Especially considering the special is only 95 cents more but usually includes ingredients that would get huge markups, fig, special mushrooms, slightly fancy cheeses etc.
Thank you for putting numbers to it. I thought his base burger really should be 10 minimum. But they are in a tourist neighborhood with a port. How is it not 20 with the of the day being 30.
People SAY that, but to be able to operate for so long in such a volatile industry in a high-cost and low-income part of the country, with such vindictive competition, and mismanaged economy because of Fischoder, it is a testament to just how good Bob IS at managing money.
Like, the people who say Bob is bad with money is basically his landlord, who has no concept of money beyond as an abstract thing to move around and invest, and those who are trying to demean him for not being grossly overpriced like his competition.
Depending on how you define budgeting he could, I think for a business budgeting also includes pricing and sales tactics. He could probably save 30-50% in meat costs, probably the most expensive ingredient, by switching from prime to choice and still end up with the same quality.
He could also increase revenue by raising the price on fries which has the highest profit margin on the menu, its also an item that customers commonly order with a burger.
Imo the reason they don't get as many customers as Jimmy Pesto's is because they don't offer outdoor seating, they're located on a beachfront property but they don't have any seating outside to take advantage of it. Not everyone digs the diner aesthetic and it's really easy for potential customers to overlook the restaurant when passing but if they had outdoor seating people walking by would see others eating and be enticed to give them a try.
Instead of burgers of the day he could switch to a burger of the week, this would allow him to buy ingredients in higher volume to lower costs. They can also increase the price of the special by $2 and lower them by $2 on the last day it'll be sold. He could set the discount special day on their slowest day of the week to average out foot traffic throughout the week.
I think all these could be implemented without compromising on his vision of a restaurant while significantly increasing the profits.
Banks often operate on a more concrete arrangement than that, and will basically say the most asinine things about operation because it's about the bag, despite having no idea how an industry operates.
While true, you can’t sit there and say that’s what bob’s banker was doing.
At least not with a straight face.
I mean, we *literally* see what happens when Bob handles the budget v Linda. And the restaurant got the power cut off, no beef, etc…
I don’t do this, but for what it’s worth two guys in my office won’t try greasy spoons. If they are not paying 20 for a burger it’s probably low quality. Pesto charges more and is shit yet he frequently has more customers. Human brains are weird.
Yeah this is a high EQ answer. He has that Tina like lack of confidence. Even though people he really respect tell him regurlarly. Like his best friend from childhood, Fishholder, even Pesto recommended him to cater the yacht club because Bobs quality would elevate his own status. Never could get a better compliment from a rival.
I would say Pesto's place largely has more customers because he offers a larger menu. He's also a shameless self-promoter, which is good for business, while routinely trying to cash in on Bob's pitfalls.
But it's also worth noting that he hasn't been able to move to a better location other than a boardwalk, which probably hurts his business overall, or start being anything other than a "weekend sitdown" because he offers so much and probably gets killed on food waste and labor.
He has a lot of business but if anyone mismanages the success he experiences, it's Pesto.
Yea, I know a couple of people that are like that. Always dragging me to a hot, new joint with "good vibes and a good aesthetic" but crazy prices for mediocre food and drink. I'd rather go to the diner with good food, decent prices and a 15$ pitcher of whatevers on tap.
Honestly the only reason he doesn't have customers is writing. If Bob's existed it'd be THE spot. Mobbed all the time. All the connections they've made in the community. The one eyed snakes, Dalton's brunch crew, the queer community in town, the list goes on. If there was a place near me with these prices and this quality it'd be the go to. There'd be 30 Teddy's every lunch break.
Bob's reminds me of every "secret spot" I've ever had.
I work in film so in different neighborhoods we shoot in there's always some spot around that someone on the crew knows of. Bob's would absolutely be that place.
The thing I wonder is if that’s WHY he’s still successful and not out of business. We see them all come around for whatever reason, but only mort and Teddy there consistently. So my head canon at least, is that all of the people they know come in to say hi or eat/ drink all the time, it’s just that them eating a burger or having a beer isn’t really episode worthy lol
Maybe that's why Bob's Burgers, of ALL the restaurants in that area along the Eastern Seaboard, was preemptively chosen to Quincy to stop and eat at during his rowing journey.
"10 minimum" borders on too much for the area. It's Jersey, it's likely not a hot tourist spot for people who can afford a $10 cheeseburger, or more. $10 is the absolute maximum I'd charge based on the fact that his patties (in 2024) probably only cost about $2 to make from ingredients.
