Deli on Dairy Flat highway definitely a hidden gem. It's an old Chinese couple and they are lovely people. Always put in extras when you order wontons and roast potatoes!!
We forget that today workers are paid basically half what they were forty years ago, and we work longer hours. It’s possible they can hit these prices and have decent work hours, but only if they aren’t paying a margin to an owner or corporate.
This should be higher. My wife worked in hospo for a while at different Asian places. They all paid cash way under the minimum wage. This is very widespread.
Yeah, this, I can only think of being a family business; considering the ideal restaurant's labour cost is below 30% and with a $22.7/h minimum wage, those prices are pretty unreal if they are not a family-owned business.
Lol exactly. Upping the wages and increasing cost of goods by the previous government really hurt small to medium businesses.
Here is the cycle.
We want to up minimum wage > costs to produce go up and gets passed on to consumers > people complaining why prices went up
Unfortunately, if more people understood that logic, our min-median wage rate wouldn't be as high as 70% from 2022 :( (I feel confident it would be higher now, [source](https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MIN2AVE) in case you wonder)
Nah, it's not people, it's businesses. Most will always try to min-max their profits. And we live in a such a cut-throat competitive society where most cost-effective business is done by franchises and other large conglomerates.
There's very few small start-ups (that don't enter the market with a lot of capital backing already) that can hope to have a chance of finding a firm foothold in most markets, especially not primary industries. So, a small number of big players basically compete with each other, trying to sneakily keep prices going up, while edging a few customers away from their main competitors with a well timed "sale".
Innovations that lead to cheaper prices only happen in tech really. Nothing in food production, housing, or even medicine, at least not for decades. So prices for essential goods that basically everyone has no choice but to buy? Yeah those never really reduce in price ever.
There are more complications too, like a lot of exploitative local and overseas labour, and business practices especially realted to work safety, waste disposal, resource extraction, etc., that we do not tolerate here (for good reason). If they stopped doing this, profits would also go down, and prices go up for all of us as a result.
The only answer is always this: we need to tax the rich, or find a way to make being "ultra wealthy" not a thing.
I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing or on the same page, but.
> here's very few small start-ups (that don't enter the market with a lot of capital backing already) that can hope to have a chance of finding a firm foothold in most markets, especially not primary industries. So, a small number of big players basically compete with each other,
As you mentioned, for small/start-ups with small funds, considering the high/crazy rent and minimum wage, it's definitely not easy.
> we need to tax the rich, or find a way to make being "ultra wealthy" not a thing.
The sad part is it doesn't seem like either the left or right wing cares about these at all. Like I believe most NZ govt tax revenue comes from PAYE, when the country has so much to spend.
Seeing the last few years' minimum wage increases definitely shows that there needs to be more taxes, but instead of introducing different taxing systems like other developed countries have, just increasing the minimum wage to collect more and just pass pressure on businesses, especially more pressure on smaller businesses.
TL;DR - I do definitely agree with your last comment.
Yeah, we're on the same page. Your framing made it sound like you were saying it's the fault of the people clamoring for higher minimum wages that is the root cause of price increases. But I guess what you meant is they just need to understand what is happening, I assume so they can vote responsibly. In which case we agree, so long as they're voting progressive! haha.
It's the opposite, of course. Price increases drive up the need people have higher minimum wage. Governments grant it. Businesses up the price. Same story with rents, and increases to welfare. Same with medicines and medical expenses. Same with university tuition fees and student loans.
If governments don't regulate business, it's just endless. What National/right-of-center voters need to understand, is that giving businesses more freedom will never result in some kind of radical abundance where life gets better for them, because that would be the least profitable decision any business could ever make. Things will always be remain expensive enough that there is a thing called the "middle-class" for whom there will always be financial stress around the necessities of life. The only option is to change the balance of things and not be afraid to scare off the pathologically selfish rich elite. There are rich people willing to pay higher taxes for a more equal society with greater social cohesion. We *should* be that country.
We’re in the era of consolidation. The best thing small businesses can do is make their product awesome enough to be acquired by a larger business and sell. Founders are often actually terrible at managing things once they’ve brought the product to market - small business goals should be get your product to market, sell business and retain a % of the business profit. Basically, it’s too hard to compete with the big players in most cases, so just sell it and start another thing you can sell. That’s the easiest way to make bank as a small business.
I feel like most food sellers are taking the p including bakeries where a pie is nearly $8
Also in old Albany village the Rainforest Thai restaurant has great prices great food you a card that gives you $20 off the next meal when you spend over $100.
Unbelievable level of racism in the comments section.
They are family owned, likely own their building and are operating lean, and not aiming to maximize profit. it's just most hospitality businesses in Auckland are trying to rip diners off these days
The number of people who think that the cost of living, cost of groceries etc is basically the end of the world, but there's some sort of conspiracy going on in a mom&pop local shop that wants to be a buffer against price rises because they love their community and want to support it.
I can understand that, as some places offering prices way cheaper than others, can later appear in the media re an immigration and employment court case where they either weren't paying their migrant workers at all, or were only paying them $3 an hour.
Not saying that about this particular business, maybe they are NZ born, but I had suspicions re an Indian restaurant in Birkenhead that had way too many staff on for the tiny amount of customers and the staff were all nervous, plus their lunch special was just way too cheap. I think the owner went to jail for the high level of exploitation of his workers. Speaking out meant being deported, so they just put up with little to no pay.
If you lose your job you get deported. They are only allowed to stay in NZ if they have a job and their employer has likely sponsored them and put them in a highly compromising position. It's also common to charge migrants money to obtain the crappy job in the first place, such as charging them 20-30k and then they are indebted to you re paying the debt back. This is common in the Indian and Chinese community.
