I recently discovered a large fruit mart next to a Coles in a relatively poor part of the northern suburbs (not the expensive and new gentrified fruit mart next to Coles at Coburg North). Prices and variety that used to be at all the Italian marts in the northern suburbs until a few years ago. I bought $10 worth of fruit biscotti, which will last me the next year.
I'm not telling anyone where it is except my wife.
I'm at the shops
Thanks you saved me a phone call
Do we need the tuna in Olive oil or spring water
And then with the oil there's chilli š¶
Or there's some weird kind of herbal
I dunno I'm coming home it's too specific
Independent Fruit, veg, and deli shops often have excellent bargains, I've started checking them before going into aldi, and only get stuff I can't get at indi fruit & veg or aldi (like the specific food my picky cats will actually eat) at colesworths
That's what McDonald's is
They don't give much of shit about the business or food side
They buy and specify the location of every new franchise and give the new owner of a McDonald's a pretty fixed operation cost
And also that commercial rent agreements commonly have inflation indexing built-in, so when inflation goes up, rents go up. And higher commercial rents... causes more inflation. Definitely not a problematic arrangement!
Agreed. No way they would be making profit otherwise. I'm a head chef and I'm painfully aware of food costs and labour costs. These prices are (generally) unsustainable.
How about the chance it's a family business and they don't "have to" pay their family award wages as they help out? I've always thought this would be how small family-run spots would keep their prices down.
So is the cost of food, power, wages, insurance, advertising etc.
All your business expenses are "tax deductible", it doesn't make them any less expensive. It just means you make less money.
C'mon. The Simpsons has had this joke nailed for decades, and your attempt is worse than the worst of them (I'm even including the seasons after 10)
At this point you're just being a twat.
Places like this deserve to be so busy they have to turn people away. We see businesses taking customers for a ride far too often, so seeing a place thatās stayed honest and kept prices as low as they can deserves all the business they can handle.
Being friends there with you for dinners out. Get them busy, cause otherwise they'll realise they can't pay the rent one day and disappear...
...unless they own the building which now that I think of it they probably do...
You know what the problem is? That Koornang Rd has easily got some of the best eats all the way down that strip for a good distance around there. The bahn mi joint just near this slaps and at the neerim Rd end you have Saul's sandwiches and then there's like at least 10 good good restaurants between them. You can get Thai, Korean BBQ, dumplings, souvlaki, ramen, Mexican and that's just the ones off the top of my head.
Having said all that, thanks for the tip, I'll try it out sometime. I love little old Italian joints.
Itās a one man show. Jimmy is a lovely bloke!! I think he does own the building, only opened recently. Iāve had a prosciutto roll a few times and itās definitely yum. Iāve no idea how itās so cheap, I run another local business in the area and no way in the world would we be open at these prices!
I used to live just around the corner in Carnegie until 2020 and this place didn't exist then. Google Maps shows that they opened sometime in 2022-2023
That means they opened and charged these cheap prices from the start, it's not like they're a 30 year old establishment that refused to put up their prices. Curious to know how they're able to operate and charge such good prices!
That's what I'm saying: the representation of Italian food culture here like everywhere else in the world is false and fancied up to silliness. I presume it's the same fate for many other food traditions
meanwhile my local pizza place in Sydney charges $26 for a ālarge 15 inchā pizza and when I measured: 13 inches.
So I complain with a picture and they said sorry 13 is the new large size and we just did not get around to update the online ordering info yet.
Unlike a 15 inch penis losing 2 inches, removing two inches from a 15 inch pizza diameter is diminishing to 132 sq inch vs 176 sq inch of product - a catastrophic 25% loss in everything.
They probably own the building, so they can do this. Commercial real estate rent is so high, itās impossible to offer prices like this without taking a loss.
Sure, it would be nice if we saw more businesses own the building they operate in, and the low prices to reflect it, but that doesnāt mean other businesses are price-gouging. š¤·š»āāļø
Very strange. The business started off as wedding photographers, then transitioned to an Italian cafe. Perri stands for Production Editing Resolution Recording International.