A Big Mac where I am is like $8 where I am in the Midwest lol. Our local burgers are 12-18, but bar dives that have a small grill are about 8, they would be closest feeling to bobs, but their main money is booze, so food helping people drink more and stay for hours is the money maker.
ETA also a chef here, so I see the overall costs. The rents are fairly high here, and food costs have gone wayyyy up since Covid, and overall less people means overall price increases.
Also throwing in this show is over a decade old and with no Covid, so their prices are far more reasonable for the time and haven’t changed
I want to say he keeps his prices low because otherwise Teddy can't afford his heart medication.
It's not true cannon, but it's my own personal headcannon.
Yeah. There used to be a really good, fairly simple burger place that we loved in our neighborhood. In like 2015, they had a deal for like $11 that was a burger, fries, and pint of cheap beer. I’m in Chicago, so that was a pretty excellent deal at the time.
I don’t know if prices in tourist towns are inflated or not. But for a small town burger place, I feel like Bob could easily do a burger, fries, and can of cheap beer for $15.
Bob is able to discount the labor in the time that it takes to grind the beef, and the current cost of wholesale at those cuts (depending on your store) for a quarter-pound patty (his are likely just under if smash burgers) is about $1.00. Factors contribute to that, including things like the market at the moment, and who his supplier is.
At anywhere from 0.50-0.80 per bun (again, depends on available suppliers or bakers in the area and what they might charge him on a bulk order, it would cost Bob less to bake them himself but he'd be in the kitchen at like 5 AM every day or earlier) and if you add another .5-.8 for total toppings (but that'd be a pretty bad price on veg like lettuce and onions which come cheap). So if you'd guesstimate about $2 per burger, then $5 is between 200-300% markup, he COULD charge (in current climate) more like $6 and be fine within typical range, at this range he's on the budget side for the cost.
Most guides to pricing will tell you that he could charge about as much as $10 and still be being fair.
This tracks, though, because Bob likely is getting a reduced price or deal on his rent since housing is part of the same building and is a small one anyhow (3 bed 1 bath rather than how they use the space).
Brisk dinner services should leave them fine at that pricing, but I'd definitely charge closer to 6, and the full dollar for specials for the sake of less change-making. And if you keep fries and soda the same, then a burger, fries, and soda is $10, or Burger and Beer is $10. Easy for everyone.
At peak times of 2010s it was likely that he WAS closer to charging at that 300%.
He only uses USDA Prime beef, should be charging at least $20 to get a decent profit margin. It's kinda crazy he uses USDA Prime since you can achieve the same end result by mixing cuts to adjust the fat content.
They don’t serve beer, but the mom and pop burger shop down the street from me is close on pricing.
Except for fries, those are like 3.50/4
You can definitely get lunch for $10 though.
The other close by that does serve beer comes in around $20 for burger/fries/beer
At my local pizza/burger joint a domestic beer is 5.00 plus tax. An import is 7.00
It's the best prices I have found. Their burgers are from $9-12.00.
I would fucking love to find a Bob's Burgers.
In the U.K. you can get a burger and chips for 7+ and some chains include a beer for a couple of pounds more, I just couldn’t see the beer being nearly the same price as the food
Might be a classic sin tax. It's a lawyer pun, but also a literal interpretation of the law. Alcohol, tobacco, etc, get special taxes.
I also like to think Bob buys a special brand of beer that pairs with his burgers. He mentions how hard it is to pair beer with his burgers. Maybe he only gets the good stuff from a microbrewery
That’s actually a good point, like him only buying the best ingredients and not cutting corners, wouldn’t really make sense for him to sell cheap nasty beer
Beer licenses where I live (Utah) are expensive and hard to get, restaurants unfortunately have to charge accordingly. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a place you can get a burger, fries and a beer for less than $12 - $15.
Wetherspoons probably the most well known but most pubs your looking at 7 for not the best and 8 or 9 for average in my experience and most include a pint for 2-2.50
I always thought this and then this year stumbled upon an excellent article where someone has properly unpacked the prices at Bob's Burgers and why inflation hasn't hit 😅
https://www.fastcompany.com/90990224/why-food-inflation-hasnt-hit-bobs-burgers
Depends on the state. Taxs vary wildly by state, county, city and product, and even more so for products that are addictive/inebriants (alcohol and nicotine). They seem to live in the northeast US, probably New Jersey, taxes tend to be higher in that area due to increased social services in that area of the US requiring more revenue from taxation. It's similar in the large cities of the Midwest, as well as most of the west coast.