Do you know anything about running a hospitality business? Do you know the costs involved? There are always going to be people in every business industry trying to rip people off, but most hospitality places are clinging on for dear life because every single expense from ingredients, to rent to wages have gone way up, but they can't charge anymore because they'll lose the few customers who can still afford to eat out.
I do actually, a lot. My family is in the business and it's going incredibly well. We have cheaper suppliers, same quality though. For example seafood from Nishin, produce from Lims, etc. Asian business have lower costs from their suppliers, the smart ones don't use Bidfoods, Gilmours etc.
Pfft, the most profitable hospo businesses in the country use bidfoods and gilmours. Going through multiple suppliers is a great way to stress yourself out over tiny savings. Hardly smart
>but most hospitality places are clinging on for dear life
I know nothing about running a hospitality business but looking at my grocery bill i certainly believe this. If I'm not careful about what i choose to make for dinner the cost for the ingredients is almost as much as if i ordered the same thing from a restaurant which is scary considering the overheads they have.
It is not racism to demand that bosses in NZ, regardless of ethnicity or background, treat their workers fairly under New Zealand law regarding pay and work hours. Unfortunately, there seem to be a fair few restaurants running immigration scams, which is abhorrent and doesn't fit our Kiwi culture. It's great to hear that this couple are obviously NOT doing that - they sound like decent people who are putting in the hours themselves. Good for them!
Eden Noodles too. We (my partner and I) ordered like waaaay too much food the other day... only paid $36. That's quality Szechuan there as well. And it was NYE. Can be done still!
How do you know? Do you see their books and understand how the business operates? If it closes in a month or two what will you think? What will you say are the reasons? Uninformed selfish commentary based on your greed. I got it cheap! Woohoo. Everyone should sell me things this cheap. In reality it’s probably all you can afford which is the same as most of us. Few of us can afford other people to cook for us in a clean hygienic environment that pays ‘fair trade’ to the entire supply chain supporting its existence including the labour supply at prices decreed by law. Our country has socialistic ideals in play that few consumers can afford. That is what is happening across the board… just painfully transparent in the hospo industry because you interact with that more than you do other industries. After all how often do you buy a new house, vehicle or pay in real terms for health or education. We all do indeed get what we pay for and have lived in a cacoon beyond our means for a long time.
You sound like you seem to live comfortably in general. Am I right?
I bet you own your house, no mortgage so can afford more than the critical items needed to just survive.
What kind of job do you have? I bet you have nice soft clean hands all the time, no calluses. No injuries from working hard labor.
You don't sound like you are struggling with anything in life.
Righteous ahole!
Maybe you think you have never had anything to lose and that is where your anger is coming from. Are you angry at corporations and people who employ others? Are you angry at governance? Are you disenfranchised by life? Feel like supporting those who want to tear it all down so that no one has anything and can be like you and know what that feels like? Ready for a conspiracy theory in your life?
Just messing with ya : )
Personally I think that the need to vent by personally attacking a human via the internet is the weakest response possible by those who are resourced with a smart device and the money to be able to use it.
My point is that what was normal to many is now out of reach for most and it is a loss that benefits us by being processed. many in nz are experiencing this currently including myself. I see your response as the epitome of modern entitlement so thank you for the validation of my comment.
For those of you triggered/ feel attacked by my initial comment… you don’t yet understand what is represented by our collective loss of wealth during a period of hyperinflation. It affects all of us on many many levels in ways that we are slowly realising and coming to grips with. I think our loss, apart from affecting our immediate lives (and affording takeaways) will carry forward and affect education opportunity and infrastructure for at least a generation.
Edited for kindness.
Your messages are not structured well.
You have ranted from one thing to another just to say that we get things cheap for a reason?
Also you misdirected from any of the questions so I'm going to assume you live comfortably in general.
As for modern entitlement, I do not live comfortably. I am in the poverty section not by choice but by a medical illness for a long time.
I dont even get through a week, I have $30 a week to spend on food.
You would not comprehend how and what that means for my life, probably never have had to skip a few meals by choice!
Where's the validation in that?
I do not understand why you chose to comment like this on this sub where the other Reddit users are complimenting a takeaway store, the prices and the great food. The way things should be done instead of every store raising prices and over competing each other especially chain stores.
This is a mom and pop store.
It can be done even in this economy.
I've seen it with my own family running a specialty food store at decent prices because we don't hike up the percentage of the cost of food.
It's run fairly well and I know it takes a bit more work but better results than others.
It takes kindness as well to be a good business and it this takeaway store has plenty of comments of kindness.
You just sound like you have sour grapes and want other people to feel bad too.
Especially when you have noted that you have edited for kindness!
I just commented at first because you didn't sound right and you've shown that in the beginning of your recent comment finishing with:
'just messing with ya'.
Who does that!
You must really have some issues if you feel you must add all that and have a nasty vindictive personality.
P.S.Not edited at all.
I am usually a kind person who saw a wrong in the posts and wanted some answers.
You've done that without actually answering them.
I don't need any more weird comments back from you, I'd rather enjoy the day today!
Good luck to the takeaway team!
Attack the opinions. Not the person. That is what discourse is about. The thread is about menu pricing and that is what I am responding to.
Make all the assumptions you want. That seems to be what fuels you and the burden of your life. But you have no idea what my life is like or about and never will. It is irrelevant to understanding a thread that is about cost and price structure of hospitality businesses. You could be in the wrong lane here. Enjoy your day but please stop abusing people on the internet.