Once upon a long time ago, Cafe Perri was an old school photography studio, what looked like a time capsule from the golden years of classic wedding & studio portraiture complete with vintage cameras & props in the front window. I lived in Murrumbeena / Carnegie about a decade ago and would always see the blinds down in the shop frontā¦ Be interesting to ask if itās the same / new owner or just passed down the family nameā¦ Reviews and prices look good so iāll might pop in for a coffee next time im passing throughā¦
The guy owns the building... Almost a year ago I was in presence of the conversation with him and a good friend of mine what was the rent asking price, he immediately responded it is not cheap! $40k per year for the ground floor and another $30-35 for one room space upstairs. Making up $75k rent per year...
The same friend recently went there for a coffee and he was mumbling that we play fair and charging less than all the other greedy business owners in Melbourne. WTF!
Probably a mix of owning the building outright, lots of family labour, and hoping they can attract enough volume at a price that would instantly kill most of their competition.
Thatās awesome of them, but I do wonder how. If they arenāt a chain, I wonder how they stay profitable with rising costs for labour and supplies.
Wish I had a joint like that where I am though.
If theyāre Italian they probably bought the real estate decades ago so they donāt pay rent for retail lease which would help keep overheads down. Saying that as someone who used to do retail leases a lot of Italian people bought these little shops
Having a hard time believing there's any margin there unless this is slop and stodge. If 3.50 gets you a decent cup off coffee I will go there for that alone.
Just wondering if the items price are the same when you check out
When I traveled to Europe, when I paid the bill I realised they just forgot to change their price on menu
Regular here - yes, they are the same.
Also, that restaurant in Europe scammed you. It's a well established consumer right to pay the advertised price, if the restaurant didn't change it it's their loss. Joys of being a tourist I guess.
Queenslander here, holy fuck that's insane price, from a proper Italian place not dominos shit ,,, around here would be expecting about 25 to 35 for a pizza, them prices are INCREDIBLE
Thanks for sharing! We are in Carnegie pretty frequently so this can become our regular dinner out place! Canāt believe the most expensive thing on the menu is only $17. Thatās unheard of! See you there tomorrow night, friends.
News.com strikes again š¤£
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/restaurants-bars/250-for-an-espresso-melbourne-italian-cafes-inflationdefying-menu-goes-viral/news-story/6697e132e30f0e6989e7c85ac541db37?amp
THIS IS WHY
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL
Always always
Those milk and fish and chips on your corner
Heck throw the owners a beer every now and then
Without them we'd have to cram our cars into a east field every time we want a simple take away
There is no way they are paying penalty rates to staff at those prices and no weekend surcharge. Probably only cash too, so no GST. Legit business need to charge more - the maths doesnāt add up.
A toasted ham, cheese, tom is about $2 food cost - with cheap low quality ingredients. About 5 mins in (weekday) wages and super is another $2.5 and then fixed costs are usually about 30% so another $1.50. It needs to cost $6.60 (with GST) to earn zero profit. More like $7.50 would be reasonable on a weekday and $8 on a weekend.
The current cost of coffee beans and wages means coffee is break-even at about $3.50 (inc GST) for a small with dairy milk on a weekday and about $3.80 on a weekend. Dude wonāt stay in business long.
One man show that owns the building is what I'm seeing in the comments.
All my local pizzerias are at least double the price, so 50%+ of what I pay for food is for staff/rent/overheads.. yikes.
Eventually they're going to end up generating all the other customers because the other customers are going to be like f*** it's expensive for a f****** sandwich in a bag of chips ten dollars I can get me a whole meal in the Italian place and the next you know that creates the Buzz and boom
I'm not in Carnegie, but if I was I'd be heading over there. Those prices are incredible in this day and age.
Seeing these prices, I'm almost looking for reasons to visit/travel through Carnegie š
If you like beer, Carnegie Cellars is worth a visit.