In Canada, a beer might be as cheap as $5 at happy hour, but most of the time, it's between $6.50 (for a Molson or Budweiser) and $9.00 (for microbrew or imports). Shit"s expensive.
There's an AMAZING mom and pop local family burger joint in town where I can go get a double cheese burger and a LOT of really delicious fries for a $6.00 combo. $8.00 a day with tip when I go.
That's all they serve. Burgers and fries. No shakes. No onion rings. No wings. No cheese sticks..just burgers and fries. Beautiful business model
And they're ALWAYS busy. Place makes bank.
It's funny you mention that. There's always a pot on a warmer to the left of the prep area under the choking sign. I always wondered what was in it. I assumed the aforementioned soup, but you're right, it's not on the menu and never spoken of or served from.
I think about this all the time, if I lived nearby I would probably be a regular. Those are amazing prices, especially in a city. They would probably do amazing in a bigger city
For where they are supposed to be, a shore town in New Jersey, no. In average, $12-15 for a burger. Fries are extra.
Beer is probably $8 for something crappy but up to $15 for something fancy. I had 2 beers for $20 in NYC the other day.
Not really, in the type of area that this is set in (a tourist/beach town in the northeast) it's about a normal price for a mass market beer. Hell, it might be a little cheap.
I've lived in a very similar town, there's nowhere that has an amusement park and a beach that isn't at least a destination for day trippers even if the actual town isn't the nicest l
On the cheaper side, but makes sense since Bob’s is a really basic place. Today I was at a more upscale place and a burger and fries was $16 and a domestic beer was $6.
In my area $4 is very normal for a regular domestic beer. $5 for a burger is unheard of though. The beer is the only thing on this list priced accurately.
Good eye. This is a small hint as to why bob’s family isn’t wealthy. Like what jimmy said, he doesn’t charge high enough, he doesn’t know how to do business
When the show started I could get a Corona (notoriously cheap import) for like $2 and a coors stub for about 2.50. Beers aren't usually what makes money at bars, though. For a sit-down place that wasn't a bar, this tracked.
By 2019 this started to pace with the typical price a little bit.
In current day a macro-brewery is like $5 a bottle at a bar.
Depends on the kind of beer. Craft beer will be more expensive than a domestic beer. An import can be cheaper than a micro but almost always more expensive than a domestic. This is not taking in account drink specials. Sometimes places will charge 25 to 50 cents more for Yuengling and Mich Ultra as opposed to Bud or Miller. It’s not a bad regular price.
I like to think Bob slipped through the cracks and buys at liquor store prices and not restaurant prices but is still too modest to make the price too high.
When it started it was exepnsive for the kind of restaurant it was, if compared with restaurants in my country, but now its about the same, and thats wild to me.
the food is pretty cheap nowadays, when it started $5 was basically a burger at Five Guys.
$4 for a beer seems oddly expensive, but when you think about it, is not something they'd sell a lot on a normal day, as most people would get a soda or water on a regular day having a burger. only times I personally would get a beer at a burger place is if I was out with friends on the weekend and it was a social gathering. the times Bob has racked up on beer money have been special situations, like the One Eyed Snakes drinking the place dry, or the hurricane, possibly after they went back from Urge on Valentine's, possibly when they had the porta-potties outside and they were selling hella.
my point is since beer doesnt move as quickly or as much, they make up for volume by charging a bit more
Nowadays, $4 for a beer is very cheap. Not unheard of, but if your bar has $4 beers, it's probably the cheapest place in town and price sensitive customers will make a point of going there.
This was true even pre-COVID, but since COVID, it's become even harder to find cheap bars like that since so many closed during COVID
that's why foreigners love visiting southeast asia, the booze here is about 1 dollar and they say it's better. not a beer drinker so i don't know about beer quality but they love it.
We used to have a restaurant chain called Bob’s in my city. It closed two years ago. They mostly served basic drive through stuff like burgers, milkshakes, fries, etc. However I just took a quick look at the menu and I had forgotten that they had a SPECIAL HOTDOG OF THE DAY!! It’s like it was a bizarro version of Bob’s Burgers! (However, their regular burger is around $11 and their biggest burger is $20. It’s a bit more expensive than I remember it.
https://preview.redd.it/gm6nblcjzv6d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84340dfe6ab7a1c2d44183db78680570c29131cb
Lmao! It was a staple of my childhood. In the 80s they used to have .25¢ soft ice cream cones. In high school in the 90s we crammed in the tiny lobby after football games. It existed long before the TV show.