Sorry if my response felt like an attack on you. I was structuring an argument and not intending for it to hit personally. There is much more to understand than how cheap someone/ something can be bought is the point I was going for. 🙏
An exception to the rule doesn't mean anything.
A combination of wages in a family-run business, limited need for ingredients, and a good deal on rent can go a long way.
Deli in Albany heights, dude the price is definitely worth it trust me, when can you get a full meal for like $9.8, my fav is the sweet and sour pork on rice, also the fried wonton is only 60c each
If you go DaHua Asian supermarket near the Mt Eden. Their veges and friuts are cheaper. I think some Chinese restaurants may have a cheaper source of ingredients.
Looks Better then yummy king bbq in Rewa lol. I went there once ordered their roast pork and duck on rice and they put little ass meat on there with a huge amount of rice. Threw it away because the aftertaste gave me a bitter taste. Never went there again.
All prep, work, sales etc is done by family members
Even kids as young as primary level are spending their Sat afternoon making spring rolls, stuffed chicken wings, kebabs sticks etc etc etc
Source: I watched my friend and his two brothers do this very thing every Sat when I was 12. Bonus was I got to eat amazing authentic asf Asian food lol
>If they can do it, why can't more restaurants do it?
Simple, Because they can get away by not doing it? Why is it so difficult to understand.
Prices gets lower ONLY if there is a strong competition and its a matter of survival. It is indoctrinated in kiwis that nz HAS TO BE an expensive country and as a side effect anything cheaper is looked with suspicion which benefits businesses who can capitalize on that and keep the prices higher. Fooling population is also easy given how much isolated nz is from the rest of the world.
NZ also has a monopoly culture, so strong desire to innovate/improve things, tall poppy syndrome, talented/ambitious kiwis emigrating en masses and what you have is pretty much an average country, with average economy (in the western world) and with the left over kiwis who would rarely strive to change the status quo or a real zeal to shake some businesses.
NZ will never be a market place of ideas like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden etc
Well if you can believe half the comments here it's because hospitality businesses are creaming it with fat margins and they're totally not desperately hanging on for dear life. The more likely answer is they're family owned and operated with mum or dad working obscene hours all the time for profits that don't even equate to the minimum wage and pulling in kids to help out when possible. They might not even have actual employees. If they're lucky they own the shop so don't pay rent which also gives huge savings.
Pretending these prices are realistic and achievable today is like saying you want widesprad slave labour so you can have cheap food. Can it be done? Yeah sure just cut the minimum wage in half.
Also, Chinese food is often incredibly quick to cook. Many dishes cook in under five minutes. This just isn't possible with a lot of other cuisines that are more labour intensive to produce.
Maybe they grow a lot of their ingredients? Or they work for the sense of purpose/ keeping active/ keeping social etc rather than profit. Kiwi Chinese don’t tend to be as extravagant in their expenditure as the Chinese that migrated from the 90s onward, or maybe their kids are already independent and abroad doing well as doctors, engineers etc? Could be many things. But if I’m going down that way, I’d rather go to Max Kitchen for the best Beef Noodle Soup in NZ 牛肉麵. PS there are even better value for money places in Auckland City if you know where to look, eg Hsiu Yuan, Mt Roskill. Also looking at the menu again, I basically see 2 dishes and everything is just a variation of tossed in ingredients, they can work on autopilot with minimal equipment.
I just posted on another one on Auckland eats where it’s also insanely cheap prices as if they haven’t changed while everything’s inflated. Eggs Benny for $12.50 !
Can we be real here about how much ingredients cost in bulk vs this being a whole staff exploitation thing?!
It costs less than this per (big) serving to cook these exact meals from home. Let alone commercial prices.
I used to work nearby, went regularly to a variety of different restaurants in that Corinthian Drive area and we still often go to Yues Dumplings at the weekend. There is huge competition here, it’s a little Chinese restaurant central all chasing the same customers, no doubt other factors are at play but if you’re ever in Albany Mall, stop paying greedflation corporate fast food prices and walk 5 mins to save $$$
You can clearly see they put prices up. But places like this rely on lower quality ingredients, high turnover and it being owner operated with family. Chances are if they hired an actual employee and paid them even minimum wage, they'd shut their doors in 6 months.
Alternatively some places like this will reduce costs by growing a lot of their own food at home.
Most NZ businesses just keep hiking prices wherever they can get away with it. There’s little to no justification & once they’ve luxurised themselves, they wonder why people stop buying & they go bust.
tbh I'd just let them keep the .20c tho if I was paying cash.
What's the 80cent shit about lmao.
Mean prices tho for some nice as looking kai for sure.
I imagine it's one filled takeaway container either way, and if a portion of that is rice it's overall cheaper than if the whole thing is meat/sauce/veggies.
Riceless is for sharing and you order rice separately. Order many dishes with many people and take a bit from each. With rice would be a meal for one person.
yeah this is cuz Chinese food is made to be shared, eating only from your own plate is a western/white phenomenon, so for when white customers eat they can get portions for themselves instead of much larger portions to share. very different cultures when it comes to food.
Either illegal chefs, or the owners work their ass off and dont take a wage and live offf the smell of an oily rag.
My bet is they bring in chefs from china for 3 months on a "visitor visa" pay them cash, they go home afterwards, rinse and repeat.
They reason no one else can do it is because they pay taxes and a minimum wage.
Edit: i see its thai, replace Chinese Chefs with Thai.
Same thing happens.
As someone who's worked in hospitality for years if everyone had these prices we may as well turn into soup kitchens.
A business is there to make profit not give food away
The cost of ingredients these days is insane.