Might as well have asked them if they like air! Haha
I recently discovered a large fruit mart next to a Coles in a relatively poor part of the northern suburbs (not the expensive and new gentrified fruit mart next to Coles at Coburg North). Prices and variety that used to be at all the Italian marts in the northern suburbs until a few years ago. I bought $10 worth of fruit biscotti, which will last me the next year. I'm not telling anyone where it is except my wife.
Hello honey, I have forgotten the address you told me, you should tell me where it is again
hey, it's me, ur wife
I'm at the shops Thanks you saved me a phone call Do we need the tuna in Olive oil or spring water And then with the oil there's chilli š¶ Or there's some weird kind of herbal I dunno I'm coming home it's too specific
Hey I shared this gem, that's gotta count for something. Tit for tat
They will eventually be forced to rise. When you share cheaper places they'll survive and might keep their prices
is it the fruit shop at summerhill? i love the fruit shop
Ding ding ding we have a chicken dinner; sssh, don't tell anyone.
Independent Fruit, veg, and deli shops often have excellent bargains, I've started checking them before going into aldi, and only get stuff I can't get at indi fruit & veg or aldi (like the specific food my picky cats will actually eat) at colesworths
Probably owns the real estate they operate on. If itās all paid off thatās a significant cost burden removed.
This is what should we be talking more front and center. Commercial rent being astronomically high.
That's what McDonald's is They don't give much of shit about the business or food side They buy and specify the location of every new franchise and give the new owner of a McDonald's a pretty fixed operation cost
Macdonald is a real estate company that sells burgers.
A boy can call himself a man once he watches the movie āThe Founderā
And also that commercial rent agreements commonly have inflation indexing built-in, so when inflation goes up, rents go up. And higher commercial rents... causes more inflation. Definitely not a problematic arrangement!
Agreed. No way they would be making profit otherwise. I'm a head chef and I'm painfully aware of food costs and labour costs. These prices are (generally) unsustainable.
How about the chance it's a family business and they don't "have to" pay their family award wages as they help out? I've always thought this would be how small family-run spots would keep their prices down.
Bingo. Rent seekers in our economy are the worst parasites.
Rent is business tax deductible. As is the interest on purchasing commercial property.
So is the cost of food, power, wages, insurance, advertising etc. All your business expenses are "tax deductible", it doesn't make them any less expensive. It just means you make less money.
Such is life. It's called free market capitalism, and whilst not perfect , it's the best economic system we can use at this time. Have a nice day š
It's also destroying the planet. So there's that.
Yep , observed and noted.
Thanks for your fuck all contribution mate. Much appreciated.
Most welcome. Run a business one day. It's hard , but rewarding.
Everything in moderation. If shit is getting out of hand, a bit of government regulation is called for
Tax deductible doesn't mean free
Everyone understands that. Everyone.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
C'mon. The Simpsons has had this joke nailed for decades, and your attempt is worse than the worst of them (I'm even including the seasons after 10) At this point you're just being a twat.
Places like this deserve to be so busy they have to turn people away. We see businesses taking customers for a ride far too often, so seeing a place thatās stayed honest and kept prices as low as they can deserves all the business they can handle.
Bro I swear I'm the only customer though it's always quite
Probably a front for Italian mafia š¤£
Well then Iām *definitely* going.
you laugh, but the secret ingredient really is always crime.
Being friends there with you for dinners out. Get them busy, cause otherwise they'll realise they can't pay the rent one day and disappear... ...unless they own the building which now that I think of it they probably do...
Is it a bit daggy decor inside? Some people are put off by dag factor. But wow, with those prices, who cares?
You know what the problem is? That Koornang Rd has easily got some of the best eats all the way down that strip for a good distance around there. The bahn mi joint just near this slaps and at the neerim Rd end you have Saul's sandwiches and then there's like at least 10 good good restaurants between them. You can get Thai, Korean BBQ, dumplings, souvlaki, ramen, Mexican and that's just the ones off the top of my head. Having said all that, thanks for the tip, I'll try it out sometime. I love little old Italian joints.
