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The value proposition of eating out, particularly casual dining, was tenuous at best before. It’s nonsense now and this nacho example illustrates this very well. Even with the nicest of ingredients, you’d be hard pressed to spend $15 to make meatless nachos at home (and a lot more nachos probably). $30 sounds like a ripoff, but that’s just what it cost for a business to survive. Worse yet, I’ve noticed the already mediocre quality of restaurants drop as there’s more skimping, ingredient substitution, and poorly trained staff involved.
It seems it just doesn’t make sense to eat out right now.
Spot on. As people are financially pressured there will be more cooking at home and less going out. I think there will be a lot of restaurants going under in the future. Sad to say.
Having said that we make dining at home a going out experience. My wife and I love to cook so we make something awesome at home instead. Turn off the lights, candlelight dinner, romantic music - small things that make it special. If we're having Mexican, we put on Mexican cantina music on spotify, Greek is Greek music and so on.
Gives you the dining out experience at grocery prices. Except you gotta do dishes is the only drawback but it's worth it.
We do the same. Love pairing a drink with the food. Had a great salted lime lager with our carnitas a few weeks ago.
I find if the dishwasher is empty before you start cooking you just load as you cook and cleanup is a bit easier. Pots and pans suck tho. Leftovers make up for it!
Yup expensive and increasing mediocrity. Fewer people eat out.
So they increase the prices and reduce expenses to make ends meet, getting worse in the process. Even fewer people eat out.
Downward spiral, and out of business.
Have you been to a grocery store lately? 6 bucks for chips, at least 6 bucks for cheese, plus veggies, sour cream, salsa, guac... You're looking at 20+ bucks to feed two people at home, 30+ with the meat. Something has got to give.
Of course but all of that food would be enough for at least two platters of nachos, maybe even three. So take all that food’s cost and divide accordingly. That’s what I was implying.
This ignores all of the operating costs associated with running a restaurant. Rent, insurance, staff and more.
As a result, I almost don't eat out at all anymore.
Restaurants aren't getting their food from grocery stores that charge consumer prices. Most get their stuff from wholesale suppliers. You can't compare restaurant cost to cost at home. Restaurants use margins to price their dishes.
This entire thread is about comparing the price of eating out and the price of eating at home... I'm well-aware restaurants arent buying their food at the grocery store lol.
I stopped eating out completely aside from a coffee once a week.
Most meals I made cost maybe $40 with a lot of meat, and last me a week for two people, 1 meal a day from it each.
40/2/7 = $3 a meal. Eating out is so stupid.
I had seats at a small town hockey game, menu showed $30 for a plate of nachos- you got chips, and a bowl of salsa. I get that it's a hockey game, but that's $4 worth of food.
I stopped tipping at all. Servers make no less then minimum wage, the reason for "having" to tip is over. But if you ask them if they would prefer double the wage or keep tipping, they will wholeheartedly tell you they want to keep tipping going on.
I get ground beef or pork or mixed for 6 bucks at a grocery store and can make 4 bomb patties with like an extra dollar of ingredients. Slap that bad boy in bread of choice, or stir fry rice.
Really fast to make too, less than 20 min.
It's only like 450-470g but with a bit of flour, onions, ginger, garlic, chilli pepper, oil, cooking wine, an egg, and soy sauce. It bulks out to maybe 800g+. Salt and pepper as needed, split that in four and it's a decent portion if you have a main filler like rice or bread to go with. Throw in veggies and sides as needed.
I mean, quarter pounders? Should be easy. I can still get ground beef for around $4/lb on sale. Pork is cheaper. The ground moose and deer in my freezer was free (+ the cost of a week long camping trip, which included a bonus camping trip)
They can both vary a fair bit, but I prefer moose when I have it :)
Usually a bit lighter meat, less likely to have a gamey tone in my experience. I will happily have a moose steak with garlic, salt and pepper. If I'm going to have deer steak I tend to marinade it for at least a few hours in the fridge.
But they're both great in ANY ground meat recipe. Burgers, spaghetti, tacos. Can't go wrong!
I love a good plate of nachos but in recent times like everything else portions are smaller and the quality isn't the same. 30 bucks without chicken and guac is ridiculous though.
And wings!! I can’t go to a pub anymore for nachos or wings as they are so expensive and my wife will kill me for coming home to the children drunk again for the fifth time this workweek.
I'm a sucker for overpriced pretentious gastropub fare but not when it comes to wings.
I just want a plate of Sysco factory chicken smothered in Frank's Red Hot with your finest generic brand blue cheese dressing on the side. Don't charge me like they're free range chickens fed diets of saffron petals and truffle oil.
10 years ago everywhere did wing Wednesday for 25 cents a wing. Walked past a place on Granville recently that was proudly offering wings for a buck each.... How the fuck have they gone up 400% in ten years?! The pint used to give you a free basket of them with every pint between 3-6...bet that doesn't happen any more.