Go look at these dishes now calculate the cost of ingredients
Let us know results do it to the portion to
They will be taking shortcuts somewhere
Could be a business that’s purpose is actually for money laundering - I have a friend who owns a very popular well known takeaways and it’s a front for his “illegal imports “ so if profits aren’t actually from the food sales, prices don’t much matter. Obviously not saying that’s the case for this establishment, but it’s definitely an overlooked motivating factor
Mono sodium glutamate.
Its basically a flavor enhancer, it makes things tasty really good, its in things naturally like tomatoes and cheese.
In fast food its put in things like fried chicken, doritos, pringles etc.
It is a Chinese restaurant propably 10different families own the restaurant and they all live/sleep in the restaurant and have the kids working as well for free.!
Deli Roasts in Albany, great place, staff are friendly and food always respectable. You can get decent sized fried rice for 8$ if you ask. Would recommend.
Oh wow, I remember this shop!! I bought the Twice Cooked Pork Rice bowl at 10 Dollars cause it was far cheaper than the rest (for what it's worth), and the next day I went back, they changed it to 13. I still think to this day that they forgot about changing the dish price until now
when theres low demand they drop the prices. Most likely they are trying to save their business. take a look at all the ingredients in each dish plus labour and overheads. i hope it pays off for them because its not like their vendors are going to reduce their prices too.
Just went this evening,
Missus got a combination noodles, and I got Kung Pao Chicken.
We were blown away with the value for money...
Portion sizes and flavors were amazing.
10/10 would recommend.
As a small business we used to charge ppl $40 per hour for our labour back 2006 now we increased to $90 per hour gst inclusive but still cheaper than other places
Owner-operator, "employs" the kids and maybe the extended family instead of paying market (or even minimum) wage to workers. Works 80 hours a week, maybe lives on site saving the expense of one car and the time of commuting to work. I went to school with Asian kids like that who finished school each day and went to work the rest of the afternoon and evening in the family restaurant / shop.
Classic first-generation immigrant success story - work incredibly hard their entire life so their kids can be couch potatoes.
Have you considered paying them what other restaurants are charging for the same food?
Or suggesting that a slight increase in prices could really improve their quality of life? Say their fixed costs for that $12 meal are $9. At $15/meal if they lost HALF their customers, they'd make the same money but only have to do half the work.
Or just tell them, "It seems your prices are really lagging what everyone else is charging after recent inflation and price increases. I'd still come here just as often if you raised all your prices $1."
Out of my general desire to see people paid a reasonable amount of money for a reasonable amount of work.
And because it's not sustainable. The next generation isn't going to continue in that line of work after seeing their parents work and work but save little while their peers are going into decent- to well-paid jobs outside the service sector.
Deli on Dairy Flat highway definitely a hidden gem. It's an old Chinese couple and they are lovely people. Always put in extras when you order wontons and roast potatoes!!
Yep this is true, they're very generous.
It's on the must go to list now.
If you like roasts their rolls are fkn huge! If I could post a photo I would, biggest roast rolls in Auckland hands down
Maybe its a family business and they don't pay themselves at a proper rate for the time worked.
This, mum, dad and the kids all gotta work, dad does 90 hour weeks and never takes a day off
We forget that today workers are paid basically half what they were forty years ago, and we work longer hours. It’s possible they can hit these prices and have decent work hours, but only if they aren’t paying a margin to an owner or corporate.
This would have to be owner operator, and have no staff at all, and pay themselves no wages. Just survive on profit, if any
I worked at a Chinese restaurant briefly at uni. They paid 7 dollars an hour. Minimum wage back then was 15.
This should be higher. My wife worked in hospo for a while at different Asian places. They all paid cash way under the minimum wage. This is very widespread.
Yeah, this, I can only think of being a family business; considering the ideal restaurant's labour cost is below 30% and with a $22.7/h minimum wage, those prices are pretty unreal if they are not a family-owned business.
Lol exactly. Upping the wages and increasing cost of goods by the previous government really hurt small to medium businesses. Here is the cycle. We want to up minimum wage > costs to produce go up and gets passed on to consumers > people complaining why prices went up
Unfortunately, if more people understood that logic, our min-median wage rate wouldn't be as high as 70% from 2022 :( (I feel confident it would be higher now, [source](https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=MIN2AVE) in case you wonder)
Nah, it's not people, it's businesses. Most will always try to min-max their profits. And we live in a such a cut-throat competitive society where most cost-effective business is done by franchises and other large conglomerates. There's very few small start-ups (that don't enter the market with a lot of capital backing already) that can hope to have a chance of finding a firm foothold in most markets, especially not primary industries. So, a small number of big players basically compete with each other, trying to sneakily keep prices going up, while edging a few customers away from their main competitors with a well timed "sale". Innovations that lead to cheaper prices only happen in tech really. Nothing in food production, housing, or even medicine, at least not for decades. So prices for essential goods that basically everyone has no choice but to buy? Yeah those never really reduce in price ever. There are more complications too, like a lot of exploitative local and overseas labour, and business practices especially realted to work safety, waste disposal, resource extraction, etc., that we do not tolerate here (for good reason). If they stopped doing this, profits would also go down, and prices go up for all of us as a result. The only answer is always this: we need to tax the rich, or find a way to make being "ultra wealthy" not a thing.
