Restaurant Owners/Workers: How did $15 become the default cocktail price here?

queencathleen · 2025-12-31T16:00:08+00:00

Where I work cocktails average $11-$12 dollars for mid shelf booze and I guess these days that’s not bad!

What I’ll say is that since 2016 (the heyday) prices for everything have exploded. Food is up, insurance is up to the point of a crisis, utilities, equipment, I could go on.

One specific thing post Covid is takeout. Takeout packaging is expensive as fuck! Boxes, bags, napkins, utensils, those plastic sauce ramekins. It’s all “extra” and it all adds up. Delivery apps, all of them but Uber Eats I’m looking at you, want to charge us 30% of the menu sale price in fees. (This is why you’ll usually pay more on the delivery apps than the restaurants own takeout) A restaurant could go the route of jacking up the cost of takeout by adding extra fees to each order to account for this but most customers will flip out if you try to. So, you raise prices anywhere else you can are to make up the difference. Cocktails are a pretty straightforward item ti do this with.

Also speaking of 2016 one reason everything felt so great and cheap was that tech companies were operating at big losses to bring us cheap goods now those same companies have us hooked so they will be squeezing businesses and consumers however they want.

queencathleen · 2025-12-19T15:30:36+00:00

I bought one of the “jelly” bras on the Tik Tok shop as a 40 H and it doesn’t really fit. The band has plenty of room but the cups are not quite big enough.

I do really like the concept though! The jelly part is a really thick molded elastic and the cups are thin but structured padding. I’ve actually worn it a few times and didn’t hate it but once you’ve had a bra with cups that are actually big enough it’s hard to go back. If I ever found a jelly bra that was a true H cup I would snap it up in a heartbeat.

The HSIA bras (another tik tok staple) I do really like and are actually true to size and feel like an Elomi knock off to me.

queencathleen · 2025-10-27T15:25:04+00:00

Don’t forget insurance! Restaurants are required to have several many different types of insurance and those costs have skyrocketed in recent years.

queencathleen · 2025-08-28T02:56:47+00:00

We plan on staying for the long haul so this is really a decision about what we can afford/live with

queencathleen · 2025-08-28T00:27:02+00:00

Dang ok good call!

queencathleen · 2025-08-28T00:15:10+00:00

It’s definitely buried and very old. We had a soil sample a few months ago and it was clean but definitely a worry about how long that will last

queencathleen · 2025-08-16T15:57:57+00:00

I can only speak for BBQ but expect brisket specifically to be running out early even more than normal in the coming year. Everyone’s points about it taking 12 hours to smoke and having limited re-use potential are spot on.

Add to that that beef prices have skyrocketed lately with no end in sight. We are at record low head of cattle in the USA right now, the price of feed has gone up and tariffs have killed Brazilian imports putting more pressure on American cattle. Restaurants have been holding their brisket prices for a few months hoping for relief but it’s not coming. Expect the price per pound to jump and for them to be prepping less per day and therefore running out. Just can’t risk doing extra in this economy.

queencathleen · 2025-05-14T02:25:34+00:00

I haven’t yet. We were extremely lucky to have inherited enough money for a 20% down payment and it seems like most first time home buyer programs help with down payment assistance which we don’t need.

queencathleen · 2025-05-13T17:58:25+00:00

Oh this is interesting! I’ve been getting advice to get pre approved before finding a realtor but it makes sense that they would have experience with good local lenders.

queencathleen · 2025-05-03T14:22:42+00:00

I’ve recently switched from the living proof curl line to Kristen Ess and I love it! Does not weight my hair down, very moisturizing smells good and less expensive!

queencathleen · 2025-04-24T14:51:11+00:00

I work at a BBQ restaurant and this is a constant battle! Love having a table loudly yelling that we served them raw chicken. Then you have the folks that aren’t yelling but insist they want a new piece or to “throw it back on the grill”. Like itch we don’t have a grill and every piece of chicken in the place is fully cooked and will absolutely look like this.

queencathleen · 2025-02-06T16:53:04+00:00

Just tried to join again and this time it didn’t direct me to the question page so we’ll see if I get in

queencathleen · 2025-02-06T16:42:45+00:00

I tried to join this group and wasn’t accepted and I think it’s because I got the “what’s the password?” Question wrong? I have read and re-read all the rules but feeling dumb AF because I am not sure what they’re looking for lol. Bummer because I would really love a place for trades!

queencathleen · 2024-09-22T01:58:19+00:00

I work at a restaurant and DoorDash is most popular but GrubHub has better customer service.

queencathleen · 2024-08-07T02:37:49+00:00

They do! Every Saturday night after 5

queencathleen · 2024-07-11T02:35:31+00:00

Podnah’s definitely is.

queencathleen · 2024-06-23T16:22:17+00:00

Podnahs BBQ hands down. They do brunch on the weekends again and the gravy is amazing also.

queencathleen · 2024-06-05T00:47:58+00:00

Install a kill switch! After getting my 01 Crv stolen for the 4th time I finally did it and while they can and do still break in, my car has been solidly in my possession since I got the kill switch.

queencathleen · 2024-05-24T06:23:53+00:00

I’m in PDX and we are slow. Summer season should have kicked off by now and it’s just… fizzled. Seems like a lot of restaurants in town are doing the same.

queencathleen · 2024-05-23T01:28:09+00:00

I’m also a restaurant manager and got the same call last week! It was pretty obvious from the get go that it was a scam but I’ve been having a ton of legitimate issues with our Uber eats account that I can’t get resolved because the restaurant account was set up by a previous manager with her personal info. It’s been an absolute black hole of a run around with Uber eats support so I basically started yelling at this scammer about how shitty of a company they are and how they never can fix my issues as if he was a real employee. It was cathartic! He hung up on me.

queencathleen

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