Ski Area Food Prices

deadheadskier · Feb 25, 2015

Stowe is about the only place in New England that I look forward to having lunch at. In my mind due to the quality of the food, the prices in Spruce Peak lodge are a great value for a ski area. I'd rather pay $17 for a good burger and fries than $10/11 for the typical garbage served in most mountain cafeterias.

dlague · Feb 25, 2015

deadheadskier said:
Stowe is about the only place in New England that I look forward to having lunch at. In my mind due to the quality of the food, the prices in Spruce Peak lodge are a great value for a ski area. I'd rather pay $17 for a good burger and fries than $10/11 for the typical garbage served in most mountain cafeterias.

Actually, now that you mention it, it a matter of perspective. One persons "expensive" is another persons "no big deal". If there is a perception of quality compared to price or you really do not care about the price then none of this is a big deal. What we may save on lift tickets allows us to spend on libations and food. However that being said we often bring our own.

BenedictGomez · Feb 25, 2015

deadheadskier said:
Stowe is about the only place in New England that I look forward to having lunch at. In my mind due to the quality of the food, the prices in Spruce Peak lodge are a great value for a ski area. I'd rather pay $17 for a good burger and fries than $10/11 for the typical garbage served in most mountain cafeterias.

The places I ski all have good lunch option.

I think ski area food is the biggest "advancement" since tree skiing became legal.

Jay Peak - Alice's Table is excellent.
Smuggler's Notch - Black Bear Tavern / Green Peppers serves good lunch fare, love the homemade potato chips
Stowe - Havent been in eons but it was awesome, the 50% employee discount made everything taste better
Sugarbush - Castlerock Pub has solid pub grub

dlague · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
The places I ski all have good lunch option.

I think ski area food is the biggest "advancement" since tree skiing became legal.

Jay Peak - Alice's Table is excellent.
Smuggler's Notch - Black Bear Tavern / Green Peppers serves good lunch fare, love the homemade potato chips
Stowe - Havent been in eons but it was awesome, the 50% employee discount made everything taste better
Sugarbush - Castlerock Pub has solid pub grub

The best priced food at Stowe - Midway Lodge

rocks860 · Feb 25, 2015

The cafe at jackson gore at okemo had some good food last time I was there

deadheadskier · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
The places I ski all have good lunch option.

I think ski area food is the biggest "advancement" since tree skiing became legal.

Jay Peak - Alice's Table is excellent.
Smuggler's Notch - Black Bear Tavern / Green Peppers serves good lunch fare, love the homemade potato chips
Stowe - Havent been in eons but it was awesome, the 50% employee discount made everything taste better
Sugarbush - Castlerock Pub has solid pub grub

Haven't ate at Alice's. I have heard good things. Black Bear was good when I went in December.

My comments were more specific to cafeteria food. There are numerous good slopeside full service restaurants all over the East, but no cafeteria food I've tried (including Jays new lodges) can touch Stowe's at Spruce. It's sit down restaurant, city quality food, served cafeteria style.

dlague · Feb 25, 2015

deadheadskier said:
It's sit down restaurant, city quality food, served cafeteria style.

Yup and I prefer to be waited on in that case! :thumbup:

C-Rex · Feb 25, 2015

When I do eat a hot lunch, I don't really worry about the price. Not because I'm fantastically wealthy, I'm most decidedly not, but I usually save enough on lift tickets and my friends give me enough gas money to make the day reasonably inexpensive. I'd rather just enjoy the food and the overall experience than worry about penny pinching.

Of course, I realize that being a single guy makes this much easier. If I had a wife and kids to pay for it would be a different story. That extra dollar turns into 4 and it all adds up much more quickly.

BenedictGomez · Feb 25, 2015

deadheadskier said:
My comments were more specific to cafeteria food. There are numerous good slopeside full service restaurants all over the East, but no cafeteria food I've tried (including Jays new lodges) can touch Stowe's at Spruce. It's sit down restaurant, city quality food, served cafeteria style.

No argument there. Ski area cafeteria's generally serve low-grade dog food. If you want to eat good food at ski resorts, you have to pay more.

But the odd thing is, "more" isn't much more. I'd much rather pay $14.95 for an excellent cheeseburger (which comes with fries) than $7.50 for a tinfoil wrapped, twice-dead bit of shoeleather with a Kraft American slice, plus $2.50 for some fries.

And yes, Stowe's cafeteria food was pretty good. I don't know if they still make it, but my favorite thing from the Stowe cafeteria used to be the lobster bisque. It was phenomenal.

BenedictGomez · Feb 25, 2015

dlague said:
The best priced food at Stowe - Midway Lodge

Good to know. I'm going to ski Stowe in a few weeks, and it will be the first time in over a decade. It will feel like a homecoming. I think Spruce Peak will make me sad.

jimmywilson69 · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
the lobster bisque. It was phenomenal.

