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On mountain food prices

Cornhead

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I'll never forget when my son said the burgers at Greek were just like the ones at school. Just like the ones at school except for the $6.50 price tag. Soylent Green?

Does anything smell better than burgers cooking while skiing? To me they always smell better than they taste. What's the point of pricing things so high they don't sell? Who's the winner in that scenario?
 

drjeff

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I'm sure that some of thier pricing structure at a major resort like SR for their F&B has to have some component of "if they pay $8for at says Chilli's/Fridays/Applebee's/Ruby Tuesday's, they'll pay $8 here"

Plus it has seemed from my observations over the years that the bigger and more popular a late season event gets at an area, the more F&B the "regulars" bring in themselves instead of buying from the area reguardless of what its priced at
 

deadheadskier

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I'm sure that some of thier pricing structure at a major resort like SR for their F&B has to have some component of "if they pay $8for at says Chilli's/Fridays/Applebee's/Ruby Tuesday's, they'll pay $8 here"

or the Matterhorn right down the street.......

http://www.matterhornskibar.com/menu.html

granted, the quality at the Matterhorn is probably much better and you get the burger with fries for the $9 price, but you're not eating it slope side.

$7 is about as cheap as it gets for a hamburger at a ski resort or anywhere but a fast food chain these days.
 

marcski

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or the Matterhorn right down the street.......

http://www.matterhornskibar.com/menu.html

granted, the quality at the Matterhorn is probably much better and you get the burger with fries for the $9 price, but you're not eating it slope side.

$7 is about as cheap as it gets for a hamburger at a ski resort or anywhere but a fast food chain these days.

I have to agree with DHS on this one. $7 for a grilled burger at a ski resort, just isn't really overpriced these days. In fact, you won't find it cheaper!

That being said, I'm a brown bagger....except for those warm sunny days when they've got the bbq running!
 

riverc0il

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Yup, you can't go into many sit down establishments and get a burger, fries, and drink for much less than $12 or so.

My issue with ski areas isn't high prices but rather lack of quality or portion size for the pricing. If I pay sit down restaurant prices, I expect the same quality. That is the bigger issue at many areas. Though I have noticed many areas increasing quality big time without significant jumps in pricing.

The bigger issue for me is drink prices. I've seen fountain drinks as high as $3.50-$4.00 which is an absurd margin. I try to bring a water bottle for beverages even if I plan on buying on mountain food.
 

Nick

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seven bucks for a burger seems about right if its good and has all the fixins. Agree on astronomical soda prices though, that's all profit
 

soposkier

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Draft beers are $4 at the Foogy Goggle. Enuff said.

yea, the beer prices at Sunday River are pretty much the same you'd pay at any bar, if not cheaper. Like others are saying, id pay $7 for a good burger anyday, but the problem is that on average your average ski cafeteria burger is not of good quality/fresh at all. Usually food in the bars at resorts doesnt seem to priced much higher than off mountain bars and is of much better quality or at least fresher than the caf.
 

abc

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I buy food at the resort, when I ski for free, that is. Otherwise, I brown bag it.

The price of the burger is probably calculated with the clientel in mind. SR is a "up market' resort, or they want to cater to. So the majority of those who go there probably won't be bothered by the inflated price of a burger.

I must say, after years of over-priced terrible food, lately the quality of the food had improved in many places. Some are good enough to justify the high price. Is it still a lack of budget-friendly food? Sure. But like all food service in high rent area (Manhattan anyone?;) ), the way out is provide high quality food to be inline with the price.
 

snoseek

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Generally there's quite a line up at the cafeteria during lunch. F&B is no different than any other business, you get the most amount of money out of each customer that you can. They all run a tight food cost, F&B is a major source of revenue for the mountain. Start running a food cost even as few percent too high and it creates a giant loss. The food they serve is mostly ready to use therefore it often lacks in quality and keeps the also important labor cost in check. Go to Vail resorts and order an "epic burger$$$$"

I totally agree on the quality, a few places get it.