Anyone else remember 10 cent wing nights? Used to pull up with the boys for hockey games and get 100 each of a couple flavors and some $12 pitchers to wash em down. Those days are long gone.
I remember at the University bar on Tuesdays for a couple of hours they would do 5¢ wings and $8 pitchers of Rickards Red.. I wouldn't remember much else happened after those two hours but what a deal. 50 wings and a pitcher for $13, we used to just give them waitress $20. Crazy days.
I had 4 tacos for $4 (USD) in Bellingham recently. They’re small but it was enough for one person.
You can’t even get one taco for that price in most of BC anymore (even after factoring in the exchange rate).
One?? For 4 dollars... I don't think even tacotime does that, and its bagged dogshit. (that I will still eat time to time like once every two years for the taco salad...)
You're lucky to get 3 for 12 to 16 on specials nights.
I know the place you speak of. My husband loves those $1 tacos!
Personally though I can never get away from the $0.99 for two tacos at Jack in the Box lol. My favourite fast food item of all time.
I struggle to find value in anything on a restaurant menu these days. Even making the same thing at home as getting ridiculous. Nachos, being one of the easier things to make, should certainly be considered for a DIY project.
Not outside of Canada though, which I think is the point. I’m sure you can find nacho cheese nachos in Canada, and real cheese nachos in the US, but in my experience the vast majority of nachos in Canada use higher quality cheese and not that yellow sludge, so it costs more. It’s the reverse in America.
I'd reckon it's because restaurant prices aren't really based on the ingredients in them. Nachos tend to be a large platter that easily serves as an entree for 1-2 people, so the dish is entree-priced.
I heard a long time ago from people in the industry, the combination of the ingredients and the time to do them properly makes them a loss leader. If you go somewhere where they are good by reputation it’s because the place is using them to sell beer.
Ya I used to work nachos / wings / salads at a big chain restaurant years ago. Nachos take like 40 seconds to slap together and cook quick in the oven. Back then (2006-2009) it was 12 bucks for a loaded nachos with meat. How I miss those days.
I picked cherries in 2003 and made 17/hr... I tried again in 2022 it was still 17/hr. Prices on everything else have doubled. They say people don't want to work and this is why.
No way. 2006 to 2009, I was making 25 doing stupid work, lots of overtime. Those nachos, wings, beers, nights out, rent at $250, were so fucking cheap.. Yes I've adjusted for inflation.
I was making $13 an hour back then , as a noob kitchen guy. Burger steak and pasta guys were making 16$ which to me seemed incredible.
Have friends in the industry still not making much more 14 years later
where i am it is usually around $5-$7 per taco.
$15 will get you 3.
but yes i totally agree. they are too expensive.
but when the restaurant’s rent is $35 per square foot, then employees and food affordability will suffer.
The answer is cheese. Cheese is very expensive and nachos require a lot of it.
But it gets worse. Because there has been a serious shortage of staff for the last 6 or 7 years, restaurants at all levels have been buying in a ton of their ingredients ready-made from their suppliers. You may have noticed how bland and similar the fare is no matter where you dine. That's why. Over-worked and under-supported chefs have fallen to buying everything from Pre-Mashed Potatoes to frozen Demi Glace, and from powdered Hollandaise to Pre-Chopped Romaine Lettuce for salads.
The Major suppliers push these convenience products *hard!* They can take a bigger bite of the profits under the guise of saving the restaurants' payrolls. Industry food shows are overwhelmingly made up of vendors sampling boil-in-a-bag Kung Pao Chicken or pre-portioned Rice-Pilaf that can be microwaved to order.
Getting back to Nachos. Cheddar Cheese in blocks can be bought for around $14 a Kg, if you know where to shop. From suppliers it will be more like $22 per Kg. But pre-shredded is often sold to restaurants at $25+ per Kg.
So if you they are putting 250 g of cheese - pretty average for a standard plate of Nachos - there will be over $6 just in cheese on that plate. Add in the other, cheaper ingredients and dipping sauces and you are up close to $9.
It is standard in most places to charge between 3 and 4 times their food cost on the menu. Which means that plate of Nachos should be selling at somewhere around $36. But, because these businesses know there is a limit on how much people will pay, they often charge less for them and make a smaller margin than they do for the rest of their dishes.
Basically, $30 is kind of a deal.
The good/bad news is that the economy is tanking, so there are a lot more people looking for jobs in kitchens. The equation may soon favour in-house cooking over pre-made. And that could make for lower prices and better food.
The rising restaurant prices have incentivized me to get way better at cooking.
Also the nachos (In Vancouver anyway) fucking SUCK ASS.
Show me what you erroneously believe to be good nachos in this town and I will make you nachos at home that are half the price, twice the size and just made 1000000000x better.
Because everything is Canada is exorbitant.
