"We can't justify a £52 lunch" - AIBU to think you didn't need to?

[PropitiousJump]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg3g11z6d8o

I found this article irritating. Middle earning families complaining they can't afford a day out, in part because of the expense of eating lunch and dinner out. A family of four in both cases.

I completely agree it's got expensive to eat out, but have they never heard of taking your own sandwiches?

And if you look at what they've eaten, they've ordered a lot of extras that have bumped up the bill.

Costa family - £52 lunch for four. If they could have done without an overpriced bag of crisps on top of their mains, and not had puddings (this was lunch, not dinner) they could have got the bill down to a more reasonable £40ish - a tenner each.

Pizza Express family - £174 dinner for four. If they cut out the starter and side orders and the adults had soft drinks instead of alcohol, they could have got the bill down to approx £109 for soft drinks, mains and a dessert each.

This isn't saying they are eating too much - it's not a diet-bashing thread - but common sense says that if you are eating in a chain place on a day out and trying to keep costs down, you don't order loads of extras and alcohol. Have a drink and a snack at home if you're still hungry. Save all the extras for an 'occasion' where eating out is the focus of the event and you're going somewhere special, not fuelling up in a chain restaurant.

AIBU?

This. You are completely missing the point of the article. Here's a tip, it wasn't to demonstrate how cheaply it could be done.

Normal families can no longer afford what would have been a fairly routine day out 10 years ago without serious economising.

A day out like the one they've just had costs a week or even two weeks worth of groceries

Restaurant footfall is crashing. Labour costs are spiralling as are business rates.

In short, real time salaries are not keeping pace with the cost of living [global issue]
OR
Government and local authorities need to revisit the taxation of / rates placed on service businesses.

Salaries aren’t matching cost of living,

Having lunch in a Costa, not just an over-priced coffee, then having a multi-course dinner is not society's role to fund. There are some very different ideas on MN about what's normal life?

You've 100% missed the point of the article, OP. Of course no one HAS to, the point is that they SHOULD be able to without having to spend circa 25% of their disposable income going bowling and eating at Costa or Pizza Express once or twice a month.

What an absolutely miserable existence to feel that you can hardly ever do this and even if you do to feel guilty and anxious about it.

Panorama paid for these bills, to see the true cost so the families could spent what they would want to for lunch without having to deliberately count the pennies – and if a median-earning family of four can buy two extra cookies at Costa once a month without worrying about it then we have reached an extremely horrible situation.

Enjoy your packed lunch.

My last spend at pizza express for my family of 4, 2 adults and kids aged 4 and 9 cost £66. We didn't have alcohol but still, you don't need to spend almost £200! Most of the time when we go for days out we take sandwiches as a lot of places are expensive and the food rubbish. A lot of places now do pay for one time and can return at any time in the year for free. People just have to be savvy and look for the deals and discounts.

I know someone who spent over £1000 on her child's 9th birthday. She's on benefits.

The child wasn't particularly arsed either way too.

It's all about 'value for money' IMO.

I will not pay £20 for fish and chips , or a burger, because it's not good value.

If I don't want to cook I'll buy a 'Finest' or the equivalent from a supermarket and eat at home.

Going out, I'll make do with a coffee and snack, or take my own and eat it in a park or similar.

Most food unless you're going to a very nice restaurant is what I'd call 'junk food' - loads of burger options, pizzas , pasta, and very cheap in terms of cost- but it's the overheads that rack up the price. Local council rates, VAT, NI, minimum wage fuel, etc.

I'd rather pay £100 a head once or twice a year for a special meal than £25+ for a pizza and chips!

It’s the wanting others to suffer if we have thing. I’m sure there’s a name for it! Like women who have no pain relief in childbirth thinking those who do are soft etc. I suffered so you should do too. I think we can all be a little bit guilty of it if we don’t check ourselves.

Cost of living doesn't really impact people on benefits as the government increases the top up whatever happens.

Panorama have always been tabloid TV and deliberately exaggerated a lot of what they say for shock value.

There was a reason that somewhere which has a business model involving the use of inflated prices and vouchers was picked. There was a reason a chain coffee place was picked rather than an independent.

It wasn't purely because these are recognisable names. It's because they could generate more outrage.

The point is that they do, OP – and yes, it gets miserable. Forgive people for wanting to work to live, eh?

"Overpriced"? – Costa lost £13m last year from loss of custom. What do you want our high streets to look like and how is that going to happen?

You seem to be massively missing the point.

She really isn’t.

