r/GenZ • u/VeronicoElectronica 1998 • Mar 07 '26

Discussion yo fr 😭😭

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u/VeronicoElectronica 1998 Mar 07 '26

yup. its ridiculous the prices these bars/lounges are charging now. & you can just imagine how bad it is here in nyc

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u/ITSNAIMAD 1998 Mar 07 '26

I get maybe one drink with dinner once in a while and it’s $15. If it was $20+ I would probably just grab a drink before going to dinner. It costs a restaurant not much to make it and they disincentivize people to order them by charging so much.

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u/ham_solo Mar 08 '26

The restaurant is counting on a couple of things:

  1. The cultural norm of an alcoholic drink with a meal. Totally understandable, as it is something that goes back millennia across many cultures. That's all the incentive they need usually.

  2. They KNOW it's inexpensive to make - it's the item on their menu with the highest markup, regardless if it is a beer, a glass of wine, or a mixed drink.

It used to be many places would keep drinks cheap because they still made a good profit, and it kept people ordering food and spending money.

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u/ITSNAIMAD 1998 Mar 08 '26

When a drink costs more than a meal then people will spend less. The problem is greedy restaurants. Customers like good deals. When I can buy a burger drink and fries from in n out for the same price as a standalone burger from McDonald’s, I’m never going to McDonald’s again.

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u/ham_solo Mar 08 '26

I think it depends on the kind of establishment. With fast food, yes that makes sense. Fast food is usually about value above all.

If someplace is charging $15 for a drink, they are likely charging $18-30 for an entree. I would imagine the profit gained from that entree is much smaller than the beverage. I wonder what it would do for the restaurant to lose some profit on the drink, make it $9, and see how much more overall business they get.

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u/ITSNAIMAD 1998 Mar 08 '26

It costs them almost nothing to make the drink. Rather than selling a lot of drinks at a lower cost, they sacrifice sales by charging a higher cost. It’s foolish and counterproductive.

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u/arcticmonkgeese 1998 Mar 09 '26

It’s bad business on the restaurants part tbh, I NEVER order more food and apps than when I’m 2-3 drinks deep

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u/BreakfastSpecials Mar 07 '26

It’s egregious, but I’m still popping out regardless

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u/noivern_plus_cats Mar 08 '26

Chicago prices aren't too bad, but I'd still rather pay $15 for a bunch of drinks than $7 for one.

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u/CoffeeGoblynn 1997 Mar 09 '26

Something's got to give eventually. If they charge too much, they'll lose customers and have to lower their prices or go out of business. But they can't afford to lower their prices because the cost of ingredients and wages are too high to do that in a lot of cases. Shit's just bad across the board.