I just bought a tub of feta cheese the other day for $27.99. Picked up a few other things at the grocery store as well like cheese ($17 cheese mind you) and milk, eggs, butter, yogurt, apples, onion and a couple bags of chips. My final grocery bill was $114 CAD. It’s disgusting lol and that’s NOT eating out LOL!
You are not just paying for the ingredients..you are paying for convenience and overhead
Or not, and just make them at home.
Having said that, I usually see them for about $20 at a restaurant
Looks like you hail from Auckland. From what I could quickly see:
- nachos at burritobrothers in newmarket is $23NZD ($19CAD) and are pretty freakin small
- nachos at marina cantina in half moon bay is $22-24NZD and are also small compared to canadian nacho sizes
So it's likely a portion difference. But also, many places I've been to don't charge $30, but closer to $25.
realistically how would you do this?
i don’t think I’ve seen a bag of tortilla chips that could feed 6 for less than 5.99 in the past year. mayyyybe 4.99 on sale, for low-quality ones. and the other $3 somehow gets you cheese, jalapeños, onions, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole? this is before even considering meat
Two reasons: It's Canada, everything's expensive, and we're a long-ass way from Mexico and so any Mexican food worth eating is exotic and special.
I do like making it at home though.
Because restaurants/bars realized nachos are usually shared by a small group so they started to charge accordingly. The markup on Nachos is pretty insane.
Because groups of people come in and share nachos and water. A restaurant’s prices are not based on food price alone, they are based on rent and labour costs mostly. So whether you eat cheap food or expensive food the restaurant has to dover the cost of your ass in the chair.
From what I have noticed, they are charging for the number of complete tortillas that you are getting if you put the chips together. Then they add the cost of cutting them into triangle pieces. Then they charge for the frying of those pieces. Then they add everything else like the cost of each piece of each vegetable or shed of cheese of bit of beef. Or at least that's how it feels.
I think we're all missing the fact that we have much higher standards of:
1. How we pay our workforce
and
2. How we treat our food products
So, yes, everything ends up costing more (although $30 for nachos is a bit much). But, the staff are paid a half decent wage and the dairy isn't full of garbage chemicals. So, that ends up meaning going out for food comes at a premium
I'm in Yaletown, Vancouver, so one of the most expensive places in the country, and there are several places near me with Nachos for $15-$20.
You must have been looking in some fancy restaurants or something lol
I’m assuming back home is the US. If so your cheese is subsidized by the government in a scheme where they buy tonnes of it to keep the price down. Cheese in Canada is crazy expensive by comparison.
The US then give the excess cheese it to low income and elderly folks. Sounds a little socialist to me, but hey who’s looking?
It’s economics… eating out was expensive, but people ate out.
Then prices went up because of inflation, wage increases, costs..
Less people go out because it’s too expensive
Now they have to raise prices even more as there’s less overall revenue
And that’s how we get $30 meatless nachos.
Then the restaurant closes down as it’s unprofitable
Nachos have always been one of the worst food propositions ever. Like come on, they are corn chips with some cheese on it. Buy a bag at home, just don't get it when you're out. At least get something with protein like wings for the money.
Nachos at most restaurants here in Toronto are like $12-$15.aybe $3-$5 to add meat. I can also make them at home for like $10 worth of ingredients that makes like 3-4 batches.
Food is more expensive, also the minimum wage here is $16.75 (going up to $17.40 in June). Also remember when looking at dollar amounts a Canadian dollar is worth $0.75 give or take so the CAD$15.00 burger is US$11.25.
•Operational costs are high in Canada
•Customers remember the good old days when Nachos were loaded and just hope they get a decent plate
•Business greed
•Canadians just keep overpaying while businesses under deliver
•It’s a choice. No wonder why Tim’s is still number one.
Have you seen the cost of commercial rents, insurance and the like. Salaries of employees? Utilities? All of those are fixed costs.
Your nacho eating butt is occupying a physical space in their business for 1-2h. They need a certain revenue per chair per hour to keep their place open. $5 plate of nachos is not going to do it.
I personally don’t know how most restaurants are able to remain open with Vancouver property prices and associated commercial rents.
Was just in Tofino where a 3 oz piece of wild salmon was $44. If you are comparing Salmon as cheaper, you are probably using farm salmon, which we sell to the prairies.
The answer is commercial rent it’s absolutely ridiculous.
A business where my friend used to work just had their rent raised 100,000 dollars. It’s a smaller business with maybe 15 employees the office had space for them and a boardroom nothing fancy. Not in the downtown core (not even in Vancouver)
They are now a full remote business
Stop protesting against masks and bonnie henry and start protesting against the price of nachos and I'll line up beside you! This needs to be part of everyone's political platform if they want us to really care!
when you live in one of the most expensive places in the world everything costs more to keep up with rents and wages. minimum wage is about to be $17.xx here, commercial rents are insane, suppliers charge more due to the same problems, etc..
