What's going on with street market food stalls?

[apintortwo]

You used to be able to get a decent dish for £7ish pounds (admittedly pre-pandemic)

Now most weekend street markets are mostly tiny vegan dishes for £10. You can have a proper sit down dish at an informal restaurant for £10-£13 (chicken or even medium range steak)

Some of these markets are not even located in posh or touristy areas

I know everyone is trying hard to make a living, but still...

We were on holiday in the uk last week and paid 7.50 at a street food stall for a battered sausage and chips ; wasn't many chips and the sausage was clearly the cheap type deep fried. The chips were oily and not many of them either .
I know everyone has to make a living , but it was a rip off. The fish would have been over 10 pounds I think , but I understand that as it's fish.

You've heard of inflation? You've noticed the price of food going up in the shops?

If you're feeling the pinch maybe make more of your meals yourself.

And the extra 50p or £1 for "extra sauce" or whatever... that annoys me.

My local thai guy is great - just two options on the menu (although Pad Thai can be veggie, chicken or prawn). Food is really excellent and he's a really nice guy. But pre Covid, I used to be able to get a decent sized portion for a fiver. Its now £7.50 although the portions do seem a smidge bigger. And if you want to add prawns/chicken it's an additional £2. I hardly ever eat there any more.

Having said that, my supermarket shops have increased by a huge amount too so it really may well just be a case that everything is more expensive. If inflation is officially at 13% or whatever it is, in real terms for real people it's usually significantly higher.

Costs of just about everything have increased, some massively so, since before the pandemic, which is now coming up to 3 years ago - cooking oil, ingredients, electricity or gas to cook the food and probably pitch fees too.

Also NMW if they need to employ staff or are considering how much they need to make to pay themselves a wage to cover their own household costs.

If you don't like it, don't buy it, I doubt many people running street food vans are raking it in and they're not running a business to serve you cheap food, they're doing it to make a living for themselves and set their prices accordingly.

You've heard of inflation? You've noticed the price of food going up in the shops?

The cost of a sit down meal should have risen as well, but hasn't gone up as much. That's what I'm trying to understand.

If you're feeling the pinch maybe make more of your meals yourself.

I don't eat this type of food (and certainly not vegan).

But sit down meals have gone up. Steak and chicken meals will probably only cost £10-13 in chain pubs where the quality isn't very good and/or the cost is subsidised by the high cost of drinks.

Where on Earth can you get steak for £10-£13? Nowhere near me. I’d expect to pay almost that if I cooked it myself.

Costs of just about everything have increased, some massively so, since before the pandemic, which is now coming up to 3 years ago - cooking oil, ingredients, electricity or gas to cook the food and probably pitch fees too

But nearly 50%? From 7 to 10 pounds? It's a lot

Decent rump steak in a restaurant around here is £26+. Nobody running a street food stall is making loads of money.

Where on Earth can you get steak for £10-£13? Nowhere near me. I’d expect to pay almost that if I cooked it myself

Poulet Breton or Steak Frites at Cote Brasserie for instance (the first one that comes to mind). It's a proper restaurant with all the costs that that involves (premises, business rates, waiters, etc)

www.cote.co.uk/

Pubs and restaurants are generally able to cope with rising overheads and absorb those costs more easily than a small business. They also don’t have fuel costs to factor in (towing a food truck back and forth every day or week is expensive).

This sort of food has been expensive in relation to restaurant meals for a long time now. I think they can because they either tend to be in places where there is a captive market like events - I remember paying £7 for a cup of very mediocre ‘posh’ Parmesan chips from a van before Covid - or they have a trendy cachet and can charge what they like. At the local food hall there was a stall charging £15 for pasta a couple of years ago. Was very good, mind.

Ultimately it boils down to whether you think it’s worth it. I’ve paid £10 - £12 recently for a single meal from food stalls, but actually I was happy to pay as the portions were generous and the food very good. I give things like £8 halloumi fries a swerve because I think they’re very poor value.

We went to a festival recently and a lot of the food was £12 a go and shite.
Last year it was £7 on average.
It wasn't a camping one either so you couldn't take your own stuff in with you. £6/8 a pint too.

But ingredient, electric, fuel and gas costs have increased by more than that. Add on the cost to rent a pitch and it's hardly surprising it costs a lot more.

Surely you can see that somewhere like Cote has the economy of scale on its side? An independent food truck, usually using local ingredients is obviously going to pay more than a chain like Cote that has a buyers with national contracts.

I get what you are saying OP. That’s a big increase. I understand there will have been some increase but I do think a fair few businesses are using the headlines to justify price increases to just make more profit. Food stands do not have the cost of rent, wait staff, energy costs for a building. People start out that way because overheads are much cheaper than an actual brick and mortar restaurant. Near us they are trading off being part of a “trendy” food market but the quality is mediocre.

@fyn I agree about economies of scale, I am happy to pay more for a good independent restaurant but I am not paying more than the likes of Cote for food from a van, which will pay more for food than Cote but will have a fraction of the other overheads and doesn’t provide a service with the food.

Meals haven't gone up in every chain. Where I work you can get a good sized steak, cooked properly, and a drink for £8.

Are you saying that it costs more to move a van, than to pay business rates?

I paid £8 on Saturday for Thai food from a street food thing, chicken not vegan. I'm suspecting you are in a trendier area than me. We can still eat in several places for £10 a head here but the nicer places are typically £15 a main. Steak is £16.50 near my house (cheaper at Wetherspoons obviously

If you don't think food trucks offer good value for money, don't use them. If they're at events or even on the street in town, they'll be paying a good amount to trade there.

I'd happily go to Cote if it were more local, looks a fantastic restaurant with a great menu.

The street food traders and the like will be pricing themselves out of their own business. They don't have the overheads that a restaurant does and ramping up the costs the way they do, for inferior food in smaller portions, will just speed up their demise.

We had lovely food from a street market in Stratford on Avon recently. It was very reasonable & I was surprised as I thought somewhere like Stratford would inflate prices. I had nachos for £6 & didn’t manage to finish them. DH had a spicy chicken burrito for £8 which he enjoyed.

Ingredients have certainly gone up, and in many cases by more than 50%. Some of the ingredients I use for my business have doubled in price over the last year. It's very difficult, because I do need to pass those costs on, but I don't want to price myself out of the market either.

It's much more difficult for smaller, independent businesses to weather cost increases, IMO, as they often make very little profit in the first place, and are more likely to have to pass the costs on. It's a very tricky time for small businesses.

If you don't think the food is value for money, don't buy from there. But don't be surprised at the price increase, given how much fuel and food prices are rocketing at the moment.

I'm surprised the cost of sit down meals haven't gone up where you are. They have here. A lot. Typical mail in a pub is now about £16-£23 on average.