Lobster’s going for $3.99 a pound at my local Market Basket, but up the road at Oxford Creamery Route 6 in Mattapoisett, lobster rolls are still $12. Why? James Surowiecki reports in The New Yorker that there are several factors in play, but it’s mainly this: If it suddenly got cheaper, you’d be suspicious:
[A]s with many luxury goods, expense is closely linked to enjoyment. Studies have shown that people prefer inexpensive wines in blind taste tests, but that they actually get more pleasure from drinking wine they are told is expensive. If lobster were priced like chicken, we might enjoy it less.
Restaurants also worry about the message that discounting sends. Studies dating back to the nineteen-forties show that when people can’t objectively evaluate a product before they buy it (as is the case with a meal) they often assume a correlation between price and quality. Since most customers don’t know what’s been happening to the wholesale price of lobster, cutting the price could send the wrong signal: people might think your lobster is inferior to that of your competitors. A 1996 study found that restaurants wouldn’t place more orders with wholesalers even if lobster prices fell twenty-five per cent. As the study’s authors put it, “A low price creates suspicion.” This helps explain one of the interesting strategies that restaurants have adopted to take advantage of the lower price for lobster: they keep the price of lobster entrées high, but add lower-priced items—lobster bisque, lobster mac-and-cheese, a lobster B.L.T—to the menu. That way, they can generate more business without endangering lobster’s exclusive image.
Smart shoppers should be making their own lobster rolls right now, but if you’re out & about, keep your eyes peeled for lower-priced lobster items.
why not “Market Price” on the menu?
Alligator! When I was in Florida, I took a trip to the Everglades and asked the tour bus guy if we can get some gator nuggets. At first he said no, wasn’t part of the tour, but then decided it was a great idea, made a call, and drove to the local restaurant.
I must say, it was awesome, you thought you were eating calimari and the kids even loved it. People would instinctively choose chicken or calimari over a better tasting alligator.
$2.99 wine is Charles Shaw sold at Trader Joe’s, even comes with a cork, not a screw top. I recommend it.
Don’t want Kbusch to be angry with me
Buffalo. So much leaner, healthier, and more delicious than cow. Wish it was easy to get fresh here.
The supermarkets sell it in a 1lb square plastic package, which Ive grilled on my charcoal grill and secretly served the kids, who loved it, but though it was a regular cheese burger.
I’ve had the buffalo tips at Bison County. I wish they sold buffalo ribs.
I’ve been suspicious of that stuff because it’s shipped frozen, but I’ll give it a try.
Best meal I had during a recent trip to South Dakota was a bison burger.
The last time I was in Wyoming, I had Bison Burgers nearly every single meal because you can’t get it in Mass (at least, not that I have seen).
http://miva.fossilfarmsostrich.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ff&Category_Code=bflo
…whenever anyone talks about business taxes being passed onto the consumer. It’s more complicated than that. What really matters is the price the market is willing to pay for a thing. If people are willing to pay X, then reduction in costs won’t be passed on in savings to the consumer, and increases in costs in the form of taxes will come at least in part from profits.
and roasting our own unshucked fresh corn that seems to be more expensive this year….r
Alligator and buffalo are awesome. Buffalo ribs are expensive out here but delicious. I’ve been to Bison Country on moody with y parents way back, glad to see its still there.
Lastly, a lobster roll food truck seems like a great idea, why hasn’t anyone done it yet?
http://www.lobstalove.net/
That most good ideas have been done by somebody else already.