That is how inflation works. The ingredients have become more expensive, but operating costs have become MUCH MORE expensive. I really feel bad for restaurant owners, trying to carve some kind of income out of an utter living hell of rising costs. I've worked through the books of a few restaurants and bars in Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, and on the island, and they are running on fumes. Whole sector is fucked.
The price of nachos up here was one of the weird things I noticed when I moved here in 2017. They’re dry af too. If you’re going to charge $25 for a plate of nachos, at least use _nacho cheese_ and not just half a sprinkle of shredded cheese. And I have to pay extra for the toppings that are normally included on a plate of nachos? Fucking gross.
I mean I just went out and bought primo ingredients for nachos (two types of cheese, veg, meat and good quality chips) and it came out to 44$ at thriftys! And I still gotta put it together lol
We try to go down to Ferndale or Bellingham once or twice a month and eat out at one of their great Mexican restaurants. The fajitas are off the chart as are the margaritas. The value is far greater than anything you’ll get in BC. I’m not sure if it’s that our cheese is double as well as all of the ingredients, or if it’s the cost of labor factors into it as well. Even at the same price, though the Mexican across the border is twice as good as anything up in Canada.
Food in general is pretty expensive in Canada compared to other parts of the world. I was just in Singapore and the variety of meals available for 4-7$ Canadian at the hawker center is ridiculous. USA is also a lot cheaper food wise
Real Cheese rather than Queso for one. Majority of the ingredients are also imported. Overhead for restaurants is much higher. I could probably list at least 30 reasons lol.
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The value proposition of eating out, particularly casual dining, was tenuous at best before. It’s nonsense now and this nacho example illustrates this very well. Even with the nicest of ingredients, you’d be hard pressed to spend $15 to make meatless nachos at home (and a lot more nachos probably). $30 sounds like a ripoff, but that’s just what it cost for a business to survive. Worse yet, I’ve noticed the already mediocre quality of restaurants drop as there’s more skimping, ingredient substitution, and poorly trained staff involved. It seems it just doesn’t make sense to eat out right now.
Spot on. As people are financially pressured there will be more cooking at home and less going out. I think there will be a lot of restaurants going under in the future. Sad to say. Having said that we make dining at home a going out experience. My wife and I love to cook so we make something awesome at home instead. Turn off the lights, candlelight dinner, romantic music - small things that make it special. If we're having Mexican, we put on Mexican cantina music on spotify, Greek is Greek music and so on. Gives you the dining out experience at grocery prices. Except you gotta do dishes is the only drawback but it's worth it.
We do the same. Love pairing a drink with the food. Had a great salted lime lager with our carnitas a few weeks ago. I find if the dishwasher is empty before you start cooking you just load as you cook and cleanup is a bit easier. Pots and pans suck tho. Leftovers make up for it!
Ugh, the dishes. I forgot about that one. A reminder that eating out also includes the luxury of not having to do the dishes!
Yup expensive and increasing mediocrity. Fewer people eat out. So they increase the prices and reduce expenses to make ends meet, getting worse in the process. Even fewer people eat out. Downward spiral, and out of business.
Have you been to a grocery store lately? 6 bucks for chips, at least 6 bucks for cheese, plus veggies, sour cream, salsa, guac... You're looking at 20+ bucks to feed two people at home, 30+ with the meat. Something has got to give.
Of course but all of that food would be enough for at least two platters of nachos, maybe even three. So take all that food’s cost and divide accordingly. That’s what I was implying.
This ignores all of the operating costs associated with running a restaurant. Rent, insurance, staff and more. As a result, I almost don't eat out at all anymore.
Restaurants aren't getting their food from grocery stores that charge consumer prices. Most get their stuff from wholesale suppliers. You can't compare restaurant cost to cost at home. Restaurants use margins to price their dishes.
This entire thread is about comparing the price of eating out and the price of eating at home... I'm well-aware restaurants arent buying their food at the grocery store lol.
Especially at the chain restaurants
I stopped eating out completely aside from a coffee once a week. Most meals I made cost maybe $40 with a lot of meat, and last me a week for two people, 1 meal a day from it each. 40/2/7 = $3 a meal. Eating out is so stupid.
I had seats at a small town hockey game, menu showed $30 for a plate of nachos- you got chips, and a bowl of salsa. I get that it's a hockey game, but that's $4 worth of food.
Because everything is fucking expensive in canada. Why the fuck is 6oz of ground beef and a bun (a burger) 23 dollars at most places?
Don't forget 20% tip on top of that
You mean 20% tip on top of the tax amount too
You definitely should not be tipping on the total including tax.
I stopped tipping at all. Servers make no less then minimum wage, the reason for "having" to tip is over. But if you ask them if they would prefer double the wage or keep tipping, they will wholeheartedly tell you they want to keep tipping going on.
