#76013 - 09/01/08 12:14 PM
Why are restaurant prices so high?
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euroinv
Junior Member
Registered: 04/11/08
Posts: 23
Loc: NYC
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The high price of restaurant meals in Tahiti is generally blamed on the fact that everything has to be imported. However, when I went shopping at the supermarkets in both Moorea and Bora Bora I was suprised to see how inexpensive most items were. Fish and meat were a lot less expensive than in my hometown NYC!
The high cost of imported food cannot explain Restaurants charging $40 for Tuna or Mahi Mahi which is available for $10 a kilo in the store (and presumably cheaper to local bulk buyers). If roulottes can sell whole roast chickens for $12, the cost of a chicken cannot be that high.
As such I am curious as to what drives such high prices? Are rents really high? Taxes? Wages? or are restaurants really profitable?
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#76069 - 09/02/08 08:23 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: euroinv]
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Suki (689)
Senior Advisor
Registered: 10/29/07
Posts: 920
Loc: ELA US of A
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i buy a case of HINANOS for about 30.00 USD sell each one for 5 dollars USD === 124.00 ==300% return everyone is hustleling in FP ala GOOD FELLAS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FP4LIFE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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#76072 - 09/02/08 09:27 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: Suki (689)]
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STM
Expert Advisor
Registered: 10/15/01
Posts: 1616
Loc: Oregon, USA
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Labor, rent, taxes, electricity, gas, tables, chairs, linen laundry are all high. But world-wide, restaurant food will always be spendier than street food
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#76084 - 09/03/08 10:49 AM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: STM]
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euroinv
Junior Member
Registered: 04/11/08
Posts: 23
Loc: NYC
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Good comments STM. I was not trying to compare roadside vendors with full service restaurants as obviously there is a difference in cost structures. I was using the roulotte example to suggest that the cost of an uncooked chicken cannot be that high if they can sell a roasted one for $12
My conclusion is that the cost of doing business in FP is very high and restaurant prices reflect this more than an extremely high cost of food.
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#76085 - 09/03/08 12:22 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: euroinv]
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Pacific Andy
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 10/16/01
Posts: 4278
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
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why is a four seasons more than a holiday inn?
Location, atmosphere etc
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Once You Go You Get It
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#76091 - 09/03/08 04:06 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: Pacific Andy]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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Do you know what electricity costs in FP to keep that fish cold? Do you know the price of gasoline to transport it? Do you know the minimum wage of the employees (who, unlike American food servers, do not rely on tips for their living), as well as the cost of their CPS benefits for medical and unemployment, all required by the government?
It is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive to do business in FP, especially in a high-end restaurant. Most tourist-based business are just barely hanging on right now, and many are quickly going out of businesses, given the slow tourist economy right now.
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#76099 - 09/03/08 06:33 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: BarbiJKM]
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euroinv
Junior Member
Registered: 04/11/08
Posts: 23
Loc: NYC
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The cost of electricity and transportation etc is the same for both a restaurant and a supermarket...yet food is reasonably priced in one but not in the other. There has to be a reason for this and I am fairly confident this is because of the cost of running a restaurant not because restaurants are massively profitable
Tourist destinations globally are hurting right now, but probably the very high costs of FP are hurting FP businesses more than elsewhere.
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#76105 - 09/03/08 10:48 PM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: euroinv]
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STM
Expert Advisor
Registered: 10/15/01
Posts: 1616
Loc: Oregon, USA
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Dude, we told you why it was expensive. How about one more: You prepare the food (which is what restaurants do, and you have added value to the frozen chicken. You get to include the Value Added Tax in your menu prices, 22.5%, if I recall correctly.
And any restaurant serving frozen chicken is not charging top CPF for their fare. You get the frozen chicken cut in little pieces in the Chao Mein served at the Snak
NZ green lipped mussels on the menu? Flown in last night in the belly of the plane that brought some tourists.
The list goes on
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#76108 - 09/04/08 07:10 AM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: STM]
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euroinv
Junior Member
Registered: 04/11/08
Posts: 23
Loc: NYC
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Agreed. The cost of running a restaurant in FP must be very high as the actual cost of the basic raw materials (eg not imported mussels)is not that high. There are many resorts in remote places that have the same transportation issues that FP has that do not have such uniformly expensive dining options.
As a restaurant owner and econ major I was simply curious....not a criticism of FP. It is what it is
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#76110 - 09/04/08 07:51 AM
Re: Why are restaurant prices so high?
[Re: euroinv]
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Pacific Andy
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 10/16/01
Posts: 4278
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
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Raw material not that high? What coconuts? I hope your neither an econ major or restaurant owner. Fish in Tahiti costs more than fish in LA. Go figure but it is. The price of Local Hinano beer is more expensive in Tahiti than in LA. Restaurants in Tahiti do not do that well, most currently are in financial trouble. The reasons why it cost so much lack of tourists. So the few that show up pay for the entire operation. Wages are three times as much as here, electric 4 x, gas 4x - Its basic econ - What Tahiti should do to stimulate their one and only industry which makes money is back the cfp to the US dollar and not the Euro. Then they can get those US and Japanese tourist back.
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