Am I taking crazy pills or have sandwiches/wraps/paninis/etc. practically doubled in price in just a few years?

That's right. Forget your discussions of mere trifles like gun control or the fiscal cliff. It's time to discuss something of real importance. It's time to talk sandwiches.

Maybe I just have the world's worst memory, but it seems to me that less than a decade ago, you could go into your average deli/cafe/coffee shop type of place and get a reasonable sandwich-type item of pretty good quality for under five dollars. I'm not talking about fast food (including Subway), but I'm not talking about sliced filet mignon topped with caviar, either. I'm also not talking about something the size of your head. I'm saying that you could get something like a "Santa Fe chicken wrap" at a deli that's just like 100,000 other delis in the country for a price like $3.99 a few years ago, and now you're lucky if it's $5.49. Usually that's not even as part of some ****amamie "meal" that comes with bad fries you don't want and a soda that's mostly ice.

Am I the only one who's noticed this specific sandwich-related inflation? I'm not even talking about food inflation in general, even though that's been high itself. Sandwich-type items have blown by broader food prices. And I would guess that this is more specific to big cities and their suburbs than, say, Topeka. But the era of sandwiches costing $7, $8, $9 as a matter of routine seems like it came out of nowhere. Do you agree?

Jersey mikes regular no. 9 is over 7 bucks and worth every ****ing penny.

I thought it was specific to chains. I stopped going to Panera after their sandwiches went from a reasonable amount of meat to 2 oz's of meat and the price stayed the same.

Everything has increased in cost. College tuition has doubled since 2000. Healthcare costs have gone up 52% in the same period. Greed is going to destroy this country and create permanent classes of haves and have-nots

Everything has increased in cost. College tuition has doubled since 2000. Healthcare costs have gone up 52% in the same period. Greed is going to destroy this country and create permanent classes of haves and have-nots

I hope I'm a "have" when it all shakes out!

Am I the only one who's noticed this specific sandwich-related inflation? I'm not even talking about food inflation in general, even though that's been high itself. Sandwich-type items have blown by broader food prices. And I would guess that this is more specific to big cities and their suburbs than, say, Topeka. But the era of sandwiches costing $7, $8, $9 as a matter of routine seems like it came out of nowhere. Do you agree?

There has definitely been some noticeable inflation in sandwich prices. But I don't think it's a recent thing. It seems to me it's been a long time since I could find a decent sandwich for less tan $5 (more than 10 years), but the jump from $7 sandwiches to $9 sandwiches is more recent. That being said whenever a particular woman at work complains about a restaurants sandwich prices and not being able to get one for $5, I just laugh to myself and think sandwich prices haven't been that low for a long time (at least for a decent sandwich).

Oh, and I'd much rather a place raise their prices than charge me the same amount but then give me less, makes me feel like I'm being gypped.

They have, and the solutions i grocery store and bring in your own sandwich. Screw the mark-ups. Restaurants are like retail stores, they have ridiculous mark-ups. A sandwich is a quick, easy lunch so the demand is high especially in areas with a lot of business around, so they know they can get away with the mark ups.

Agree with bong. Best sandwich IMO for the value is good old homemade tuna salad with tomato on wheat. $3 and takes the same amount of time as standing in line at subway at lunchtime.

Remember when McDonald's did 29 cent cheeseburgers? Seems like that wa 10-12 years ago

Also I think a lot of chain restaurant prices have move recently because of the dominance and now monopoly by Sysco Systems

Remember when McDonald's did 29 cent cheeseburgers? Seems like that wa 10-12 years ago

That was an occasional deal, not the everyday price. They'd sometimes offer .19 cent hamburgers and .29 cent cheesburgers. Back in high school, me and a few friends would go buy 20 of them for 5 bucks or so and plow through them all.

My boss gave us all $10 gift cards to Subway.

I walk in and get a foot long BMT and a drink and I walk out with $1.80 left on the card. Yeah prices have gone up everywhere.....glad I don't eat like that all the time.

Welcome to what the rest of the Western World pays.

Glad yers could finally join us

Now when you REALLY start having to pay for gas and not the cheap prices yuse all enjoy now .....

Hail.

My wife and I rarely do fast food. Last year, it dawned on us that McDonalds for the two of us was like $17.00 while there was an amazing Pho place in the same plaza where a quick to go meal was like $15.00. McDonalds has gotten weirdly expensive but - like I said - I don't go often enough to completely understand when this started.

(I have a theory though that places get away with price increases now because of debit cards. When people carried cash, there was a psychological thing where we wanted to hand someone a five or a ten or a twenty. So, a McDonalds lunch was under $5. Because sometimes all you had was a fiver. Now, it can be $5.78 and who cares. It's not real money. I was always much more aware of my actual financial resources when I would take out a few hundred bucks on a Friday and use that to live on. Now, it's just some weird, vague number on my phone).

Welcome to what the rest of the Western World pays.

Glad yers could finally join us

Now when you REALLY start having to pay for gas and not the cheap prices yuse all enjoy now .....

Hail.

Oh please, yours are still more expensive, you have a VAT. :pfft:

My wife and I rarely do fast food. Last year' date=' it dawned on us that McDonalds for the two of us was like $17.00 while there was an amazing Pho place in the same plaza where a quick to go meal was like $15.00. McDonalds has gotten weirdly expensive but - like I said - I don't go often enough to completely understand when this started.