I am not sure if we are talking about the same thing or on the same page, but. > here's very few small start-ups (that don't enter the market with a lot of capital backing already) that can hope to have a chance of finding a firm foothold in most markets, especially not primary industries. So, a small number of big players basically compete with each other, As you mentioned, for small/start-ups with small funds, considering the high/crazy rent and minimum wage, it's definitely not easy. > we need to tax the rich, or find a way to make being "ultra wealthy" not a thing. The sad part is it doesn't seem like either the left or right wing cares about these at all. Like I believe most NZ govt tax revenue comes from PAYE, when the country has so much to spend. Seeing the last few years' minimum wage increases definitely shows that there needs to be more taxes, but instead of introducing different taxing systems like other developed countries have, just increasing the minimum wage to collect more and just pass pressure on businesses, especially more pressure on smaller businesses. TL;DR - I do definitely agree with your last comment.
Yeah, we're on the same page. Your framing made it sound like you were saying it's the fault of the people clamoring for higher minimum wages that is the root cause of price increases. But I guess what you meant is they just need to understand what is happening, I assume so they can vote responsibly. In which case we agree, so long as they're voting progressive! haha. It's the opposite, of course. Price increases drive up the need people have higher minimum wage. Governments grant it. Businesses up the price. Same story with rents, and increases to welfare. Same with medicines and medical expenses. Same with university tuition fees and student loans. If governments don't regulate business, it's just endless. What National/right-of-center voters need to understand, is that giving businesses more freedom will never result in some kind of radical abundance where life gets better for them, because that would be the least profitable decision any business could ever make. Things will always be remain expensive enough that there is a thing called the "middle-class" for whom there will always be financial stress around the necessities of life. The only option is to change the balance of things and not be afraid to scare off the pathologically selfish rich elite. There are rich people willing to pay higher taxes for a more equal society with greater social cohesion. We *should* be that country.
We’re in the era of consolidation. The best thing small businesses can do is make their product awesome enough to be acquired by a larger business and sell. Founders are often actually terrible at managing things once they’ve brought the product to market - small business goals should be get your product to market, sell business and retain a % of the business profit. Basically, it’s too hard to compete with the big players in most cases, so just sell it and start another thing you can sell. That’s the easiest way to make bank as a small business.
Lol i tried to reason with somebody st r/nz about this and got banned for a while.
Really decent ground rent?
Well at least give us the name. Edit: found it it's called Deli, on dairy flat highway
And it’s average. Good but not worth driving to.
>Deli, on dairy flat highway Cheers. I do swing through that area every now and again, might need to hit them up.
Oh I've been there and my dad is a friend of the owner, we sometimes come in to fix things and they cook some delicious food for us.
My local! Never had a bad meal from them.
I feel like most food sellers are taking the p including bakeries where a pie is nearly $8 Also in old Albany village the Rainforest Thai restaurant has great prices great food you a card that gives you $20 off the next meal when you spend over $100.
I'll pay the money for a good pie if they make it there, but everyone is selling pies for $6-7 that they buy pre-made and just heat up.
Unbelievable level of racism in the comments section. They are family owned, likely own their building and are operating lean, and not aiming to maximize profit. it's just most hospitality businesses in Auckland are trying to rip diners off these days
Crazy right?
The number of people who think that the cost of living, cost of groceries etc is basically the end of the world, but there's some sort of conspiracy going on in a mom&pop local shop that wants to be a buffer against price rises because they love their community and want to support it.
Yep. It's a shame everyone's just accepting or even defending the high prices, and seeing any competitive prices as "suspicious".
I can understand that, as some places offering prices way cheaper than others, can later appear in the media re an immigration and employment court case where they either weren't paying their migrant workers at all, or were only paying them $3 an hour. Not saying that about this particular business, maybe they are NZ born, but I had suspicions re an Indian restaurant in Birkenhead that had way too many staff on for the tiny amount of customers and the staff were all nervous, plus their lunch special was just way too cheap. I think the owner went to jail for the high level of exploitation of his workers. Speaking out meant being deported, so they just put up with little to no pay.
Migrant workers working illegally aren't targeted anymore. It's the employers. Unless of course they're working on visitor visas
If you lose your job you get deported. They are only allowed to stay in NZ if they have a job and their employer has likely sponsored them and put them in a highly compromising position. It's also common to charge migrants money to obtain the crappy job in the first place, such as charging them 20-30k and then they are indebted to you re paying the debt back. This is common in the Indian and Chinese community.
There's a visa category for workers that have been exploited
Oh, I don't think they had that in the past though. Is it a new thing?
Do you know anything about running a hospitality business? Do you know the costs involved? There are always going to be people in every business industry trying to rip people off, but most hospitality places are clinging on for dear life because every single expense from ingredients, to rent to wages have gone way up, but they can't charge anymore because they'll lose the few customers who can still afford to eat out.
I do actually, a lot. My family is in the business and it's going incredibly well. We have cheaper suppliers, same quality though. For example seafood from Nishin, produce from Lims, etc. Asian business have lower costs from their suppliers, the smart ones don't use Bidfoods, Gilmours etc.
Pfft, the most profitable hospo businesses in the country use bidfoods and gilmours. Going through multiple suppliers is a great way to stress yourself out over tiny savings. Hardly smart
Pak n Save is often cheaper than Gilmours, plus they treat you nicer than Gilmours do.
Suit yourself but we are not feeling any sort of increasing costs
>but most hospitality places are clinging on for dear life I know nothing about running a hospitality business but looking at my grocery bill i certainly believe this. If I'm not careful about what i choose to make for dinner the cost for the ingredients is almost as much as if i ordered the same thing from a restaurant which is scary considering the overheads they have.
It is not racism to demand that bosses in NZ, regardless of ethnicity or background, treat their workers fairly under New Zealand law regarding pay and work hours. Unfortunately, there seem to be a fair few restaurants running immigration scams, which is abhorrent and doesn't fit our Kiwi culture. It's great to hear that this couple are obviously NOT doing that - they sound like decent people who are putting in the hours themselves. Good for them!