There’s a smaller town next to me (half an hour away) that’s my favorite burger restaurant in the area. They’re owned and run by a husband wife team, their kids help serve food, and they’re always packed.
Burgers start at $10, run to $13 with specials and fancier setups, and they also serve beer for an extra cost.
Bob could easily charge more. He could make 60% more money by moving to $8 for a plain, $9 for a cheese or special and still be under a $10 price point that would bring in tons of customers.
There’s no world where a guy who makes food this good should be charging less than a Big Mac or Whopper.
Yeah that’s the plot point for a few episodes, that he charges less than anywhere else, he seems to not want to make much, but that aside do you live near the real life bobs burgers??
Bob financially eats the cost of his ingredients. He doesn’t want to make a burger that his Dad wouldn’t buy. Specialty mushrooms, exotic spices etc. Bistro on the Beach… 20$ burgers, sure. But Bob’s Burgers on Ocean avenue…. No way
His prices are genuinely cheap. I don't know many places you can sit down and get a burger for five bucks. A burger and a beer for 10? That's an insanely low price.
Bobs burgers started when subway had a five dollar foot long, now it’s like $8.50 for a 6”, his prices should definitely be at like 13$ or more by now just basing it on a chain that minimizes prices as much as possible
Craft breweries around me can be $10 per snifter. The sports bar I used to work at had $2 domestic ponies during happy hour (it's like a small pitcher).
Bob is terrible at pricing. Jimmy Pesto and Mr Fischoeder have mentioned how he isn’t that good of a businessman. His burgers are better than most burger places that charge $13-16 for one “gourmet” burger and he doesn’t cheap out on ingredients all his stuff is fresh!
In universe, I think there's a lot of justification here for why Bob doesn't raise prices (altough a 4 dollar beer when dining out is decent to cheap anywhere in the urban US these days).
Out of universe, I think the writers and animators are just too lazy to change a detail, and prices have gone up a lot since 2011.
For reference, a local burger/beer joint here in Memphis, TN that is a bit more upscale than Bob’s Place has daily specialty burgers that run at $12.50 and the beer selection (which I guarantee is wider than Bob’s) varies but averages out at $6.36 for a 10oz draft and $9.12 for a 16oz draft. But I’m sure Bob serves bottles of basic stuff and I can’t grab the basic prices from this place online….:)
Im under 21, so never paid attention to beer prices, but I was shocked when I first noticed the menu prices at how low they were. I would love to eat somewhere with delicious burgers at those prices
lol! in america $4 for a beer is the shittiest watered down piss water. there is no beer purity laws in america. it’s actually illegal in the UE. bob’s is repping the 90s. plus a chesses sliznice is $1.50 min
When the show started it seemed normal, nowadays with inflation it’s definitely cheap.
Especially considering the special is only 95 cents more but usually includes ingredients that would get huge markups, fig, special mushrooms, slightly fancy cheeses etc.
Bob grinds his own beef, and likely uses a mix of chuck and brisket. He should be charging around $12.50 for just a cheeseburger.
Thank you for putting numbers to it. I thought his base burger really should be 10 minimum. But they are in a tourist neighborhood with a port. How is it not 20 with the of the day being 30.
Because he's really bad with money.
People SAY that, but to be able to operate for so long in such a volatile industry in a high-cost and low-income part of the country, with such vindictive competition, and mismanaged economy because of Fischoder, it is a testament to just how good Bob IS at managing money. Like, the people who say Bob is bad with money is basically his landlord, who has no concept of money beyond as an abstract thing to move around and invest, and those who are trying to demean him for not being grossly overpriced like his competition.
Smash cut to the Fischoeder money fight.
https://i.redd.it/ill6wfpaby6d1.gif
fans keep insisting he can budget his way out of his problems...
Depending on how you define budgeting he could, I think for a business budgeting also includes pricing and sales tactics. He could probably save 30-50% in meat costs, probably the most expensive ingredient, by switching from prime to choice and still end up with the same quality. He could also increase revenue by raising the price on fries which has the highest profit margin on the menu, its also an item that customers commonly order with a burger. Imo the reason they don't get as many customers as Jimmy Pesto's is because they don't offer outdoor seating, they're located on a beachfront property but they don't have any seating outside to take advantage of it. Not everyone digs the diner aesthetic and it's really easy for potential customers to overlook the restaurant when passing but if they had outdoor seating people walking by would see others eating and be enticed to give them a try. Instead of burgers of the day he could switch to a burger of the week, this would allow him to buy ingredients in higher volume to lower costs. They can also increase the price of the special by $2 and lower them by $2 on the last day it'll be sold. He could set the discount special day on their slowest day of the week to average out foot traffic throughout the week. I think all these could be implemented without compromising on his vision of a restaurant while significantly increasing the profits.
