Brain recalibration - a cost of living/modern life thread
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WTAF??!!! How much? That's eye-watering! Hope it's a claimable expense? For me to claim that amount I'd have to be hosting 64 people!!!
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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Just over £200 a head. Not totally outrageous for a boozy business dinner with City types.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
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15 people eating 18 evening dinners?
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You still pay for people that weren't there? Sounds like some sort of Tory business scam?
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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I'm guessing manicures are something that has become too expensive looking at that photo?
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Stopped at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh for a coffee and a bite of lunch. Coffees and meals were a reasonable price, but a scone was £4 -most expensive I've seen for a long time!
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Interestingly, sourdough breadcis basically only flour and 1% salt, as the yeast is also made from the flour. 500g of flour, very decent strong flour, cost about 70p in supermarkets, so I assume bakeries can get it for 50p, or less.
If you then sell the loaf at £5, then it is a 900% gross profit margin, which is quite good by any standard. Then of course I appreciate the cost is the staff/time, but still… not much in the food world comes with that sort of margin.
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The only people to blame for a £5 loaf of bread are people willing to pay £5 for a loaf of bread. Good luck to the bakers if they can find enough mugs to keep them in business (same for 'artisan' anything).
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well… industrial bread is basically poison, if you read the ingredient list, therefore bakery bread is the only way if you want to avoid gut issues. That said, you can buy a loaf made of flour instead of chemicals for under 3 pounds. I appreciate that 24 hour fermentation has to come at a cost, but 5 quid is probably a rip off… I would say 3.50 is probably fair.
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you go there after 1PM and they have ran out of everything… I suspect wastage is not that high.
left the forum March 20230 -
I just like a nice fresh white batch, I can get one in my local bakery for around £2.50.
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It is volume with small low output bakeries like that. Yes, ingredient costs on certain products will be low but so will the number of goods. They will still have high overheads which, when combined with the low volume, account for the high price per item. You will find that the margin is far lower than you think, probably less than 20%. If it was 900% we would all be bakers ;)
There is a common misconception around food and drink, the more expensive it is, the greater the profit margin. Certainly when it comes to restaurants (especially at Michelin Star level), the margins are tiny due to the large overheads (massive staff numbers, premium ingredients etc.) The Fat Duck is the most expensive per head restaurant in the country and as far as I am aware, Heston Blumenthal has never made a profit. He supplements the restaurant with his other business concerns. You would be surprised how many similar places never turn a profit, or eek out a 5% margin at best. I suspect these low margins translate to many 'artisan' type outlets across food and hospitality.
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How is the oven powered?
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A friend of mine was working in a local coffee shop / cafe. The food and drink were really good but on the expensive side for the area (I always felt their superb cakes could be half the size and half the price as even I found them big). They recently closed out of the blue leaving her out of work without any clue it was about to happen. They said it wasn't worth continuing as they were 'only' making 10% profit which I always thought was considered a healthy profit margin. They were always busy even on weekdays but rammed on Saturdays so turnover should have been pretty good. She felt that as they had other businesses they just decided it wasn't worth the hassle anymore.
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Yep, which is why I am always reluctant to baulk at the prices of good one's (particularly if they are independently owned) It is very unlikely they are making huge money or ripping people off. Everyone has the choice on whether or not you frequent such places, but the obvious fact is that if people choose not to go, then good places close and your options become increasingly limited.
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if they don’t pay themselvelves salaries, 10% can be slim… Say 2 of you from different households running the show at 10% profit, if you make less than a million turnover, there isn’t much to live on…
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I was just looking at the margin on the raw ingredients
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I'd be pretty surprised if the son who was running it day to day wasn't getting paid. He was apparently taken as much by surprise as everyone and not very happy about it.
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A cafe/coffee shop in the UK is almost certainly going to be well under £1million in turnover. My local (very good and very busy) coffee shop is around £250k a year, which is about average for an independent in the UK.
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Exactly, so 10% is 25 grand, which is probably not that exciting, when you consider the amount of work involved. I would consider it as a lifestyle choice… if I could get a cafe’ on the beach in a surfing location… something with extra perks. Not interested in groups of morning dog walkers and kids screaming around…
left the forum March 20230 -
£1 million turnover is more than £2700 per day - I would imagine that would be one hell of a turnover for a coffeee shop
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
That's assuming the 10% profit is excluding them paying a salary to themselves though. I doubt that was the case in this instance, the owners weren't running it on a day to day basis and had one of their sons managing it (I'd always assumed he was the owner).
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There's a clear opportunity there if your friend fancies running a business.
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