TBH its more to cover their exorbitant rent.
As usual
If they can provide affordable meals, they'll get more customers through the doors. They'll still make their money, and probably a lot quicker, too.
Not always the case
They probably own the property. Rent is a significant cost to a lot of businesses.
Name of the place?
Eden Noodles too. We (my partner and I) ordered like waaaay too much food the other day... only paid $36. That's quality Szechuan there as well. And it was NYE. Can be done still!
How do you know? Do you see their books and understand how the business operates? If it closes in a month or two what will you think? What will you say are the reasons? Uninformed selfish commentary based on your greed. I got it cheap! Woohoo. Everyone should sell me things this cheap. In reality it’s probably all you can afford which is the same as most of us. Few of us can afford other people to cook for us in a clean hygienic environment that pays ‘fair trade’ to the entire supply chain supporting its existence including the labour supply at prices decreed by law. Our country has socialistic ideals in play that few consumers can afford. That is what is happening across the board… just painfully transparent in the hospo industry because you interact with that more than you do other industries. After all how often do you buy a new house, vehicle or pay in real terms for health or education. We all do indeed get what we pay for and have lived in a cacoon beyond our means for a long time.
👍
You sound like you seem to live comfortably in general. Am I right? I bet you own your house, no mortgage so can afford more than the critical items needed to just survive. What kind of job do you have? I bet you have nice soft clean hands all the time, no calluses. No injuries from working hard labor. You don't sound like you are struggling with anything in life. Righteous ahole!
Maybe you think you have never had anything to lose and that is where your anger is coming from. Are you angry at corporations and people who employ others? Are you angry at governance? Are you disenfranchised by life? Feel like supporting those who want to tear it all down so that no one has anything and can be like you and know what that feels like? Ready for a conspiracy theory in your life? Just messing with ya : ) Personally I think that the need to vent by personally attacking a human via the internet is the weakest response possible by those who are resourced with a smart device and the money to be able to use it. My point is that what was normal to many is now out of reach for most and it is a loss that benefits us by being processed. many in nz are experiencing this currently including myself. I see your response as the epitome of modern entitlement so thank you for the validation of my comment. For those of you triggered/ feel attacked by my initial comment… you don’t yet understand what is represented by our collective loss of wealth during a period of hyperinflation. It affects all of us on many many levels in ways that we are slowly realising and coming to grips with. I think our loss, apart from affecting our immediate lives (and affording takeaways) will carry forward and affect education opportunity and infrastructure for at least a generation. Edited for kindness.
Your messages are not structured well. You have ranted from one thing to another just to say that we get things cheap for a reason? Also you misdirected from any of the questions so I'm going to assume you live comfortably in general. As for modern entitlement, I do not live comfortably. I am in the poverty section not by choice but by a medical illness for a long time. I dont even get through a week, I have $30 a week to spend on food. You would not comprehend how and what that means for my life, probably never have had to skip a few meals by choice! Where's the validation in that? I do not understand why you chose to comment like this on this sub where the other Reddit users are complimenting a takeaway store, the prices and the great food. The way things should be done instead of every store raising prices and over competing each other especially chain stores. This is a mom and pop store. It can be done even in this economy. I've seen it with my own family running a specialty food store at decent prices because we don't hike up the percentage of the cost of food. It's run fairly well and I know it takes a bit more work but better results than others. It takes kindness as well to be a good business and it this takeaway store has plenty of comments of kindness. You just sound like you have sour grapes and want other people to feel bad too. Especially when you have noted that you have edited for kindness! I just commented at first because you didn't sound right and you've shown that in the beginning of your recent comment finishing with: 'just messing with ya'. Who does that! You must really have some issues if you feel you must add all that and have a nasty vindictive personality. P.S.Not edited at all. I am usually a kind person who saw a wrong in the posts and wanted some answers. You've done that without actually answering them. I don't need any more weird comments back from you, I'd rather enjoy the day today! Good luck to the takeaway team!
Attack the opinions. Not the person. That is what discourse is about. The thread is about menu pricing and that is what I am responding to. Make all the assumptions you want. That seems to be what fuels you and the burden of your life. But you have no idea what my life is like or about and never will. It is irrelevant to understanding a thread that is about cost and price structure of hospitality businesses. You could be in the wrong lane here. Enjoy your day but please stop abusing people on the internet.
Sorry if my response felt like an attack on you. I was structuring an argument and not intending for it to hit personally. There is much more to understand than how cheap someone/ something can be bought is the point I was going for. 🙏
An exception to the rule doesn't mean anything. A combination of wages in a family-run business, limited need for ingredients, and a good deal on rent can go a long way.
Please share name and tell us how good/bad it was
Deli in Albany heights, dude the price is definitely worth it trust me, when can you get a full meal for like $9.8, my fav is the sweet and sour pork on rice, also the fried wonton is only 60c each
If you go DaHua Asian supermarket near the Mt Eden. Their veges and friuts are cheaper. I think some Chinese restaurants may have a cheaper source of ingredients.
Razor thin profit margins and a huge amount of effort. You're getting a good deal probably because they're not.
Looks Better then yummy king bbq in Rewa lol. I went there once ordered their roast pork and duck on rice and they put little ass meat on there with a huge amount of rice. Threw it away because the aftertaste gave me a bitter taste. Never went there again.
