12 Food Items For Which You Pay More At The Restaurant Than They Actually Are

It happens to us quite often that we are lured to the fancy dishes in an even fancier restaurant by the presentation, or by the names or even when we just want to try out something new. We might feel that the quantity of food suffices the price but that isn’t always true if we give it a little more thought. If you are planning to open a restaurant or a cafe you should really know it well how to make the customers happy and still make sky high profits.

So, here’s a list of some food items which we order most of the times we visit a restaurant or a road side cafe because we think they are actually cheap but is other way around.

1. Pizza are actually very cheap to make

They are one of the most profitable items you will ever find in the market and based on the part of population that is crazy about pizza, the business flourishes fantastically. The main ingredients for pizza are dough which comprises of flour and yeast, lots of cheese and tomato sauce and all these items are easily viable in our country at very cheap rates.

And the rates even get cheaper when they are bought by the food joints. Hence, even when there’s a 50% discount they are still gaining a great profit from the deal.

2. Buffet meals is a trap

You might have noticed that at many posh hotels they charge an amount per head and with that you can eat whatever you want within a stipulated amount of time. Well, I myself is a sufferer of this pseudo profitable deal.

They charge an amount which you think is cheap but you gradually realise that after eating the starters you are almost full and have no space for main course and dessert. And that’s the catch my friends. They know it very well and hence provides this deal with otherwise looks lucrative. Also you serve yourself and saves the cost of waiters.

3. Soups, one of the most profitable dish

You have no idea how profitable they are for the restaurants. Now they are basically made of chopped vegetables, chicken or any other meat. In a restaurant these are easily available as the remains from when you are making a main course like roasting dishes or grilling. So, instead of wasting these they are used as ingredients for soups.

Which means the cost of ingredients tends to zero and almost 90% of the given price tag tends to be the profit. And as you guys already know that soups are very fulfilling and hence we think that it is worth paying for. And they are even easy to prepare for a large crowd which also minimises the labour cost. Also, soups are made well in advance and can be served whole day after warming.

4. Desserts are quite profitable when made in huge quantity

That one piece of cake topped with your favourite nuts, or your favorite ice cream adorned beautifully with chocolate chips or little slices of fruits looks very attractive and hence gives an expensive touch to your dinner.

Well, though it looks very expensive desserts are made in large quantities, quite ahead of time and stored in the freezer so they are not spoiled and can be served for quite a long time. This reduces the cost and hence makes them a very rich source of high profit.

5. Combo meals are not actually cheap

Well it might seem that they are charging a reasonable amount but if you estimate the value of each items individually you will realise you are paying almost three to four times the amount you are suppose to pay. But we all know that we get so excited we really overlook these details and make ourselves the victim without even realising.

So here’s ten items that I think are the best source of profit for a restaurant but seems differently when we see the quantity or just some ingredients that can make us lose the appetite.

6. Pasta is very easy to make

Again, even if you make it from scratch they are so easy to make and the labour charges are minimum. And when it comes to the ingredients it is so cheap along with some different sauces and spice. Also restaurants gets the raw materials at cheap rates as they buy it in bulk.

Over-all they are prepared in no time with minimum efforts and ingredients and hence maximizing the profit for a posh restaurant. Presentation earns a great amount of money with almost zero efforts.

7. Non-alcoholic beverages contain only artificial flavors

Cost of making non-alcoholic beverages are quite less ad they contain only artificial flavors. Also any soft drink like Coke or Pepsi are ultra-cheap to serve.

8. Alcohols are horribly overpriced

Alcohol is a very popular purchase when you are going out for dinner. The markup for a glass of wine is between 200% to 600% and for a beer it would be around 500% to 600%. So, you basically pay 5 to 6 times the amount you should actually pay and still enjoy the drinks.

And at times they are also diluted which increases their profit even more because you don’t really notice them make the drink for you. So, the “happy hours” aren’t actually pocket friendly, are they?

9. Beverages like tea and coffee end up making restaurants a lot of profits

We often go to a fancy café and pay over 150 bucks for a cappuccino, Latte and many other such drinks. They are highly profitable as the main ingredients for the drinks are same and only with a slight change in outlook and taste they attracts a huge amount of customers.

Sugar is cheap too. Moreover the price also varies according to the locations of such cafés but still they cost only around 5 to 7 percent per serving. And hence at times when they give out free cup cakes or drinks though it might seem advantageous to us but it’s actually not.

10. French fries are just potatoes and salt

They are nothing but fried potato slices served with tomato sauce. If you do the simple calculation you will realise that the profit of the restaurants are between 500% to 600%.

Potatoes are easily available in the market the at a rate of 20 rupees per kg whereas a single plate of French fries costs minimum 60 rupees given that there’s not even 250grams of potatoes in it. They are very profitable and moreover we usually take a cold drink along with it which takes another 30 bucks for a glass whereas you can get a bottle of 750ml for 40 bucks.

11. Salad are super cheap

This is one of those items which gains most of the profit on the basis of how fancier they can make it look. Even a plate of simple green salad which consists of nothing more than onions, cucumbers and tomato charges 100 rupees which is like 500% marked up.

And when it comes to fruit salad the prices are even more which means more profit as the fruits are easily available in the local markets.

12. Egg dishes are really cheap

Eggs recipes are easy and cost effective to make. Also, the restaurants buy eggs in bulk at cheap rate.

Everything is a part of business that most of the common people fails to understand. If you think there are food items that we often order are very profitable for the hotels do mention in the comment section.

Also read: Ever Wondered Why Most Of The Cafe Tables Are Round?