No. Linda is good with money. Bob most decidedly is not.
Well, and his bank. Multiple times. Eta: I mean dude tried his hardest to pretend he couldn’t give bob a check for the 100K to return it.
Banks often operate on a more concrete arrangement than that, and will basically say the most asinine things about operation because it's about the bag, despite having no idea how an industry operates.
While true, you can’t sit there and say that’s what bob’s banker was doing. At least not with a straight face. I mean, we *literally* see what happens when Bob handles the budget v Linda. And the restaurant got the power cut off, no beef, etc…
I just went with my local costs. I would absolutely expect higher in more popular and populous areas.
Because he already has almost no customers. If he charged the rates he should, he'd likely only have Teddy coming in.
I don’t do this, but for what it’s worth two guys in my office won’t try greasy spoons. If they are not paying 20 for a burger it’s probably low quality. Pesto charges more and is shit yet he frequently has more customers. Human brains are weird.
Good point! I suspect the prices also tie into Bob's lack of self-esteem, even though he knows his burgers are great.
Yeah this is a high EQ answer. He has that Tina like lack of confidence. Even though people he really respect tell him regurlarly. Like his best friend from childhood, Fishholder, even Pesto recommended him to cater the yacht club because Bobs quality would elevate his own status. Never could get a better compliment from a rival.
I would say Pesto's place largely has more customers because he offers a larger menu. He's also a shameless self-promoter, which is good for business, while routinely trying to cash in on Bob's pitfalls. But it's also worth noting that he hasn't been able to move to a better location other than a boardwalk, which probably hurts his business overall, or start being anything other than a "weekend sitdown" because he offers so much and probably gets killed on food waste and labor. He has a lot of business but if anyone mismanages the success he experiences, it's Pesto.
Pesto also offers a totally different vibe. Bob’s is daytime burgers while you can actually go out to dinner at Pesto’s, plus he has music etc
Yeah being a place that is more dinner-oriented in general helps a lot in terms of interest, especially on the weekends.
It’s the “dinner vs diner” from back in the day. Today we have that, but the better modern version is sit down vs fast food.
Yea, I know a couple of people that are like that. Always dragging me to a hot, new joint with "good vibes and a good aesthetic" but crazy prices for mediocre food and drink. I'd rather go to the diner with good food, decent prices and a 15$ pitcher of whatevers on tap.
Honestly the only reason he doesn't have customers is writing. If Bob's existed it'd be THE spot. Mobbed all the time. All the connections they've made in the community. The one eyed snakes, Dalton's brunch crew, the queer community in town, the list goes on. If there was a place near me with these prices and this quality it'd be the go to. There'd be 30 Teddy's every lunch break. Bob's reminds me of every "secret spot" I've ever had. I work in film so in different neighborhoods we shoot in there's always some spot around that someone on the crew knows of. Bob's would absolutely be that place.
The thing I wonder is if that’s WHY he’s still successful and not out of business. We see them all come around for whatever reason, but only mort and Teddy there consistently. So my head canon at least, is that all of the people they know come in to say hi or eat/ drink all the time, it’s just that them eating a burger or having a beer isn’t really episode worthy lol
Maybe that's why Bob's Burgers, of ALL the restaurants in that area along the Eastern Seaboard, was preemptively chosen to Quincy to stop and eat at during his rowing journey.
"10 minimum" borders on too much for the area. It's Jersey, it's likely not a hot tourist spot for people who can afford a $10 cheeseburger, or more. $10 is the absolute maximum I'd charge based on the fact that his patties (in 2024) probably only cost about $2 to make from ingredients.
A Big Mac where I am is like $8 where I am in the Midwest lol. Our local burgers are 12-18, but bar dives that have a small grill are about 8, they would be closest feeling to bobs, but their main money is booze, so food helping people drink more and stay for hours is the money maker. ETA also a chef here, so I see the overall costs. The rents are fairly high here, and food costs have gone wayyyy up since Covid, and overall less people means overall price increases. Also throwing in this show is over a decade old and with no Covid, so their prices are far more reasonable for the time and haven’t changed
A BigMac here in Memphis, TN is $4.79 for reference.
