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On mountain food prices

deadheadskier

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This sounds just awful. I've had some pretty bad mgmt jobs but this definitely takes the cake. You should have skipped the mgmt job and just been a three night a week bartende, in town, away fronm the mountain. I've had many summers like you describe, most people can't fathom what its like to work like that.

Absolutely working a line level job is the way to go if you want to ski a lot and have a life outside of work. Most bartenders I know in ski towns can make as much $$$ annually as the F&B managers of the resorts while working only 3-4 days a week and having 3 months of the year off.

The downside is - no health benefits. If I was smart back when I still worked in ski towns, I would've stuck with bartending and married someone with health benefits. :lol:
 

Puck it

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Absolutely working a line level job is the way to go if you want to ski a lot and have a life outside of work. Most bartenders I know in ski towns can make as much $$$ annually as the F&B managers of the resorts while working only 3-4 days a week and having 3 months of the year off.

The downside is - no health benefits. If I was smart back when I still worked in ski towns, I would've stuck with bartending and married someone with health benefits. :lol:

Why shoot low? Marry rich!!
 

bobbutts

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Interesting to hear about the operations at Snowshoe
Seems nearly impossible to have a high quality product with such poor working conditions/turnover and near impossible to fix those within the budget. A place like Deer Valley can get away with $20 or whatever for a good burger, and still sell a significant enough number, so I guess the food service culture there is much different, but most resorts don't have that kind of clientele to even consider that.
 

ScottySkis

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Interesting to hear about the operations at Snowshoe
Seems nearly impossible to have a high quality oproduct with such poor working conditions/turnover and near impossible to fix those within the budget. A place like Deer Valley can get away with $20 or whatever for a good burger, and still sell a significant enough number, so I guess the food service culture there is much different, but most resorts don't have that kind of clientele to even consider that.

I think all the food at Slc ski areas were much better then east coast area's, i did eat a lot great food at Snowbasin, and prices were equal. But probably easier for west coast to make profit with less snowmaking then east coast.
 

abc

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A place like Deer Valley can get away with $20 or whatever for a good burger, and still sell a significant enough number, so I guess the food service culture there is much different, but most resorts don't have that kind of clientele to even consider that.
Apparently a lot of such clientel! Because Canyon's prices aren't much cheaper either.

(To show appreciation for my friends letting me crash in their house, and showing me their secret stach, I buy them lunch when we ski together -- usually at Canyons. My lunch bill was quite...substantial!!!)

Still, many visitors to DV are on vacation, not just to ski. So they're willing to indulge themselves for that once a year vacation.
 

drjeff

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Interesting to hear about the operations at Snowshoe
Seems nearly impossible to have a high quality product with such poor working conditions/turnover and near impossible to fix those within the budget. A place like Deer Valley can get away with $20 or whatever for a good burger, and still sell a significant enough number, so I guess the food service culture there is much different, but most resorts don't have that kind of clientele to even consider that.

That's a bit of a misconception about the food prices at DV. When I was there with my family just over a month ago. Lunch for the 4 of us, for essentially the same type of meal (burger or hot dog or grilled cheese and fries for the kids, some type of soup and/or the "special" entree of the day from the grill for my wife and I, 4 drinks and a couple of cookies for dessert) cost within $5 of what a similar lunch at an Eastern ski area cost. And both the quality and selection choices were much greater.

Overall, the food costs at DV are quite comparable to what you find at any major ski resort
 

vcunning

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Were the 4 drinks PBRs?

That's a bit of a misconception about the food prices at DV. When I was there with my family just over a month ago. Lunch for the 4 of us, for essentially the same type of meal (burger or hot dog or grilled cheese and fries for the kids, some type of soup and/or the "special" entree of the day from the grill for my wife and I, 4 drinks and a couple of cookies for dessert) cost within $5 of what a similar lunch at an Eastern ski area cost. And both the quality and selection choices were much greater.

Overall, the food costs at DV are quite comparable to what you find at any major ski resort
 

HowieT2

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Interesting to hear about the operations at Snowshoe
Seems nearly impossible to have a high quality product with such poor working conditions/turnover and near impossible to fix those within the budget. A place like Deer Valley can get away with $20 or whatever for a good burger, and still sell a significant enough number, so I guess the food service culture there is much different, but most resorts don't have that kind of clientele to even consider that.

I have to say that we are very happy with the food quality in the cafeteria at sugarbush. Its not cheap but I dont feel its outrageous either. I want to say pizza is 5-6, burger 7, salad 8, chili 7. something like that.
 

snoseek

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Absolutely working a line level job is the way to go if you want to ski a lot and have a life outside of work. Most bartenders I know in ski towns can make as much $$$ annually as the F&B managers of the resorts while working only 3-4 days a week and having 3 months of the year off.

The downside is - no health benefits. If I was smart back when I still worked in ski towns, I would've stuck with bartending and married someone with health benefits. :lol:

I'm actually working on this myself as I want to get away from being owned. My answer is cheap high dedutible insurance (5k), with 5k in an HSA. I have six months to make this happen as I'll be leaving the job I'm returning to by halloween.