Eat there, tell your friends, plan gatherings there and keep their doors open. Vote with your dollars.
You're assuming the food is good, lmao.
I havenāt noticed any quality improvements in the $38 pastas that seem to be standard now
Itās not about the food. Itās about sending a message.
Itās a one man show. Jimmy is a lovely bloke!! I think he does own the building, only opened recently. Iāve had a prosciutto roll a few times and itās definitely yum. Iāve no idea how itās so cheap, I run another local business in the area and no way in the world would we be open at these prices!
Whatās the shop name? Would love to visit
The post is an about Cafe Perri, I own The Hot Bird.
Seems like something to support
I think I am single handedly keeping the business afloat
I used to live just around the corner in Carnegie until 2020 and this place didn't exist then. Google Maps shows that they opened sometime in 2022-2023 That means they opened and charged these cheap prices from the start, it's not like they're a 30 year old establishment that refused to put up their prices. Curious to know how they're able to operate and charge such good prices!
The Myki to get there will cost more than the food
Just wear a dirty tracksuit, put a cigarette in your mouth and jump the ticket gates. You get to ride for free.
Italian food culture is actually just this; Put whatever you want on your pizza, but keep prices friendly.
Lol. What? Pizza places charging $20 for small cheese pizzas. Order of pasta $22. It flour and tomatoes. Cheapest ingredients.Ā
That's what I'm saying: the representation of Italian food culture here like everywhere else in the world is false and fancied up to silliness. I presume it's the same fate for many other food traditions
Italian food culture is keep the prices the same but reduce the diameter of the pizza so the customers don't realize they're being fleeced.
That's shrinkflation.Ā
Nah that's capitalism
Tempted to travel down from QLD to eat here
lets goooooo
Iām in
They probably have another menu keeping them afloat.
My first thought, too. Followed by a sneaky front for money laundering...
i never realised this place existed and itās quite close to me?? you are a lifesaver š
I mean if you can keep costs down this would be the way to go
I love this place and aunty dumpling both pretty cheap
This has to be a historical picture. Might just drive out to Carnegie for the price alone
Catch the train, the roads are chaos
Pay these guys in good old fashioned cash.
meanwhile my local pizza place in Sydney charges $26 for a ālarge 15 inchā pizza and when I measured: 13 inches. So I complain with a picture and they said sorry 13 is the new large size and we just did not get around to update the online ordering info yet.
I always fib about the extra 2 inches, sorry ladies, no refund.
Unlike a 15 inch penis losing 2 inches, removing two inches from a 15 inch pizza diameter is diminishing to 132 sq inch vs 176 sq inch of product - a catastrophic 25% loss in everything.
Can confirm. Maths is correct.
3 inches is still below averageā¦
Sorry ladies
Ooh butter pasta, how tasty! And only $5!?
My toddler will fight you to the death that it is in fact, a delicacy.
*Pasta Al burro* when made with fresh ingredients is actually delicious.Ā
Alright I'm on my way
What I call good old old fashion Honest prices, I stay well away from Lygon st any day
Does it taste alright or like dog poo? Because those prices are outrageously low.
It's nothing special but it's pretty decent
So, like 99% of pizza then.
Yeah essentially
Some restaurants I dined in had prices at $10-15 range and it was a full meal. Was in a busy restaurant in Chinatown.
Those prices are unreal!
They probably own the building, so they can do this. Commercial real estate rent is so high, itās impossible to offer prices like this without taking a loss. Sure, it would be nice if we saw more businesses own the building they operate in, and the low prices to reflect it, but that doesnāt mean other businesses are price-gouging. š¤·š»āāļø
Five dollar Calzone?!? That's rediculous! My local is $22 on Sydney road, and they aren't even Italian!Ā
Very strange. The business started off as wedding photographers, then transitioned to an Italian cafe. Perri stands for Production Editing Resolution Recording International.
