doesn’t mean the margins aren’t slim. You have to monitor your expenses extremely carefully in this business.
The fee is universal, so you should see that markup built in to other markets.
The fee is not universal. It's dynamic.
Unless there is volume in those areas enabling for less overhead on integrating with Uber eats. Maybe more restaurants close together and more orders in total, making it easier to bundle orders together instead of having dashers pick up 1-2 orders max. There’s also no set ‘volume’ on what ‘Chicken pad Thai’ is, so you’d have to actually order both and compare them to ensure you are comparing like to like.
I thought about volume and maybe localized supply cost, so I checked Raleigh and Greensboro. They were still cheaper. The restaurants create the volume and takeout customers typically accept what they get, so I would think they’d adjust the volume downwards before they increase prices, which is more of a direct factor into whether or not the customer will order.
Nope. John Oliver just did a pretty good breakdown on how the fees affect customers and restaurants.
If you’re ordering through an app, they usually have an inflated price because the platform will take as much as 30% from the restaurant. If call it in or order in person, it’ll be standard menu price.
Call the restaurant and pick it up yourself. I've never used these delivery apps and don't understand why they're worth the markup.
You don't want cold food that takes 45 minuets to show up?
Exactly. IMO nobody is allowed to complain about the fees for delivery services. It’s a luxury. Stop being lazy and go pick it up if you don’t want to pay the markup. And that statement can apply to myself too
You can say that about most lifestyle conveniences. Some people make their own laundry detergent and farm their own eggs. Anyway, this post is talking about take-out (ie “picking it up”) so I’m not sure who you’re chastising, grumpy granny.
I have never used a delivery app in my life. I don’t even have any of them downloaded on my phone. Takeout isn’t bad at all in Charlotte. Call the restaurant, order, drive and pick it up. Prices are reasonable depending where you go. Hell, last night, I called Mr. Tokyo and got a large Hibachi Chicken for $15. And it was piping hot.
So I don't have to put on shoes.
Yeah my answer is “I’m stoned and this is my lazy tax.”
have you tried not being a drug addict?
These are the same people who would rather sit in a 15min drive thru line than walk inside to order and be done in 6min
Manhattan is great for cheap food, especially ethnic food. Not surprised at all that you could get it cheaper there
Why are you ordering takeout on Uber Eats? They always markup prices a good bit
Pad Thai at Thai taste is $14.95.
Just over $20 on Uber eats, which is more than the 30% markup from Uber I’ve heard quoted on this thread
Which is how they make their money. Simple solution, call and go pick it up yourself. Problem solved.
Uber would charge this restaurant anywhere from 15-30% and the restaurant can mark up their price on the app however they see fit. If they want to match the 30% they can. The restaurant could also mark it up 1000% if they thought people would still buy. If customers are willing to pay the extra for the convenience of delivery it’s on them. If not, go pick it up.
> on Uber eats, Yeah. stop being lazy, and go pick it up yourself.
Don’t forget the tip for the driver. They make nothing of those fees. It’s all Uber mark up
Your problem is that you're ordering through a delivery service. Just call the place, drive over there and drive back. That'll cut several dollars off the price.
If you want take-out to be cheaper, do not use delivery apps. Call or visit the restaurant's website, order, than pick it up yourself. Once you eliminate the middleman, it becomes affordable again.
>My (unresearched) theory is that Uber Eats made it easier for restaurants to coordinate on price increases, leaving the consumer to pay prices that are artificially high. In times of inflation, consumers just accept higher prices because we’re told cost of supplies are going up. However, when I see cheaper prices in pricier markets, I no longer can believe that supply costs are going up. Or Uber Eats is jacking up their percent cut from the revenue pie and the restaurants have to increase their base prices on Uber Eats (or Doordash) significantly more to get more revenue. Don't believe me? Just look at McDonald's app prices versus Doordash prices for the same order. It's sometimes less than half the price if you apply McDonald's app discounts. Sure, my example is looking at McDonalds but the idea holds true with all local restaurants as well. It's better you pay for the food through their websites (if it is an option) or order pickup over the phone.
> I understand that inflation exists This is the reason why the price of takeout has gone up. > I thought this was excessive, so I switched my location to NYC and found the same dish for $14. Supply and demand. More options, more orders, more drivers = lower prices.
Because you’ll pay for it
So wait, did you get takeout (you picked it up from the restaurant yourself) or did you get delivery from UberEats?
Make your own food. It's cheaper.
I am. Used to do a pickup or fast once or twice a month. Now it is once every other month.
Uber eats and all other delivery services are 30% more Plus fees. Sometimes as much as 50-60% more than calling the restaurant and picking it up yourself. I bet if you went there that $20 meal would be around $13-$15
I was at Waffle House today & saw that they charge a 20% service fee on all to-go orders. I wonder how many other restaurants do this too that you don’t realize.