It's the dental thing I'd like to figure out. I need quite a bit of work. I actually am toying with the idea of going to Mexico to get this done next year.
 

RENO

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I'm actually working on this myself as I want to get away from being owned. My answer is cheap high dedutible insurance (5k), with 5k in an HSA. I have six months to make this happen as I'll be leaving the job I'm returning to by halloween.

It's the dental thing I'd like to figure out. I need quite a bit of work. I actually am toying with the idea of going to Mexico to get this done next year.

I don't know if I would trust having anything medical or dental done in Mexico! :-o Dental work is ridiculous! My dentist told me 10 years ago when I started going to him to look at the cost of the work I need done like taking out a car loan. I asked him if that car was a Neon or a Ferrari! :lol:
 

drjeff

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I don't know if I would trust having anything medical or dental done in Mexico! :-o Dental work is ridiculous! My dentist told me 10 years ago when I started going to him to look at the cost of the work I need done like taking out a car loan. I asked him if that car was a Neon or a Ferrari! :lol:

I've seen about a dozen or so people over the last 15 years of practice that have gone to a foriegn country to have extensive dental work done. *Most* of it has been of good quality, some great, some not so great. The biggest issue tends to be that some people have the notion that once they get extensive work done, that it's lifetime work and that there won't/shouldn't be any potential future issues/problems that may arise with the work. That's the problem, because very often at some point, the very underlying problems that caused the person to need extensive work in the 1st place aren't addressed (i.e. bad diet/hygiene habits) and then when future issues arise with the foriegn work they had done, it can be an awfully long trip to get back to that dentist to have then fix the problem :idea:
 

ScottySkis

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I don't know if I would trust having anything medical or dental done in Mexico! :-o Dental work is ridiculous! My dentist told me 10 years ago when I started going to him to look at the cost of the work I need done like taking out a car loan. I asked him if that car was a Neon or a Ferrari! :lol:
I meet a fellow skiied at Alta a few years ago who told me he always gets his dental work done in SLC because it much cheaper then were hes from Caly, and you can try a clinic to.
 

deadheadskier

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It's the dental thing I'd like to figure out. I need quite a bit of work. I actually am toying with the idea of going to Mexico to get this done next year.

A friend recently took a vacation to Costa Rica and had some work done there. 1/3rd the cost and no complaints.
 

RENO

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I've seen about a dozen or so people over the last 15 years of practice that have gone to a foriegn country to have extensive dental work done. *Most* of it has been of good quality, some great, some not so great. The biggest issue tends to be that some people have the notion that once they get extensive work done, that it's lifetime work and that there won't/shouldn't be any potential future issues/problems that may arise with the work. That's the problem, because very often at some point, the very underlying problems that caused the person to need extensive work in the 1st place aren't addressed (i.e. bad diet/hygiene habits) and then when future issues arise with the foriegn work they had done, it can be an awfully long trip to get back to that dentist to have then fix the problem :idea:

That's why I'm sticking with my local dentist even if he's more expensive. If I have any problems he's a phone call and a few miles away. Not dealing with a foreign country for my dental or medical needs. Also not going to a dentist hundreds or thousands of miles away from home in the USA unless it's an emergency.
 

drjeff

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I meet a fellow skiied at Alta a few years ago who told me he always gets his dental work done in SLC because it much cheaper then were hes from Caly, and you can try a clinic to.

SLC is actually a relative "hotbed" of dentistry in the US. Up in Provo is where argueably the current "father figure" of dentistry, Dr Gordon Christensen practices and operates a very large clinic and research facility (he's the only dentist in the US who has a monthly column in the journal of the American Dental Association and runs a testing facility called Clinical Research Associates that publishes a very highly respected monthly that covers basically any and all materials involved in a modern dental office from ceramics to room disinfectants) and a large percentage of dentists in the US (and the world for that matter) have at one time or another taken a continuing education course given by Dr. Christensen. Basically he's as close to a living "dental god" as my profession has.

Also in the greater SLC area in is Dr. Dan Fischer, who runs one of the largest dental materials companies in the US, Ultradent (this company basically developed and continues to advance the "gold standard" of modern dental materials from filling materials to bleaching systems) and there is a lareg clinical facility there which he and others practice out of.

Also, within the Mormon population, there is a large interest in the profession and given the prevalance of Mormon's in the SLC area there's a relatively speaking high saturation of dentists there and as such greater competition.

As a practicing dentist (and ski addict), SLC has GREAT potential in that almost year round, if one in the dental profession chooses to do so, a continuing education course can be found, and thus a vacation to the SLC area can become a business expense if one so chooses :)
 

snowmonster

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SLC is actually a relative "hotbed" of dentistry in the US.

Also, within the Mormon population, there is a large interest in the profession and given the prevalance of Mormon's in the SLC area there's a relatively speaking high saturation of dentists there and as such greater competition.
Probably explains why there are so many dentists on TGR.
 
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