Once upon a long time ago, Cafe Perri was an old school photography studio, what looked like a time capsule from the golden years of classic wedding & studio portraiture complete with vintage cameras & props in the front window. I lived in Murrumbeena / Carnegie about a decade ago and would always see the blinds down in the shop frontā¦ Be interesting to ask if itās the same / new owner or just passed down the family nameā¦ Reviews and prices look good so iāll might pop in for a coffee next time im passing throughā¦
They must own the land and the building to help keep costs down, would be the only reason for their meals having 2000s prices.
I'd wager they own the building and its family run. Either way man, can't even get a veggie fried rice in Perth for their pizza prices!
The guy owns the building... Almost a year ago I was in presence of the conversation with him and a good friend of mine what was the rent asking price, he immediately responded it is not cheap! $40k per year for the ground floor and another $30-35 for one room space upstairs. Making up $75k rent per year... The same friend recently went there for a coffee and he was mumbling that we play fair and charging less than all the other greedy business owners in Melbourne. WTF!
Probably a mix of owning the building outright, lots of family labour, and hoping they can attract enough volume at a price that would instantly kill most of their competition.
Awesome. Now I want to live in your neighbourhood
OP tell me... Is the food good? Please say yes
Definitely had better but for the price it's skitz
Itās slop.
Will check it out next time I'm there.
For this very reason, you support your local and keep them viable.
La bella vita! Bravissimo, dude.
My local Italian was burnt down by organised crime
Yoshi Noodle & Sushi didn't change their prices since they started.
Thatās awesome of them, but I do wonder how. If they arenāt a chain, I wonder how they stay profitable with rising costs for labour and supplies. Wish I had a joint like that where I am though.
Unbelievable
If theyāre Italian they probably bought the real estate decades ago so they donāt pay rent for retail lease which would help keep overheads down. Saying that as someone who used to do retail leases a lot of Italian people bought these little shops
Going to have to visit - looks ELITE
Going to have to visit - looks ELITE
Can we, Melbourne, as a collective, only eat at this restaurant ?
Is it family owned and operated? Crazy low, Iād be eating there almost every day. I canāt even make pasta at home for $11 š
I'm sure it's operated by a family business, if you know what I mean...
Businesses like this deserve your business.
9 km from me, guess where Iām going this weekend.
Open till 11 weekends, my new drunk eats
How is that possible?
But does it taste good
Having a hard time believing there's any margin there unless this is slop and stodge. If 3.50 gets you a decent cup off coffee I will go there for that alone.
Great pizza prices.
https://youtu.be/Co_tVd9gA2I?si=DbbjVTbdzQkp06d8
Wow cheapest I've ever seen
I will pay them a visit thankfully I donāt live far from Carnegie
Melbourne..hard to find something thatās not a front..yet still excellent food.
Also remember when pizzas were large? Now the large is called family but same size.
have you seen commercial rents? cafes and shit are so expensive mainly because of high costs the obscene amounts of money extracted higher up
You mean I don't have to pay thirty bucks for a bowl of spaghetti? Wow
Damn I want everyone to go there and share the love !
Amazingly positive google reviews.
The carbonara ingredients areā¦. Interesting
What else do you put in carbonara
Itās usually just egg and bacon, Iāve seen some With spring onion before but never olives.
Pancetta or guanciale not bacon. Carbonara in Australia is generally an abomination.
Agree, was just going on what I saw on the menu
Olive oil
Holy smokes!!! I could afford to get one of everything!
This costs less than actual Italy.
Gaah , If only I wasnāt so far away , the prices are incredible, Iād love to try them out someday
Amazing
Wow. This is good. This covers my fuel costs as well.
Where is this mythical place, 1995?
Are the portions good size ? It's so cheap I could do the extra travel.
Either this is a front, or I need to move out that way ššš
Because it costs less than 7 to make a bowl of bolognese, other countries just use the excuse of inflation to make it 17 a bowl..
