Taco Trevails

[ceagle]

Iz there sum kinda Taco Trend (at some restaurants) to diminish and diminutize the former size?

*boggles* ... Several times now I've taken chances on unknown diners, and them lil tacos have been a mere morsel compared to what I've known all my life.. 8|

Drove past a place a couple of days ago that said "best tacos" and so the next day I decided to give it a try.. just like my dad used to do, learning about new places by trying them out.
Well, the taste was okay, but as they saw the look on my face when they handed them to me, they said, "they're small, senor" ... and with shattered dreams I scarfed each one down in two bites. $1.35 each!!!

At least White Castle never hid the fact that their product wasn't a full-on hamburger, priced at about 25c apiece in our area... but 70c a bite is a bit steep for a taco, imho!

arf!

Comments

[whitetail.livejournal.com]

At our oldest established taqueria here, two normal sized tacos now go for $7. When the same plate cost $2.35, 20 years ago, I ate there every day. I maybe go there 3 times a year now. And I'm not the only one. Used to be at lunch time, you'd have to wait in line 15 minutes just to place your order. Today, you can walk right up to the counter at 1230PM and there's no one in front of you. Moral of the story: they'd make a shit-ton more money if they'd kept their food affordable. They're gonna price themselves right out of business if they keep this up. Not smart.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

To be fair, aside from inflation (the inflation calculator only goes to 2010, but I found that $7 in 2010 was the same as about $4 in 1980), food costs have absolutely skyrocketed in the last ten years. Most restaurants and food vendors have had no choice but to drive their prices up. Most of the restauranteurs are extremely unhappy to do it, knowing that they'll be attacked by their customers for doing so, but they have no choice.

For example, I had to explain to several customers a day that my boss was actually losing money on his chicken breasts, which they complained were overpriced. Because so many people ordered white meat, Bob got extra chicken from Cost-Co for $3.00 a pound (the distributor could only sell us balanced packages of mixed meat; an equal count of thighs, breasts, wings and legs in each package). But a breast weighed slightly over a poind. Add in the cost of breading, oil, the gas and electricity required to run the fryer, wages for myself and the cashier, building rent, insurance, and his own salary, that chicken breast probably cost almost $6 to produce. But he daren't raise the prices again, or he'd lose customers.

[orv.livejournal.com]

They basically have two choices -- either raise the prices or make the portions smaller.

The latter isn't entirely a bad thing -- portions at a lot of American restaurants are completely out of control.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

The latter isn't entirely a bad thing -- portions at a lot of American restaurants are completely out of control.

Totally agreed.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

True mostly, birdee :> ... Though on packaged foods I get a little miffed, since we can control those portions ourselves... and it's funny.. I saw it happen on a number of things, including one cereal I buy... went from 32 oz to 28 oz for the same price.... I guess people weren't buying, so they lowered the price while keeping the 28 oz size

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

It's super sad.... ;_; ... when fuel prices were going up fast a few years ago, I saw it happen, and I asked some restaurants n stores about it... and they confirmed it was the main reason...
They only one to lower prices when gasoline costs go down is Trader Joes (around here).. all the other places just keep the prices high once they rise...

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Indeedy, sir buck!
When I can get a full Chinese meal for $6, or an all-u-can-eat buffet for $9, it's hard to justify a sniff of meat and 5 bites of tortilla for $5