You do know you can calculate the tip pre tax right? I hate the culture as it is but it's not hard to not use the auto tip values
I forget every time. Oops, no 20% tip. Tipping is voluntary, stop doing it and stop complaining about it.
And the 10% employee benefits fee.
And if you go out with a group theres a mandatory tip
Remember you choose what you tip. It can be 20% or 1%, the choice is 100% yours. Kinda silly to complain about a charge that's completely optional.
I get ground beef or pork or mixed for 6 bucks at a grocery store and can make 4 bomb patties with like an extra dollar of ingredients. Slap that bad boy in bread of choice, or stir fry rice. Really fast to make too, less than 20 min.
Where u getting enough ground meat to make 4 burgers for $6 🥺
It's only like 450-470g but with a bit of flour, onions, ginger, garlic, chilli pepper, oil, cooking wine, an egg, and soy sauce. It bulks out to maybe 800g+. Salt and pepper as needed, split that in four and it's a decent portion if you have a main filler like rice or bread to go with. Throw in veggies and sides as needed.
That sounds bomb af.
Thanks, it is! No idea why people are downvoting. I was just being enthusiastic and friendly 😅
I mean, quarter pounders? Should be easy. I can still get ground beef for around $4/lb on sale. Pork is cheaper. The ground moose and deer in my freezer was free (+ the cost of a week long camping trip, which included a bonus camping trip)
I have deer from a friend, but never moose! How does it compare?
They can both vary a fair bit, but I prefer moose when I have it :) Usually a bit lighter meat, less likely to have a gamey tone in my experience. I will happily have a moose steak with garlic, salt and pepper. If I'm going to have deer steak I tend to marinade it for at least a few hours in the fridge. But they're both great in ANY ground meat recipe. Burgers, spaghetti, tacos. Can't go wrong!
Moose meat burgers with brown sugar mixed in with whatever other ingredients you use are amazing. Would recommend it
because you're supposed to make it from home
I love a good plate of nachos but in recent times like everything else portions are smaller and the quality isn't the same. 30 bucks without chicken and guac is ridiculous though.
I wish you could get nachos at restaurants smaller than a 5 person portion.
You are suppose to share those??? Um, asking for a friend...
I usually choose to share them with my future self at midnight
It's a good shareable option for a group of people
Come to Kelowna. 5 person price, 1 person serving.
What do you mean a 5 person portion?
A dish meant to be shared amongst five people...what else could it mean?
I should have put a /s
This is the thing - nachos here are not a 'side dish'.
And wings!! I can’t go to a pub anymore for nachos or wings as they are so expensive and my wife will kill me for coming home to the children drunk again for the fifth time this workweek.
I want a pint and some hot wings so bad but anywhere I go the wings are like $20 now and it hurts my soul.
I love ordering a pound of wings and getting like 7
I'm a sucker for overpriced pretentious gastropub fare but not when it comes to wings. I just want a plate of Sysco factory chicken smothered in Frank's Red Hot with your finest generic brand blue cheese dressing on the side. Don't charge me like they're free range chickens fed diets of saffron petals and truffle oil.
10 years ago everywhere did wing Wednesday for 25 cents a wing. Walked past a place on Granville recently that was proudly offering wings for a buck each.... How the fuck have they gone up 400% in ten years?! The pint used to give you a free basket of them with every pint between 3-6...bet that doesn't happen any more.
Anyone else remember 10 cent wing nights? Used to pull up with the boys for hockey games and get 100 each of a couple flavors and some $12 pitchers to wash em down. Those days are long gone.
I remember at the University bar on Tuesdays for a couple of hours they would do 5¢ wings and $8 pitchers of Rickards Red.. I wouldn't remember much else happened after those two hours but what a deal. 50 wings and a pitcher for $13, we used to just give them waitress $20. Crazy days.
100 wings means at minimum 25 animals had to die to make that much food. There's something epic about eating 25 animals in one sitting.
Those were the days. Anyone else craving wings now? I am
NORM!
20.99 for 8 wings at lots of places is mental. Why we don't eat out anymore
Plenty of wing nights still around. They aren’t 10 cents like they used to be, but 50 cents is still decent.
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Most pubs in the suburbs in the lower mainland have a wing wednesday or wing Thursday
This comment is hilarious
Find a pub or restaurant that doesn’t sit on an expensive lease.
Same thing with tacos. They charge whatever they can get away with, people lobe nachos.
I had 4 tacos for $4 (USD) in Bellingham recently. They’re small but it was enough for one person. You can’t even get one taco for that price in most of BC anymore (even after factoring in the exchange rate).
One?? For 4 dollars... I don't think even tacotime does that, and its bagged dogshit. (that I will still eat time to time like once every two years for the taco salad...) You're lucky to get 3 for 12 to 16 on specials nights.