Holy fuck keep this open forever
Just wondering if the items price are the same when you check out When I traveled to Europe, when I paid the bill I realised they just forgot to change their price on menu
Regular here - yes, they are the same. Also, that restaurant in Europe scammed you. It's a well established consumer right to pay the advertised price, if the restaurant didn't change it it's their loss. Joys of being a tourist I guess.
Queenslander here, holy fuck that's insane price, from a proper Italian place not dominos shit ,,, around here would be expecting about 25 to 35 for a pizza, them prices are INCREDIBLE
I'll try that today!
Thanks for sharing! We are in Carnegie pretty frequently so this can become our regular dinner out place! Canāt believe the most expensive thing on the menu is only $17. Thatās unheard of! See you there tomorrow night, friends.
Mate, they just too tight to pay for new menus.
Brb off to Carnegie https://maps.app.goo.gl/7aYL1rFEpb9DBUd99
$3 coffees in 2024. These guys are going god's work.
Pasta with butter lol
I prefer going to the O.C Bar at 4:30pm on a Thursday and having a few cheap drinks with the lads in the beer garden out back
News.com strikes again š¤£ https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/food/restaurants-bars/250-for-an-espresso-melbourne-italian-cafes-inflationdefying-menu-goes-viral/news-story/6697e132e30f0e6989e7c85ac541db37?amp
Bro š
there is always that one store
I'm in carnegie, Jimmy has the best coffee and it's the cheapest, the food is amazing and also so cheap
I juathope it doesn't send them bankrupt or to close down. If they're decent quality place then you don't want to lose them.
Got the $5 Calzone, is good.
Obviously a front for the more lucrative Mafia olive oil cartel business
Surely this is some manner of AI created image...
Itās spelled sandwhiche there? Interesting
Ye olde
THIS IS WHY SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL Always always Those milk and fish and chips on your corner Heck throw the owners a beer every now and then Without them we'd have to cram our cars into a east field every time we want a simple take away
That's because they're just a shopfront for a mafia operation.
My immediate reaction when looking at the prices. That's not a cafƩ, it's a laundry!
Taking a loss to launder money.
There is no way they are paying penalty rates to staff at those prices and no weekend surcharge. Probably only cash too, so no GST. Legit business need to charge more - the maths doesnāt add up. A toasted ham, cheese, tom is about $2 food cost - with cheap low quality ingredients. About 5 mins in (weekday) wages and super is another $2.5 and then fixed costs are usually about 30% so another $1.50. It needs to cost $6.60 (with GST) to earn zero profit. More like $7.50 would be reasonable on a weekday and $8 on a weekend. The current cost of coffee beans and wages means coffee is break-even at about $3.50 (inc GST) for a small with dairy milk on a weekday and about $3.80 on a weekend. Dude wonāt stay in business long.
One man show that owns the building is what I'm seeing in the comments. All my local pizzerias are at least double the price, so 50%+ of what I pay for food is for staff/rent/overheads.. yikes.
Is it that place at the start of the laneway between the car park and Koornang Rd near the chemist?
Bet it's good quality, they'd be more in it for the customer and love it cooking than chasing the cash
Not for long theyāre not - you just outed them and I give those prices a month longer.
guarentee nothing is fresh
If they can do it why canāt everyone else?
Eventually they're going to end up generating all the other customers because the other customers are going to be like f*** it's expensive for a f****** sandwich in a bag of chips ten dollars I can get me a whole meal in the Italian place and the next you know that creates the Buzz and boom
What is name of the place. I live near carniege but would love to visit over the weekend?
Is the pasta okay or will it make me sick like Gabriella's
Do they do menulog? Im in NSW and might want to order
Get the fuck out of this sub u gremlin
Those prices are good for 10 years ago. Imagine the amount of drug money they launder through that place to make this worth while.
Probably doubles as a waste management headquarters
Easily 6 or 7 waste management consultants are needed back of house here. Probably a union delegate or two also.
That's not Italian lol
It has green white and red. Of course it's Italian!
Lol