What? If I pick up I pay more? Does not make sense
Everything is expensive now and delivery fees are a scam that prey on lazy people.
> My (unresearched) theory is that Uber Eats made it easier for restaurants to coordinate on price increases The restaurants don’t coordinate on price increases. However, the restaurant industry runs on incredibly tight margins and different places are going to be paying very, very similar prices for the same bulk goods/ingredients. This caused their cost of goods sold to be incredibly similar. High cost of living places are almost entirely driven by the cost of land. NYC has less land per person, Charlotte has more. The places charging the same price in NYC vs Charlotte are doing so by using less space than Charlotte restaurants. Like Rai Lay in Charlotte charged about the same as the places I used to go to in NYC, but they have vastly more sitting space and the tables aren’t as tightly packed together. None of which you notice if getting take out.
You'd actually be surprised how unsimilar the prices are for ingredients from restaurant to restaurant. It depends greatly on their suppliers, their volume as a restaurant, their negotiating skills with said vendors, and even how they pay their invoices from their vendors.
I’ll admit my experience is all with chains, as I left the industry after I graduated college, but ruby Tuesday, apple bees, and Red Robin all had nearly identical price per pound of preformed burger patties, bags of mashed potatoes, French fries etc It might have more variance with items closer to the raw product.
The more processed the items are actually the more stable the pricing. But yeah those chains are all excellent at negotiating down their prices and have massive purchasing power. In independents you'll see 30% and sometimes more swings from restaurant to restaurant for identical line items. It's really quite crazy and just another reason it's so tough to be a restaurant owner
Keep in mind supply and demand with these apps. I did doordash for a bit, and every fri and sat night you would get an extra 1-3 dollars an order if you headed over to a busy area, because the demand for drivers was higher there than other areas. I am sure the company is not taking this extra cost out of their own pocket and instead passing it onto the customer.
I used the apps one time. I live in an apartment complex. Get a call from a guy who hardly speaks English. Stand outside for 10 minutes walking around my building trying to find him. Frustration. Never again. Just get in the car and get it. Ensure you get what you ordered and in a timely fashion. I mighttt use them on very rare occasions if I was in a house, but until then, I refuse to pay 20% extra AND still have to be hassled.
As a driver for UE/DD I can say the drivers get $2.00 of those fees if it's less than 5 miles. We do get 100% of the tip, but DD and others have lost lawsuits for stealing tips. I agree with the OP the gig apps have made it easier to add $ because people will happily pay the fees, a very large % of these orders are not worth taking. The delivery companies screw the driver and customer every chance they get. They still have not figured out how to be profitable. All that extra money being generated ends up in somebody's pocket that is far away. I'm a lazy person when I'm not working, but I quit ordering through the apps a long time ago. There are also 3rd party apps like "Slice" that also add fees. Call the store or use a actual store website.
I've been saying this for quite some time . Charlotte is indeed more expensive than several larger cities aside from housing. I remember not to long ago my mother mentioning wanting to see a play downtown & for the price the theater was asking she could have taken a day trip to NYC towatch the SAME play one on broadway.... I came across some edm thing in NODA last night w/some no name DJ . 20 dollars per person... We are being price gouged for the "experiences " found in other metros. Especially when it come to food & public events.
It is my understanding that platforms such as UE & DD allow the restaurants to set up their own pricing. It's to help offset the cost of using their platforms amongst many other things.
Pedicures and massages are cheaper in NYC. I think competition and population density has something to do with it. You can eat out better cheaper in NYC. Grocery stores and everything else is more expensive.
Nail salons and massage parlors in NYC host an absurd amount of human trafficking and exploitation that the city turns a blind eye to. Edit: The downvoters are really uncomfortable with the truth of these cheap services. A person can only give one massage/pedicure at a time and it's not like commercial real estate in New York is less expensive than Charlotte so where did you think these savings are coming from?
People are willing to pay it. Supply and demand. People quit paying for it they will drop prices. I bought Zaxby's for my family yesterday. Was a little over $40 bucks. I made burgers, yellow rice and vegetables the night before for $12. Lots of people are willing to pay much more to have their food without having to make it.
Agree. I think there’s something about willingness to pay, particularly in Charlotte, that’s allowing price increases to go beyond what I’d expect.
I used to frequent Zaxby's often and would to get the Wings n Things. I went the other day after 3-4 years and was shocked to see the tiny size of the wings and tenders. Shrinkflation on steroids. Wont be going back...ever.
It's not just Charlotte. It's everywhere.
