Who can afford to eat out anymore?

Wondering what people's thoughts are on eating out. 

Just went to a Cafe and spent $6 on a small scene and 9$ for a tea and cappuccino. 15.50 total. Does everyone in the world think this is the "right" price. Nothing was that good, it was better then meh, but I wouldn't say it was really good. Oh, and they prompt for a 18-22% tip.

Restaurants are worse.....

Does anyone know how much they actually pay baristas and waiters? Because when I was a teacher my starting salary was just under 40k and that was with 5 years post secondary and getting a contract was hard. If you count all the hours I put in, I wouldn't be stretching the truth to say I was lucky to make $20 per hour.  How much do they pay a starting teacher these days?

When I go out and my restaurant bill is $100 and they want a 20% tip, I have a hard time justifying $20 worth of work. If a waiter has 5 tables and turns them over every 2 hours and if everyone did 20%, they would be making 50$/hr in tips alone. And many of our waiters f%%king suck. I agree with a living wage but I feel like everyone is making 40k working 20hrs per week. 

In short, I am learning to cook and bake.....

Overtipping is at a tipping point (bad pun, but had to say it).  My Starbucks mobile ordering looks to add a tip, and does Subway, A+W.......I thought a tip was for extraordinary service, above and beyond.  I don't even get the basics sometimes.

I used to like the Keg but it is ridiculous....and the portion sizes are smaller than what I would expect for the money, but they are ALWAYS busy.  I think back 30 years ago when you actually got a meal (in fact, the last time I was there I don't think they even gave the famous bread).  The salad bar is long gone.....

I love sushi, and my meal has always been expensive, but now at Sushico in Langley (the best sushi I know of and I know a few haunts) is expensive, far more so than a few years ago where getting sushi was a spur of the moment thing....now, I have to think about it.  

And with the credit crisis looming for a lot of people I think restaurants will be hurting in 2024.  Hard to find staff (so I can understand why service is poor) and where is the extra cash coming from........

Other than the Kobe, downtown (my favourite place by far) I have yet to have a restaurant meal match a home cooked one that is made with care.  Maybe that is the point of all of this.

Hot topic indeed.   We've ramped up the home cooking.  The homebaked loaf of bread that's getting turned into grilled cheese tonight rivals those $22 grilled cheese places!

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2173590595911

British Columbians reach 'tipping point' on tipping, survey finds

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/tips-inflation-airplane-etiquette-1.7058966

Our question this week: are your tips keeping up with inflation? Which jobs deserve a tip, and which ones don't? Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories.

Posted by: RAHrider

Does anyone know how much they actually pay baristas and waiters? 

https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salary/Starbucks-Salaries-E2202.htm

I can't be bothered to give glassdoor my email

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/markets

Inflation and stock markets are linked.  If you aren't in the market, you aren't keeping up.

I thought people had no money, but the restaurants, cafes & pubs are still full.

Maybe the service industry workers ask for more because they are not getting paid enough to keep up with inflation?

so are you sayin prices are high or the restaurant is ass raping you ?

I don't go out to resarants much cuz there are not many restarantes up here

Posted by: RAHrider

Wondering what people's thoughts are on eating out.

Just went to a Cafe and spent $6 on a small scene and 9$ for a tea and cappuccino. 15.50 total. Does everyone in the world think this is the "right" price. Nothing was that good, it was better then meh, but I wouldn't say it was really good. Oh, and they prompt for a 18-22% tip.

Restaurants are worse.....

Does anyone know how much they actually pay baristas and waiters? Because when I was a teacher my starting salary was just under 40k and that was with 5 years post secondary and getting a contract was hard. If you count all the hours I put in, I wouldn't be stretching the truth to say I was lucky to make $20 per hour. How much do they pay a starting teacher these days?

When I go out and my restaurant bill is $100 and they want a 20% tip, I have a hard time justifying $20 worth of work. If a waiter has 5 tables and turns them over every 2 hours and if everyone did 20%, they would be making 50$/hr in tips alone. And many of our waiters f%%king suck. I agree with a living wage but I feel like everyone is making 40k working 20hrs per week.

In short, I am learning to cook and bake.....

Mom owned a restaurant when I was growing up, went under eventually because of tiny margins, like most restaurants do. Worked as a waiter all through college, definitely wasn't rich.

Thinking deeper, whose further up the food chain? Whose the restaurant's suppliers? Who are the suppliers beholden to? Get right up to the large corporations and there you'll find the profits and greed that are benefiting from keeping inflation elevated.

Pretty sure bet that it isn't your waiter or local restaurant owner buying themselves a third yacht.

On the upside, as you've probably read already in the news, inflation is decreasing:

https://apnews.com/article/inflation-prices-costs-economy-federal-reserve-rates-67149484e11abd8d0d18e0fdd69ec256

McDonald's used to be a cheap place to eat - I doubt adults ate their because of the cuisine.  I just looked at their online menu and it's $15.79 for a Big Mac, fries and coke.  Seems pretty steep for bulk fast food.

I think people are just sort of going out on special occasions.  It's big money to eat out and with tipping at an all-time high.  The price of drinks are also super high....  $10 for beer?  Get bent.

We don't eat out a lot. My GF's boss took us out for a Christmas dinner recently and was asking what our favourite restaurants are in the area. We both drew a blank after a couple places came to mind. That said when we do go out it's either a special occasion or we've got visitors in town. I just order what I want and pay the bill without giving it too much brain power. It's not cheap, but it's not cheap to run a restaurant. I don't think the businesses are trying to rip me off.

If I want a healthy economical meal I'll cook at home and we mostly do.

I don't go out for dinner all that often so the increased prices don't affect me that much, but with the typically slim margins of running a restaurant, and then trying to recover after the hardship of COVID, and then the inflation that seemed to hit foods the hardest, I doubt they have much choice but to jack the prices or go under.

The increase in tipping percentage over the years is really concerning.

Picked up food at a local chinese food place and I get the tip prompt of 15 18 or 20%.  For pick up?  So I over-ride it and put 10% which still seems high considering it's pickup.

That said, I find while "eating in" if there's a connection with the server and they add to the environment, I will tip in the 20-25% range.  Finding the server attractive adds to it, I can't help it, I'm not too woke to appreciate good looks.  But in general I'm 18%.  15% if the service is meh.

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

The increase in tipping percentage over the years is really concerning.

Picked up food at a local chinese food place and I get the tip prompt of 15 18 or 20%.  For pick up?  So I over-ride it and put 10% which still seems high considering it's pickup.

That said, I find while "eating in" if there's a connection with the server and they add to the environment, I will tip in the 20-25% range.  Finding the server attractive adds to it, I can't help it, I'm not too woke to appreciate good looks.  But in general I'm 18%.  15% if the service is meh.

LOL.  Anyone claiming otherwise would be lying.  I think this another great reason to abolish the practice and just pay them better.  If there is a privileged class of people in the modern world it's the beautiful.  They don't need more free money.