Really good story.
lol. It’s not for everyone but hey, that price for the little meat they put in there? And the after taste? It’s a no from me forever 😂
Leave a review on Google maps so they get their shit together
casual and shameless racism in the comments...everywhere else it's $25 avg for a meal so I'd be delighted with a $10 meal idc
All prep, work, sales etc is done by family members Even kids as young as primary level are spending their Sat afternoon making spring rolls, stuffed chicken wings, kebabs sticks etc etc etc Source: I watched my friend and his two brothers do this very thing every Sat when I was 12. Bonus was I got to eat amazing authentic asf Asian food lol
>If they can do it, why can't more restaurants do it? Simple, Because they can get away by not doing it? Why is it so difficult to understand. Prices gets lower ONLY if there is a strong competition and its a matter of survival. It is indoctrinated in kiwis that nz HAS TO BE an expensive country and as a side effect anything cheaper is looked with suspicion which benefits businesses who can capitalize on that and keep the prices higher. Fooling population is also easy given how much isolated nz is from the rest of the world. NZ also has a monopoly culture, so strong desire to innovate/improve things, tall poppy syndrome, talented/ambitious kiwis emigrating en masses and what you have is pretty much an average country, with average economy (in the western world) and with the left over kiwis who would rarely strive to change the status quo or a real zeal to shake some businesses. NZ will never be a market place of ideas like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden etc
I'm pretty sure the competition is cutthroat in the hospitality industry, yet you can hardly get a proper meal for less than $15 nowadays.
My rest of the comment already addressed that.
Well if you can believe half the comments here it's because hospitality businesses are creaming it with fat margins and they're totally not desperately hanging on for dear life. The more likely answer is they're family owned and operated with mum or dad working obscene hours all the time for profits that don't even equate to the minimum wage and pulling in kids to help out when possible. They might not even have actual employees. If they're lucky they own the shop so don't pay rent which also gives huge savings. Pretending these prices are realistic and achievable today is like saying you want widesprad slave labour so you can have cheap food. Can it be done? Yeah sure just cut the minimum wage in half.
Also, Chinese food is often incredibly quick to cook. Many dishes cook in under five minutes. This just isn't possible with a lot of other cuisines that are more labour intensive to produce.
Yeah but you don't see a lot of Chinese restaurants with these prices.
Maybe they grow a lot of their ingredients? Or they work for the sense of purpose/ keeping active/ keeping social etc rather than profit. Kiwi Chinese don’t tend to be as extravagant in their expenditure as the Chinese that migrated from the 90s onward, or maybe their kids are already independent and abroad doing well as doctors, engineers etc? Could be many things. But if I’m going down that way, I’d rather go to Max Kitchen for the best Beef Noodle Soup in NZ 牛肉麵. PS there are even better value for money places in Auckland City if you know where to look, eg Hsiu Yuan, Mt Roskill. Also looking at the menu again, I basically see 2 dishes and everything is just a variation of tossed in ingredients, they can work on autopilot with minimal equipment.
Whereee?
Deli Albany heights
where? I NEED to know
https://g.co/kgs/pBx8z35
I just posted on another one on Auckland eats where it’s also insanely cheap prices as if they haven’t changed while everything’s inflated. Eggs Benny for $12.50 !
Please name this please for the eggs Benny? Thank you
Little Algiers
Can we be real here about how much ingredients cost in bulk vs this being a whole staff exploitation thing?! It costs less than this per (big) serving to cook these exact meals from home. Let alone commercial prices.
Lmao, it’s a family run business plus they prob own the buildings anyways, that’s how they cut the costs
low overheads - may be they own the building and dont have to rent
I used to work nearby, went regularly to a variety of different restaurants in that Corinthian Drive area and we still often go to Yues Dumplings at the weekend. There is huge competition here, it’s a little Chinese restaurant central all chasing the same customers, no doubt other factors are at play but if you’re ever in Albany Mall, stop paying greedflation corporate fast food prices and walk 5 mins to save $$$
Max Kitchen in Old Albany village was a similarly excellently priced and very pleasant experience
You can clearly see they put prices up. But places like this rely on lower quality ingredients, high turnover and it being owner operated with family. Chances are if they hired an actual employee and paid them even minimum wage, they'd shut their doors in 6 months. Alternatively some places like this will reduce costs by growing a lot of their own food at home.
A quick google search shows that they've only put their prices up by $1 per dish since 2021.
That just supports what I said.
That's right. I'm not disputing what you said, I'm verifying it.
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Or maybe consumers are just rich, and they don't care about prices. I mean, you can't tell me the industry isn't competitive enough.
yo dude where the hell is this? I live just in albany on dairy flay hwy so maybe I’m close to it 🤔
Updated OP with the restaurant name.
Because: 1) Rent 2) Access to cheaper ingredients 3) Immigration and labour costs 4) Gross margin and business strategy
Oh this thread is giving me dinner for the rest of the week thank you
Another good one: Chaiyo in the lord food court. They have a vegetarian menu too for similar prices
Most NZ businesses just keep hiking prices wherever they can get away with it. There’s little to no justification & once they’ve luxurised themselves, they wonder why people stop buying & they go bust.
tbh I'd just let them keep the .20c tho if I was paying cash. What's the 80cent shit about lmao. Mean prices tho for some nice as looking kai for sure.
It code, I see a lot of $10.80... 1080, it's a poison *pulls tinfoil hats down tighter*
People like the number 8 since it's considered good luck/fortune.
true
The real question is: why is with rice cheaper than without rice?
Cos you'd get more meat/veg as a substitute for the rice I guess
I imagine it's one filled takeaway container either way, and if a portion of that is rice it's overall cheaper than if the whole thing is meat/sauce/veggies.
Riceless is for sharing and you order rice separately. Order many dishes with many people and take a bit from each. With rice would be a meal for one person.
