Try comparing that restaurant price to what a beef producer gets for it on the hoof. The producer is getting less than $1 a pound for the meat that a restaurant is charging $50 for a 8 oz steak.

How does this markup compare to wine and other booze. Is there a general rule for markup % for meals?

It’s not the meat you’re paying for. It’s all the butter they slather on the meat before, during, and after it is cooked. Down with Big Butter!!!

It’s called greed, the farmer who fed and raised it for 15 months on the average getsless than 3% of the average restuuraunt price. They only take core the meat for less than amonth and an hour or so of labor to serve it. It is the price you have to pay to live in the city with it’s so called convience. What would most of the city dewllers do without the farmers. It may be time to hand out some lessons don’t you think??

That is why I don’t order steak at a resturant. You pay what ever they feel like charging you. The fancier the reasuturant the more expensive the food, that doesn’t always mean the food is better. Your basically paying for the resturant decor.

HM, you must have never worked in a restaurant. If you add the price for back of the house help (the kitchen) and then front of the house (wait staff) the price for the items that are being served and ll other costs that are involved the establishment does not make much money on the food it serves. The way that restaurants make money is the booze they serve. I am not saying there is no greed in the restaurant industry, but they do not make much money on the food itself.

Let’s be honest here….like every business that pays us, restaurant proprietors need to, and are entitled to make a profit. We eat out often, and yes, we eat steak. Could I make it cheaper at home…certainly. But, I would have to shop for it, prepare it, serve it, clean up after, and more. Labor is expensive, and we all need jobs, even the folks buying the food, preparing the food, serving the food, and cleaning up after us. Consider for just a moment the number of people employed by that meal out. A restaurant owner (and his/her family) the host(ess), the waiter, the chef, the prep cooks, the bus boys, the dishwashers, and in my case, the bartender! That’s why it can’t cost the same as “on the hoof” nor should it.

For me…I will still be at Outback in Woodbury every week, and I’m MORE than happy to pay the price and support each of those families as well!

a restaurant prices its food based on food cost percentage which is the cost of food divided by the amount of food sales most restaurants want a 30% food cost percentage that is why the price is so high so they can make a profit they just dont get that they can still make a good profit if its little by little and not a huge chunk on each meal. also used is the contribution margin which is the amount contributed by a menu item toward overhead expenses and is the difference between the cost of preparing the item and its selling price. also is labor cost which is the amount of convenience foods purchased versus those made from scratch also known as food sales percentage. labor cost divided food sales which will give you a 25% labor cost but most restaurants want the huge profit in bulk rather then little ones spread out little profit from each meal will still give the restaurant a good profit. I got this information from my text book introduction to hospitality 5th edition by john r walker