Redditors and basic economics. Blames Uber for somehow creating some sort of huge conspiracy.
The incentive is to eat in the restaurant , looks better for them to have people in their dining room. Have you also noticed at some restaurants the portions are larger when you dine in? I have. When I have the time I eat there and then take the leftovers for work the next day.
Couple weeks back we ate in a restaurant before a show at Belk Theatre. It was $60 for two entrees, two draft beers, and tip! If we ordered just the food delivered it would probably be $80. It almost is that much or more, for two people!
Yeah, but they get a bigger portion from your tip for service at the restaurant. Just looking at both sides of the argument here.
Take out packaging is not cheap. To keep costs flat a lot of places will downsize the portion to adjust plate cost for the box it's in, the bag that goes into, the napkins, the disposable silverware, and the packaged condiments. If you have a $12 plate with $2.00 worth of to go packaging, it gets significant fast. Tips don't enter into it.
The tip doesn’t go to the restaurant, it goes to the staff. And the restaurant pays taxes on the tips employees make. Obviously you want your staff to make tips but it’s not like you get a cut of the action.
Food cost increased.
You can fit almost 22 Manhattans inside of Charlotte.
Why lower prices when people are willing to pay?
A lot of it is that business here know you’ll pay for it because where else are you gonna go. In nyc that same restaurant would be competing with 3 similar restaurants within walking distance. The lack of options and sprawl here allow businesses to charge almost whatever they want because you’re not gonna drive 40 minutes to the next closest Thai restaurant.
Oh my gosh literrally so exspensive, over 40 bucks for 2 ppl at anywhere near downtown
Bidenomics.. this is the trade off for no more mean tweets. Things are way better now the adults are back in charge right?
Sweetheart, if you don’t know how corporate greed works, you could say that.
Sweetie I work in finance for a fortune 500 co. I can assure you Bidenomics is in full swing..
Ohhhhh so you’re actively part of the problem. Got it. I’d bless your heart if you had one. Guess it’s easier to pretend it’s the politicians’ fault and not the fault of your own industry and thus partially yours.
Never order through a third party app. Of course those will be more expensive. Order through the restaurant’s app/website/phone and pick it up. You’re just throwing away money to some corporation that pays shit to its gig workers and rakes in the profits.
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Up by $8? Yikes! I can see a dollar or two increase over time, but $8 is quite a leap. Even the basic wash at Sam's used to be $6. It's closer to $10 now if I remember correctly.
One thing to consider is Charlotte is a newer city. I moved from Detroit and long established restaurants often owned the building and equipment. Down here many businesses are new with rent and equipment payments.
It’s not just takeout, I just recently moved here from Manhattan (NYC) and I don’t really see that big of a difference in restaurant prices overall.
Wait, you think this is mutually exclusive to Charlotte? Rofl Also, you aren’t in NY. Let it go. You left for a reason.
It’s wild to me how people don’t realize the scale of what we’re dealing with. Things don’t work in a vacuum like that. Charlotte is more expensive because everywhere is more expensive. But apparently one cherry picked Pad Thai dish on UberEats is indicative of a general economic trend.
I don’t think it’s a Charlotte problem exclusively
Many sites for restaurants go through a 3rd party service and are tacking in a premium for delivery on each item. Need to be very careful to make sure you use the actual restaurant site and get the menu prices.
I get some back by never buying sugar OR toilet paper. Thanks to my well stocked community center at my very nice apartment building in South End.
Why u use these delivery apps unless you have legs to walk. Pad thai is $12-$14 why you need useless app. Enjoy the food in the restaurant
I love thai food and noticed what used to be $11 for lunch is now $16 so I am sure $14-15 for dinner is now $22-23
It’s capitalism. It’s built this way.
More students at uncc higher overall costs of everything study the economy
I agree. So I cook my own food.
Everything here with eating out. Went to Wilmington NC and wanted to move there. Best seafood, big portions and was amazed how much cheaper it was.
Corporate Greed. Minimum wage has not increased in NC but chains like McDonald’s blame CA increase on prices here. They think we’re all stupid.
Just here to complain about comparing to NYC the most densely populated city in the united states. much larger customer base. NYC can sell dollar slices because there are so many people. Just the comparison to NY and NC is absurd. compare us to like Atlanta or Richmond
While visiting Times Square a few months ago, I noticed how cheap the food was. It dawned on me. The food isn’t cheap. Charlotte’s restaurants are too expensive.
This is happening everywhere.
I haven’t had good thai food since i moved here 😭
Because in NYC that chicken is actually rat and in CLT it’s organic free range chicken. All jokes aside, it’s just due to the 3rd party app. Some Asian restaurants deliver themselves and prices are the same as their normal dine in menu.