We go out to eat (and tbf this isnt new) mainly for birthdays, our anniversary, and on holiday. So maybe 8 or 10 times a year.i dont drink coffee, or hot drinks so I dont really go in coffee shops (if im out and about i'll drop into tesco or boots and buy a coke)
....but i realise that to have a choice of where I might go for my occassional meals, im probably relying on others to go out way more frequently, to keep those places in business

There will be a generation (and above) of people (probably in my demographic) who will remember life in the 70s and how their families navigated what you want with what you have. Presumably some of them will have been awake at the time and can now revive that formative experience into practical effect.

Maybe it's always been that way, and the older are more used to a little privation ? After all our grandparents were making do sharing a horses willy.

However if you were born in the 80s onwards, then the retro shift to the 70s - when a Vesta curry was the talk of the street - you are in for a shock. And this is it.

Costa’s prices have always been high. They also over-expanded. Caffè Nero is still doing well.

£40k wage today is about £25k in 2008 in terms of equivalent spending power.

Increased costs and wage stagnation - standard of living is dropping no doubt.

And as costs continue to increase, and with the likelihood of the Iran War affecting the price of everything, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Food is particularly hit from all sides, it needs energy, plus fertilisers, plus no climate shocks to produce, store and transport. And there is no alternative everyone needs food.

As household budgets get hit again and again and again with no end in sight it will be the extras which get cut.

Even our teens, and they hadn’t until recently, took any notice of the price of coke, but they came back announcing they had worked out that a bottle of coke was 50p cheaper at the newsagents than the local express supermarket. (Partly helps it’s their own money they spend nowadays) and good to know that they might be more aware than we thought but still - cost of living has hit even them. One worked out it was cheaper to buy x2 cans than one bottle.

I work at Costa and honestly I ask this myself every single day. Mother’s Day, New Year’s, Bank Holidays and Sundays, I see families coming for lunch. I think is sad, there are so many other options at the same price. Costa is not cheap and the food is not good.

People have serious problems if living is overpriced crap in Costa.

Costa has lost £13m because it serves the same old vile overpriced , artificial, poor quality food and drink on dirty tables. It has been dreadful value for some time. I bought an egg and mushroom breakfast bap there a long time ago. It had 1 slice of mushroom in.

It is supply and demand. If they are no longer offering what people will buy then they shut down for whatever the reason. This is true of every shop and has been the same since forever.

The bubble has burst for these businesses, cost of living doesn't help, sure but in the case of costa, it's not just down to that.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/costa-coffee-prices-losses-sale-coca-cola-b2893440.html

I.get enraged by that sort of thing too. I was a SAHM for the first five years of all my children's lives. We went to loads of places but I'd never by a coffee or lunch out since mostly it was petrol money, train fares andthe odd pound for a playgroup. Even now the kids have secondhand clothes and packed lunches and the house ISA mismatch ed jumble of hand-me-downs but we go on (UK) holidays, abroad every other year, the eldest went on the school ski trip and they do pretty much all the hobbies they want. If you have some money, and don't spend money on crap, then there's plenty you can do.

Spain produces wine. They buy it locally. How much do you think it costs to ship heavy bottles of wine to the UK (also think about breakages as part of this cost)?

The UK is a traditional brewer of beer and cider rather than a wine producer. We have lots of breweries. Small breweries are good employers who need lots of labour. We should support breweries over wine imported from Spain for this reason. Even if we go with English wines they will naturally cost more because wages are higher than in Spain.

So that's your raw costs. Then add in your service costs in the restaurant.

Why do you think we should be paying similar prices for wine in the UK as in Spain?

Why wouldn't they be significantly higher?

Genuine question.

Pubs are closing at a massive rate so you’re definitely wrong on that front.

I agree with AND them.

If you're earning above average then no you shouldn't be out priced By a Costa or Pizza Express.
But the second one in partix does smack of "order as much as much as we can get away with...."

What annoys me is the "well there's just no point anymore!! when low income families are judged for not giving their kids lots of experiences on far lower wages.

The kids get Sealife or Legoland when there's a deal on or I can get it through Tesco.
If we go to our favourite Farm on holiday we pack a picnic.
Some days our are one off annual things cos they cost more - arcade and fairground on holiday happens once a holiday!!

Pubs aren't always full. They keep closing down.

Maybe spoons is busy on Friday nights but most pubs during the week probably make no money.

You used to get regular people who could afford to go to the pub every night. I don't think anyone would ever do that now. Or if they did they'd literally have one drink, rather than several over a few hours.

Pizza express was packed last time I went, so people are still managing to afford it.