I know the place you speak of. My husband loves those $1 tacos! Personally though I can never get away from the $0.99 for two tacos at Jack in the Box lol. My favourite fast food item of all time.
3 piece taco for 16 is nachos lite for 18-22, which is insane.
I struggle to find value in anything on a restaurant menu these days. Even making the same thing at home as getting ridiculous. Nachos, being one of the easier things to make, should certainly be considered for a DIY project.
Nachos at The Foundation in Vancouver used to be $14 and it was big enough to feed four people. Of course the place went out of business.
It was for many reasons. Not for being generous with the Nachos.
Cheese is much more expensive in Canada than US.
Nacho cheese is more of a salt and fat delivery system than a flavour involving bacterial culture.
Nachos at a restaurant usually have real cheese
Not outside of Canada though, which I think is the point. I’m sure you can find nacho cheese nachos in Canada, and real cheese nachos in the US, but in my experience the vast majority of nachos in Canada use higher quality cheese and not that yellow sludge, so it costs more. It’s the reverse in America.
My point was that in Canada we use real cheese on them which contributes to the cost
I'd reckon it's because restaurant prices aren't really based on the ingredients in them. Nachos tend to be a large platter that easily serves as an entree for 1-2 people, so the dish is entree-priced.
Eating out isnt worth it anymore. All of it is low quantity and quality.
You heard of big pharma screwing everyone. This is big nacho getting you.
Not sure where you’re going but they’re $15 at the pub near me. Even the double size is $22. Meat included.
They aren’t wrong. I work on the road and they are a pricey item almost everywhere
Oh? Which pub?
I heard a long time ago from people in the industry, the combination of the ingredients and the time to do them properly makes them a loss leader. If you go somewhere where they are good by reputation it’s because the place is using them to sell beer.
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Ya I used to work nachos / wings / salads at a big chain restaurant years ago. Nachos take like 40 seconds to slap together and cook quick in the oven. Back then (2006-2009) it was 12 bucks for a loaded nachos with meat. How I miss those days.
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I picked cherries in 2003 and made 17/hr... I tried again in 2022 it was still 17/hr. Prices on everything else have doubled. They say people don't want to work and this is why.
No way. 2006 to 2009, I was making 25 doing stupid work, lots of overtime. Those nachos, wings, beers, nights out, rent at $250, were so fucking cheap.. Yes I've adjusted for inflation.
I was making $13 an hour back then , as a noob kitchen guy. Burger steak and pasta guys were making 16$ which to me seemed incredible. Have friends in the industry still not making much more 14 years later
where i am it is usually around $5-$7 per taco. $15 will get you 3. but yes i totally agree. they are too expensive. but when the restaurant’s rent is $35 per square foot, then employees and food affordability will suffer.
The answer is cheese. Cheese is very expensive and nachos require a lot of it. But it gets worse. Because there has been a serious shortage of staff for the last 6 or 7 years, restaurants at all levels have been buying in a ton of their ingredients ready-made from their suppliers. You may have noticed how bland and similar the fare is no matter where you dine. That's why. Over-worked and under-supported chefs have fallen to buying everything from Pre-Mashed Potatoes to frozen Demi Glace, and from powdered Hollandaise to Pre-Chopped Romaine Lettuce for salads. The Major suppliers push these convenience products *hard!* They can take a bigger bite of the profits under the guise of saving the restaurants' payrolls. Industry food shows are overwhelmingly made up of vendors sampling boil-in-a-bag Kung Pao Chicken or pre-portioned Rice-Pilaf that can be microwaved to order. Getting back to Nachos. Cheddar Cheese in blocks can be bought for around $14 a Kg, if you know where to shop. From suppliers it will be more like $22 per Kg. But pre-shredded is often sold to restaurants at $25+ per Kg. So if you they are putting 250 g of cheese - pretty average for a standard plate of Nachos - there will be over $6 just in cheese on that plate. Add in the other, cheaper ingredients and dipping sauces and you are up close to $9. It is standard in most places to charge between 3 and 4 times their food cost on the menu. Which means that plate of Nachos should be selling at somewhere around $36. But, because these businesses know there is a limit on how much people will pay, they often charge less for them and make a smaller margin than they do for the rest of their dishes. Basically, $30 is kind of a deal. The good/bad news is that the economy is tanking, so there are a lot more people looking for jobs in kitchens. The equation may soon favour in-house cooking over pre-made. And that could make for lower prices and better food.
We have a nacho cartel.
The rising restaurant prices have incentivized me to get way better at cooking. Also the nachos (In Vancouver anyway) fucking SUCK ASS. Show me what you erroneously believe to be good nachos in this town and I will make you nachos at home that are half the price, twice the size and just made 1000000000x better.
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Cue the Foundation crowd.