Coffee or a beer is about as much as I'm willing to spend. A hunk of cheese goes a long way.
 

riverc0il

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More and more places are getting the quality thing. It doesn't have to cost a fortune to use slightly better patties and buns and put a slice of tomato and a leaf of lettuce on a burger. It might even cost more not to. When I plan to ski areas I know have bad cafe food, I bring my own. I had an experience this season at a ski area (which I won't name) that had the worst burger and fries I've ever had at a ski area. You can bet I will never ski that area again without packing a lunch.

On the flip side, I had some breakfasts (early lunch, really) and lunches at ski areas that I thought the value to cost ratio was excellent and I'll probably plan on not bringing a lunch for those areas. I'll name names here... Bretton Woods and Mad River Glen. Though I don't see myself going to BW again. :Lol: But I will continue to rave about that lodge, the service, and food I got there.
 

snoseek

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the way out is provide high quality food to be inline with the price.

100% agree with this. The dilema is finding the right staff, with the right skill level and the right pay. If they take a chance with skilled staff the food would be better. Food cost would go down, quality would go up but the labor would be much higher. Not many skilled bakers that will work for 850 an hour but damn wouldn't fresh bread from scratch daily make a kickass sandwich!

I also agree about the overall quality getting better at some areas. Areas with real villages and leased places are usually the best and most competive. Squaw village has a couple very decent places to eat for under 10 bucks. The Loaf is similar, decent restaurants.
 

Geoff

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100% agree with this. The dilema is finding the right staff, with the right skill level and the right pay. If they take a chance with skilled staff the food would be better. Food cost would go down, quality would go up but the labor would be much higher. Not many skilled bakers that will work for 850 an hour but damn wouldn't fresh bread from scratch daily make a kickass sandwich!

I also agree about the overall quality getting better at some areas. Areas with real villages and leased places are usually the best and most competive. Squaw village has a couple very decent places to eat for under 10 bucks. The Loaf is similar, decent restaurants.

It's not just the staff. When you're grilling frozen pucks out of the Sysco truck with a stale bun, cheap American cheese, and a slice of rock-hard flavorless nitrogen-ripened tomato, you're not going to come close to the $8.95 burger & fries in the pub.

Have a burger at Deer Valley sometime. It's also $8.95 but it's a restaurant-grade burger. The kid flipping burgers at Deer Valley is making the same lousy pay as the H2 seasonal worker visa people who work at Killington and the like. The difference is that Deer Valley is willing to give up some food cost margin to present a better product to their customers. You don't ever see anyone brown-bagging it there. The food is a good value and customers are happy to pay. I don't know how it works now but ASC used to keep total food cost and waste under 20%. The e Coli outbreaks at Sunday River are hardly a surprise. They source their burger from the cheapest midwest meat packing houses.
 

jlboyell

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i pack most days. the place i didnt was elk mountain in PA. Best Meatball sandwich around. good chili and decent burgers. cant remember how much, but i remember thinking it was cheaper and better than most
 

abc

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Not many skilled bakers that will work for 850 an hour
He might if he's a skier and gets a season pass as part of the benefit!

The other point of good quality ingredien is also very important. It makes the job a lot easier.
 

Mpdsnowman

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Christ I paid $13.00 for a burger at snowbasin......4 years ago..its probably around 16 by now lol.

I will say this that food service at resorts is probably one of the highest gpm they can get....

People will pay when they are there...
 

steamboat1

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$12 outdoor deck bbq'd burgers at the Octagon on top of Stowe. Excellent burger & there was a choice of several dressings & other toppings that the server puts together for you on a freshly baked bun. There was also a variety of salads to chose from included. Not overly priced I thought considering the spectacular views from the outdoor summit deck. It didn't hurt that it was almost 70 degrees, sunshine & no wind either. This was 2 weeks ago.

At $3.50 a pop for a choice of several brands of 16.oz canned beers I was in heaven.

Better yet after getting a good buzz going your on top of Mansfield & you have to ski down.

Priceless!!!
 
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