(I have a theory though that places get away with price increases now because of debit cards. When people carried cash, there was a psychological thing where we wanted to hand someone a five or a ten or a twenty. So, a McDonalds lunch was under $5. Because sometimes all you had was a fiver. Now, it can be $5.78 and who cares. It's not real money. I was always much more aware of my actual financial resources when I would take out a few hundred bucks on a Friday and use that to live on. Now, it's just some weird, vague number on my phone).[/quote']

I do fast food a few times a month, I think I usually pay around $7-8. But it's almost alway chick fil a or subay.

I'm usually amazed that they're able to sell it so cheap. What do you suppose their average ticket is, $10 or so? And you figure they probably average 50 tickets per hour over the course of an entire day... That's what, $7500 per day or so?

I figure they operate on a 50 margin. So that's $3250 gross margin for the day. Geez, after you factor in rent, utilities, payroll (have you seen how many freakin people they have working at those places?), insurance, MRO.... That doesn't leave a whole lot

I might be way off on my estimates but I don't think I am. I might be overstating... Seems like I've heard the average fast food joint does about $1.5 million, which would be about half the above income scenario

Maybe their margins are much higher, I dunno

(I have a theory though that places get away with price increases now because of debit cards. When people carried cash' date=' there was a psychological thing where we wanted to hand someone a five or a ten or a twenty. So, a McDonalds lunch was under $5. Because sometimes all you had was a fiver. Now, it can be $5.78 and who cares. It's not real money. I was always much more aware of my actual financial resources when I would take out a few hundred bucks on a Friday and use that to live on. Now, it's just some weird, vague number on my phone).[/quote']

I actually bet that's a big part of it.

Does PotBelly's still have those amazingly delicious sammiches for $5 or have they gone up too?

Side note: Five Guys upped their burger prices by almost $2

---------- Post added December-20th-2012 at 06:31 PM ----------

I actually bet that's a big part of it.

I don't know if that is a part of why prices have gone up so much for food, but I can vouch for it being easier to hand someone a card to pay the bill than realizing you need to give away that $20 and maybe having 2nd thoughts.

I did this recently at BW3s. Ordered more and didn't care because I was using a card, had I had cash, I probably would have not gotten those damn soft pretzels with wings

Fuel costs more to transport items to stores, and that gets put into the consumer price.

The drought caused a lot of food to not even be grown, so what you do get comes from farther away, hence the fuel cost, etc.

Immigrant workers being pushed out of the fields for fear of being deported, well that just led to a lot of food that could be harvested going to waste.(We lost a LOT of food here in GA last year alone, estimates were at $2 BILLION.)

Every utility has increased in price--this includes water, which is why a 90-cent gallon of iced tea now costs about $3 to make, gets passed on to the consumer. (Trust me, we went to Bugaboo Creek (Longhorn/Rare Hospitality Co.) and paid $2.39/each for iced tea.) In the future, water will ONLY INCREASE in price. It will only become more valuable, as society continues to waste it.

Choose your food, and where you dine carefully. Those of us in the biz want you happy. If you're not, then we're not. Return guests are the best, and our best advertisement.

Vace Italian deli in bethesda has a italian coldcut for 5.25

I havent eaten McDonalds since 2008. It doesnt taste good, its horrible for you, and its expensive. Why would anyone pay for that? I don't get it. You pay for the ease and consistency. I try to not be that lazy and I don't eat any fast food enough for me to care about the consistency.

I will say that my favorite deli (The Deli, in fairfax) is like $28.00 for my wife and I to both get a sandwich. However, they are so big they are 2 meals, unless I am feeling particularly gluttonish. The Super Smokey is about the size of my leg from knee to foot.

---------- Post added December-20th-2012 at 07:09 PM ----------

Oh, you know what surprises me? FOOD TRUCKS. You are selling food out of the side of a ****ing truck, why do 2 tacos cost $11 with no drink?

Russia, Crippled by Drought, Bans Grain Exports

Grain prices set records as U.S. drought, food worries spread

Timely thread as I was just telling my wife this today: I'm so glad I don't work in an office because eating lunch out everyday is so freaking expensive. I paid almost $13 for a sandwich, drink & cookie at Panera last week.

If I worked in an office I'd be brown bagging it every day for lunch.

Fast food down here is way more expensive and sucks beyond belief (except Wendys that uses all organic stuff(I know their supplier)) and a trip through the drive thru is minimum 25 minutes and that's generous. We only have one wendys and 2 micky Ds. Micky Ds on a Sunday is an hour wait easy.

Being from the east coast makes it so hard to live any where else. I want a freaking large tasty cheap slice of pizza so bad. A freaking hoagie I don't want to admit what I'd do.

Prices will go down if people start to carry a lunchbox.

However the demand for lunch meat and such may increase at a similar rate if those companies are forced to make more sliced turkey, and the store has to carry more.

Lose-Lose it seems.

But they have gone up by about 23% (I believe) over the last 7 years.

The restaurants that care will just drop an item from the menu because of cost instead of taking the hit themselves or passing it along. It is good business.

shuler you suck. I googled hoagie pictures after seeing your post.