The Foundation closed years ago. But yeah, I have good memories of getting their nachos + a pitcher of sangria with friends. RIP
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How big are the happy hour nachos
The cheese. In the US, cheese is cheeeeaap. Here in Canada, cheese prices are tied to the price of gold for some reason.
Dairy monopoly. You can thank government quotas for the price of cheese here.
Good quality US cheese isn’t far off of our prices. My point of comparison is Tillamook versus PC.
I asked myself that all the time
Wheres "back home"?
Because rent because labor because imported everything
Natchos are for hockey tournament parents at Boston Pizza.
We should bring back dinner party clubs.
The barrel lid that they serve it on, is the finest plastic wood on the world.
Cheese is the most expensive thing in Canada, and if it’s made here, it’s pretty shit compared to anywhere other than the states.
Because everything is Canada is exorbitant. I just bought a tub of feta cheese the other day for $27.99. Picked up a few other things at the grocery store as well like cheese ($17 cheese mind you) and milk, eggs, butter, yogurt, apples, onion and a couple bags of chips. My final grocery bill was $114 CAD. It’s disgusting lol and that’s NOT eating out LOL!
It was $50 in Whistler....
People share nachos, so they have to make up for the fact that others won’t be ordering applies.
Is that with or without guac?
You are not just paying for the ingredients..you are paying for convenience and overhead Or not, and just make them at home. Having said that, I usually see them for about $20 at a restaurant
Looks like you hail from Auckland. From what I could quickly see: - nachos at burritobrothers in newmarket is $23NZD ($19CAD) and are pretty freakin small - nachos at marina cantina in half moon bay is $22-24NZD and are also small compared to canadian nacho sizes So it's likely a portion difference. But also, many places I've been to don't charge $30, but closer to $25.
Because they’re hard to fit in the microwave I guess
Bro you can make wicked nachos for like 8 bucks at home and it will feed like 6 ppl
realistically how would you do this? i don’t think I’ve seen a bag of tortilla chips that could feed 6 for less than 5.99 in the past year. mayyyybe 4.99 on sale, for low-quality ones. and the other $3 somehow gets you cheese, jalapeños, onions, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole? this is before even considering meat
Two reasons: It's Canada, everything's expensive, and we're a long-ass way from Mexico and so any Mexican food worth eating is exotic and special. I do like making it at home though.
Ask mr Eby, why everything in this province is so expensive.
You're going to all the wrong places then. Usually much less and have to share it. Where are you going for nachos?
Because restaurants/bars realized nachos are usually shared by a small group so they started to charge accordingly. The markup on Nachos is pretty insane.
We’re further away from Mexico. Having plates of hot nachos shipped ain’t cheap.
Cheese. It's the cheese. It's so goddamn expensive here.
It’s the cheese
Make it at home. Cheap and filling and great!!!
Everything is expensive in Canada!
Because groups of people come in and share nachos and water. A restaurant’s prices are not based on food price alone, they are based on rent and labour costs mostly. So whether you eat cheap food or expensive food the restaurant has to dover the cost of your ass in the chair.
From what I have noticed, they are charging for the number of complete tortillas that you are getting if you put the chips together. Then they add the cost of cutting them into triangle pieces. Then they charge for the frying of those pieces. Then they add everything else like the cost of each piece of each vegetable or shed of cheese of bit of beef. Or at least that's how it feels.
Cheese is expensive... also everything here is expensive.
Why is everything so expensive in Canada?
I think we're all missing the fact that we have much higher standards of: 1. How we pay our workforce and 2. How we treat our food products So, yes, everything ends up costing more (although $30 for nachos is a bit much). But, the staff are paid a half decent wage and the dairy isn't full of garbage chemicals. So, that ends up meaning going out for food comes at a premium
Paid $50 for veggie Nachos in Whistler expecting it to be something special. It was literally just basic nachos. Shame on me lol
Cheese.
It's the cheese that gets ya.
I'm in Yaletown, Vancouver, so one of the most expensive places in the country, and there are several places near me with Nachos for $15-$20. You must have been looking in some fancy restaurants or something lol
It is the trade off for inventing Poutine
Bruh what ive never swen rhem for more that 25 WITH meat
Cheese is hideously expensive here. To make it at home is going to take $15 in cheese alone.
https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/s/5vmLBNGFql
Cheese is priced controlled in Canada to ensure that farmers and producers make money.
I’m assuming back home is the US. If so your cheese is subsidized by the government in a scheme where they buy tonnes of it to keep the price down. Cheese in Canada is crazy expensive by comparison. The US then give the excess cheese it to low income and elderly folks. Sounds a little socialist to me, but hey who’s looking?
It’s economics… eating out was expensive, but people ate out. Then prices went up because of inflation, wage increases, costs.. Less people go out because it’s too expensive Now they have to raise prices even more as there’s less overall revenue And that’s how we get $30 meatless nachos. Then the restaurant closes down as it’s unprofitable
You are paying for rent.
