Just the other day I was walking past A&W, a place mostly known for burgers but now they’re expanding with some kind of cafe style sandwiches, too. Here in Toronto the current prices are about $15 for a proper meal. A basic sandwich can be had for $10 or so. And an ad caught my eye. It said two “Mama Burgers” for $8. I thought what an amazing deal and immediately went in, ordered it, ate it, and felt great.
But that’s when reality hit me, right after I gave them my hard earned money. That was a clever strategy wasn’t it? You don’t see it yet do you? They have tremendously inflated prices and then for half the price offer what appears as an unbelievable deal, two for the price of a half. I’m used to a “Grandpa Burger” costing around $15. That’s one burger, though it has three beef patties. This was two burgers, and two is more than one, and for half that price, $8 instead of nearly $16. So obviously my brain got confused. As did many of others. This is typical psychological attack on consumers and one that bothers me a lot.
One of the other things I can’t resist at A&W, despite their prices and despite my poverty being high, is their spicy chicken sandwich. Sometimes they call it Nashville Chicken. It is almost $11 for one. So one day I took it home and analyzed it. Why can’t I make it at home for cheaper? I mean I make my own software with Linux. There’s free versions of Linux tools for everything that the Windows ecosystem sells. So if that is possible, so might me cooking in my own kitchen!
The spicy chicken sandwich is basically two pieces of bread, a piece of chicken, lots of spicy sauce, a little bit of pickles, and some mayo. Nothing else! Is that worth a full ten dollars? Probably not. But they do have to pay for staff, rent, taxes, and profits. None of these aspects are my concern. I’m only concerned about the final product and the cost. So I went to No Frills and for $10 bought a package of ten chicken burgers. Then I went to the St. Lawrence market and at a gourmet shop bought my favourite hot sauce, Scotch Bonnet, for $5. Then I bought Polish Pickles from the deli upstairs in the market for $6, and I bought a whole loaf of bread for $3. Though I could have saved on the bread by buying a day old bread from the fresh bakery for $1.50! But I wanted to splurge. In total all the ingredients cost me less than $25. But it was enough to make ten burgers. That means each complete burger costs me only $2.50!
Now tell me again why I would ever step foot inside of A&W, Burger King or McDonald’s? Because their chicken is uniquely flavoured? Because their sauces are so much better? Because the atmosphere of standing in line with strangers is so enticing? Because paying nearly 5x as much is somehow saving me that much time? I don’t see the winning strategy here and I now consider myself a fool every time in the past I stepped foot into these establishments. I feel I was used and robbed. There is never going to be a time in my life when I’m going to feel sorry for a business and pay five times for the product that I can make at home in less than three minutes of total prep time. If ever I want fast food I will make it myself. Besides, tell me a place that sells chicken burgers with feta cheese! Because that’s what I just had. Game over bros.
Thousandth Cloud 