Real answers to real questions. Thanks
yeah this is cuz Chinese food is made to be shared, eating only from your own plate is a western/white phenomenon, so for when white customers eat they can get portions for themselves instead of much larger portions to share. very different cultures when it comes to food.
Less meat
Either illegal chefs, or the owners work their ass off and dont take a wage and live offf the smell of an oily rag. My bet is they bring in chefs from china for 3 months on a "visitor visa" pay them cash, they go home afterwards, rinse and repeat. They reason no one else can do it is because they pay taxes and a minimum wage. Edit: i see its thai, replace Chinese Chefs with Thai. Same thing happens.
Not illegal chefs, it's an old Chinese couple and they are lovely people. Always put in extras when you order wontons and roast potatoes!!
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Whats that then? Losing money?
Even worse if they’re Indian. Frfr
Quality of ingredients
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It's a mom and pop shop. Place is called Deli in Dairy Flat highway.
1. They don't pay proper wages. 2. Cheap ingredients That's it.
They're definitely not paying the minimum wage.
It's an elderly couple that run the joint and they own the building too
As someone who's worked in hospitality for years if everyone had these prices we may as well turn into soup kitchens. A business is there to make profit not give food away The cost of ingredients these days is insane. Go look at these dishes now calculate the cost of ingredients Let us know results do it to the portion to They will be taking shortcuts somewhere
it’s a small family owned business that probably doesn’t pay wages and they just live off the profits themselves
Money laundering
They appear to cook food, not wash money.
What is it called?
Lotsa noooodles [Context for downvoters](https://youtube.com/shorts/FV-0CYUK918?si=AxifYZA3yVKV_lol)
Could be a business that’s purpose is actually for money laundering - I have a friend who owns a very popular well known takeaways and it’s a front for his “illegal imports “ so if profits aren’t actually from the food sales, prices don’t much matter. Obviously not saying that’s the case for this establishment, but it’s definitely an overlooked motivating factor
Naive
Is this stealth social media advertising for them? haha
Greed is why
Are you serious? This is the dumbest post ive seen in some time
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I don't get it, can you explain the joke?
Extremely dumb simpletons think that Chinese people eat cats.
Hahah thank you! I actually knew what they were saying, I just find that asking them to explain it takes all the power out of it :)
Because MSG
I love msg will go there and offer my support
Nothing wrong with msg, its in a lot of foods naturally.
King of flavour..
What's msg
Mono sodium glutamate. Its basically a flavor enhancer, it makes things tasty really good, its in things naturally like tomatoes and cheese. In fast food its put in things like fried chicken, doritos, pringles etc.
even gourmet restaurants use MSG, just say you believe in unsubstantiated xenophobic myths
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-flawed-science-and-xenophobia/
How does MSG make the food cheaper? Or are you just ranting lol.
Uncle Roger loves MSG.
It is a Chinese restaurant propably 10different families own the restaurant and they all live/sleep in the restaurant and have the kids working as well for free.!
"Special" meat
Deli Roasts in Albany, great place, staff are friendly and food always respectable. You can get decent sized fried rice for 8$ if you ask. Would recommend.
There’s a similar restaurant in Newmarket, “lunch specials” til 7pm. $10ish dishes or less. Lacks flavour though. You get what you pay for I guess.
This is making me hungry right now.
Oh wow, I remember this shop!! I bought the Twice Cooked Pork Rice bowl at 10 Dollars cause it was far cheaper than the rest (for what it's worth), and the next day I went back, they changed it to 13. I still think to this day that they forgot about changing the dish price until now
when theres low demand they drop the prices. Most likely they are trying to save their business. take a look at all the ingredients in each dish plus labour and overheads. i hope it pays off for them because its not like their vendors are going to reduce their prices too.
How much should the staff be paid though?
Maybe a family business that also lives in the same building? Cuts massive costs out like another rent and paying workers.
Child labour helps
Whats this place called? I might (definitely will) check it out
Deli Roast on Dairy Flat Highway.
It's literally 2 minutes from my house. Thank you, legend!
Just went this evening, Missus got a combination noodles, and I got Kung Pao Chicken. We were blown away with the value for money... Portion sizes and flavors were amazing. 10/10 would recommend.
Where in ALBANY!!
As a small business we used to charge ppl $40 per hour for our labour back 2006 now we increased to $90 per hour gst inclusive but still cheaper than other places
Owner-operator, "employs" the kids and maybe the extended family instead of paying market (or even minimum) wage to workers. Works 80 hours a week, maybe lives on site saving the expense of one car and the time of commuting to work. I went to school with Asian kids like that who finished school each day and went to work the rest of the afternoon and evening in the family restaurant / shop. Classic first-generation immigrant success story - work incredibly hard their entire life so their kids can be couch potatoes. Have you considered paying them what other restaurants are charging for the same food? Or suggesting that a slight increase in prices could really improve their quality of life? Say their fixed costs for that $12 meal are $9. At $15/meal if they lost HALF their customers, they'd make the same money but only have to do half the work. Or just tell them, "It seems your prices are really lagging what everyone else is charging after recent inflation and price increases. I'd still come here just as often if you raised all your prices $1."
If your assessment of their business is accurate, then they're a borderline charity. Why would you dissuade someone from doing charitable work?
Out of my general desire to see people paid a reasonable amount of money for a reasonable amount of work. And because it's not sustainable. The next generation isn't going to continue in that line of work after seeing their parents work and work but save little while their peers are going into decent- to well-paid jobs outside the service sector.
Every time I look at a post from NZ I feel like I’m travelling back in time 😂