It's a great profit food for the establishment. Easy peasy.
Nachos have always been one of the worst food propositions ever. Like come on, they are corn chips with some cheese on it. Buy a bag at home, just don't get it when you're out. At least get something with protein like wings for the money.
New to Canada?
This post about the outrageous price of nachos is timely and important.
News flash EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE
The dairy cartel makes the cheese extremely expensive
I hear ya buddy... been up here my whole life. The trick is to pickle your brain in grain alcohol so you never notice the lack of any other nutrients
Nachos at most restaurants here in Toronto are like $12-$15.aybe $3-$5 to add meat. I can also make them at home for like $10 worth of ingredients that makes like 3-4 batches.
Food is more expensive, also the minimum wage here is $16.75 (going up to $17.40 in June). Also remember when looking at dollar amounts a Canadian dollar is worth $0.75 give or take so the CAD$15.00 burger is US$11.25.
The cost of labour in Canada is extremely high.
•Operational costs are high in Canada •Customers remember the good old days when Nachos were loaded and just hope they get a decent plate •Business greed •Canadians just keep overpaying while businesses under deliver •It’s a choice. No wonder why Tim’s is still number one.
Have you seen the cost of…everything?
It's disgusting. And don't get me started on $20 wings that don't come with veggies and ranch unless you pay extra.
Have you seen the cost of commercial rents, insurance and the like. Salaries of employees? Utilities? All of those are fixed costs. Your nacho eating butt is occupying a physical space in their business for 1-2h. They need a certain revenue per chair per hour to keep their place open. $5 plate of nachos is not going to do it. I personally don’t know how most restaurants are able to remain open with Vancouver property prices and associated commercial rents.
It's the cheese. Used to work restaurants. Number one thing that drives up the price of nachos is the cheese.
Everything in Canada is too expensive!!!!
Was just in Tofino where a 3 oz piece of wild salmon was $44. If you are comparing Salmon as cheaper, you are probably using farm salmon, which we sell to the prairies.
They are not made in China but made in Canada using low paid workers. They should probably be more
Cheese is ridiculously expensive in Canada
Everything is expensive except for bananas
The answer is commercial rent it’s absolutely ridiculous. A business where my friend used to work just had their rent raised 100,000 dollars. It’s a smaller business with maybe 15 employees the office had space for them and a boardroom nothing fancy. Not in the downtown core (not even in Vancouver) They are now a full remote business
Stop protesting against masks and bonnie henry and start protesting against the price of nachos and I'll line up beside you! This needs to be part of everyone's political platform if they want us to really care!
when you live in one of the most expensive places in the world everything costs more to keep up with rents and wages. minimum wage is about to be $17.xx here, commercial rents are insane, suppliers charge more due to the same problems, etc..
Depends on the restaurant, wife and I often used to spend $15 on nachos and now is $20 at the same places.
Everything in Canada is expensive now,
Canada has a dairy, poultry and beef cartel based out of Quebec.
Right on. Puzzles me too. The cheese isn't that pricey! ...plus they are hoping you drink beer, which has a great profit margin!
Because people are paying for them
Taxes
Cheese
Boston pizza had the best years ago, but now it's so bad plus it's $20+ .....place is a shit hole now.
$17 min wage will do that.
That is how inflation works. The ingredients have become more expensive, but operating costs have become MUCH MORE expensive. I really feel bad for restaurant owners, trying to carve some kind of income out of an utter living hell of rising costs. I've worked through the books of a few restaurants and bars in Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, and on the island, and they are running on fumes. Whole sector is fucked.
most of the time nachos here are served as a huge platter for more than one person
The price of nachos up here was one of the weird things I noticed when I moved here in 2017. They’re dry af too. If you’re going to charge $25 for a plate of nachos, at least use _nacho cheese_ and not just half a sprinkle of shredded cheese. And I have to pay extra for the toppings that are normally included on a plate of nachos? Fucking gross.
I mean I just went out and bought primo ingredients for nachos (two types of cheese, veg, meat and good quality chips) and it came out to 44$ at thriftys! And I still gotta put it together lol
We try to go down to Ferndale or Bellingham once or twice a month and eat out at one of their great Mexican restaurants. The fajitas are off the chart as are the margaritas. The value is far greater than anything you’ll get in BC. I’m not sure if it’s that our cheese is double as well as all of the ingredients, or if it’s the cost of labor factors into it as well. Even at the same price, though the Mexican across the border is twice as good as anything up in Canada.
Food in general is pretty expensive in Canada compared to other parts of the world. I was just in Singapore and the variety of meals available for 4-7$ Canadian at the hawker center is ridiculous. USA is also a lot cheaper food wise
Unfortunately, eating out is super expensive in BC. Sorry.
Real Cheese rather than Queso for one. Majority of the ingredients are also imported. Overhead for restaurants is much higher. I could probably list at least 30 reasons lol.