The do and its good. Don't remember the price off hand

deadheadskier · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
It will feel like a homecoming. I think Spruce Peak will make me sad.

It will, but you get over it. Terrain is the same. That's what matters

C-Rex · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
a Kraft American slice

You might be giving them a bit too much credit there.

I'm surpised some bigger resorts don't lease space to fast food chains. I bet Subway and Taco Bell would do very well.

tekweezle · Feb 25, 2015

The food at the Stratton mid mountain Lodge is expensive but at least it's good. Since You're going to get ripped off eating on mountain, the food might as well be good.

The Mountain Smoke Grill in the mml serves up 1 1/2 rack of BBQ pork ribs for $15. Could probably feed 2 people. $13 for a heaping serving of Smoked Beef Brisket or Pulled pork on a sandwich roll. Plus a big selection of different flavored BBQ sauces. Sure it's bit expensive but you'll have decide if it's worth it.

They also have rotisserie chicken and smoked brats along with standard ski area cafeteria fare like chicken tenders, chili and soup bowls.

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jimmywilson69 · Feb 25, 2015

BenedictGomez said:
Good to know. I'm going to ski Stowe in a few weeks, and it will be the first time in over a decade. It will feel like a homecoming. I think Spruce Peak will make me sad.

I think you'll be impressed at what they've done over there. Sure it's changed, but it seems well thought out and executed nicely.

If it bothers you that bad, close your eyes and have someone lead you to the lifts

It always amazes me that there is very litte lines over here, especially when taking the Senstion Quad all of the way to the top. Nobody rides that lift..

drjeff · Feb 25, 2015

C-Rex said:
You might be giving them a bit too much credit there.

I'm surpised some bigger resorts don't lease space to fast food chains. I bet Subway and Taco Bell would do very well.

I'd bet that the realistic 3 month season that most chains would be looking at for the vast majority of base lodge operations would be a BIG turn-off. The majority of the time outside of the Mid December through March "busy" season, I'd bet that many a chain if they opened a shop in a base lodge would have a challenging time even simply covering their overhead more days a week than not.

And while not all "cafeteria" base lodge food is the greatest, there are for sure some places that have high quality cafeteria food, with a good variety and price point for the quality. Heck, last week while I was at Mount Snow for presidents week, in their newly added, daily chef's hot table area (the food is priced at $12.95/lb regardless of which of the usually 5 different offerings they have daily), I had a home made chicken pot pie one day, beef tips over vegetable fried rice another day and stuffed manicotti a third day. Not all "cafeteria food" in a base lodge is about hockey puck burgers and chicken fingers!

C-Rex · Feb 25, 2015

Very true, doc.

Ya know what I'd love to see at some mountains? Food trucks!!

How cool would it be to hit Superstar or Carinthia (anyplace with short walk to the parking lot, really) in the spring and then get a killer giro or burrito right in the parking lot? Perfect! No worries about overhead or the short season. Then they just need "Pub Trucks" to bring the beer from different breweries. I think I may be on to something here...

deadheadskier · Feb 25, 2015

That's actually a good idea. In Burlington they have food truck row on campus at UVM and they kill it midweek. There's like 8 different trucks of different types of food. I think only a couple of them operate weekends as there's no business.

The resorts don't need the trucks midweek, but could use the extra service capacity on weekends. The trucks could use the business on weekends.

Win/win

SkiFanE · Feb 25, 2015

The prices in the pic are all over the map. But I work in Boston, and I'm numb from lunch prices. Luckily there are 2 markets with prepared food near me (one is new whole foods) where I can grab some decent stuff for $4 or so (ie 2 chicken tenders and black bean salad). But sandwiches, soups, etc are all pricey. Even the hospital cafe at work has been privatized and is no longer cheap. That was always one bene's of working in hospitals - generally cheap okay lunch meals - that's changing at most hospitals.

Sunday River has decent prices. My kid often gets the chick finger/FF/soda lunch for $4.99. And they're good chicken fingers lol. Cheeseburger is $4.99. If I do buy lunch - they have great wraps with homemade chips for $8.99 - enough for husband and I to split. But I usually skip lunch - it's my kids that eat it. Try to make lunch at home, but sometimes it's just too busy in AM. But yeah...you wouldn't go there for a healthy lunch - have to pack your own.

Warp Daddy · Feb 25, 2015

When skiing regionally , we Always bring our own , hot soup in thermos and a deli style sandwich, easier , better and not care cheaper , but real bonus .......no standing around inlines ;-)

resort skiing well not so much

Ski Area Food Prices

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