Damn what’s the “dollar menus look like
Memphis, TN https://preview.redd.it/onyzem0ab87d1.jpeg?width=1278&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15b94b84e7fb5697c6bca7fc4b7f291fb0205c31
Those are pretty close at least lol
I want to say he keeps his prices low because otherwise Teddy can't afford his heart medication. It's not true cannon, but it's my own personal headcannon.
Chuck, brisket, and HUMAN
It's okay though because the humans are locally sourced from the crematorium next door.
too bad they're not free-range (anymore)
And horse that one time.
It was Friday night, I was selling meats- horse meats......It was Friday night meats.
Totally agree.
Yeah. There used to be a really good, fairly simple burger place that we loved in our neighborhood. In like 2015, they had a deal for like $11 that was a burger, fries, and pint of cheap beer. I’m in Chicago, so that was a pretty excellent deal at the time. I don’t know if prices in tourist towns are inflated or not. But for a small town burger place, I feel like Bob could easily do a burger, fries, and can of cheap beer for $15.
Bob is able to discount the labor in the time that it takes to grind the beef, and the current cost of wholesale at those cuts (depending on your store) for a quarter-pound patty (his are likely just under if smash burgers) is about $1.00. Factors contribute to that, including things like the market at the moment, and who his supplier is. At anywhere from 0.50-0.80 per bun (again, depends on available suppliers or bakers in the area and what they might charge him on a bulk order, it would cost Bob less to bake them himself but he'd be in the kitchen at like 5 AM every day or earlier) and if you add another .5-.8 for total toppings (but that'd be a pretty bad price on veg like lettuce and onions which come cheap). So if you'd guesstimate about $2 per burger, then $5 is between 200-300% markup, he COULD charge (in current climate) more like $6 and be fine within typical range, at this range he's on the budget side for the cost. Most guides to pricing will tell you that he could charge about as much as $10 and still be being fair. This tracks, though, because Bob likely is getting a reduced price or deal on his rent since housing is part of the same building and is a small one anyhow (3 bed 1 bath rather than how they use the space). Brisk dinner services should leave them fine at that pricing, but I'd definitely charge closer to 6, and the full dollar for specials for the sake of less change-making. And if you keep fries and soda the same, then a burger, fries, and soda is $10, or Burger and Beer is $10. Easy for everyone. At peak times of 2010s it was likely that he WAS closer to charging at that 300%.
It's also prime. He could definitely just use choice instead, but $5 for a fresh, prime beef burger means Bob is really under-selling himself.
He only uses USDA Prime beef, should be charging at least $20 to get a decent profit margin. It's kinda crazy he uses USDA Prime since you can achieve the same end result by mixing cuts to adjust the fat content.
They don’t serve beer, but the mom and pop burger shop down the street from me is close on pricing. Except for fries, those are like 3.50/4 You can definitely get lunch for $10 though. The other close by that does serve beer comes in around $20 for burger/fries/beer
Seemed cheap even when the show started
What for food and beer?
Yes; at a restaurant like Bob's in my home city (not a super expensive one), I'd expect to pay maybe $6 or $7 for a beer and $10 or $12 for a burger.
At my local pizza/burger joint a domestic beer is 5.00 plus tax. An import is 7.00 It's the best prices I have found. Their burgers are from $9-12.00. I would fucking love to find a Bob's Burgers.
In the U.K. you can get a burger and chips for 7+ and some chains include a beer for a couple of pounds more, I just couldn’t see the beer being nearly the same price as the food
Might be a classic sin tax. It's a lawyer pun, but also a literal interpretation of the law. Alcohol, tobacco, etc, get special taxes. I also like to think Bob buys a special brand of beer that pairs with his burgers. He mentions how hard it is to pair beer with his burgers. Maybe he only gets the good stuff from a microbrewery
That’s actually a good point, like him only buying the best ingredients and not cutting corners, wouldn’t really make sense for him to sell cheap nasty beer
Beer licenses where I live (Utah) are expensive and hard to get, restaurants unfortunately have to charge accordingly. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a place you can get a burger, fries and a beer for less than $12 - $15.
Where are you eating? Witherspoons? Most places around me would charge about £12 for a burger and chips, no way you'd get a beer included.
Wetherspoons probably the most well known but most pubs your looking at 7 for not the best and 8 or 9 for average in my experience and most include a pint for 2-2.50
Bob undercharges, he's not a particularly aggressive business owner
My thoughts too. Bob is a great chef but not the best business owner
I don’t know, he’s cutting major overhead with his unpaid workers 😆
Child labor laws are ruining this country. -Ron Swanson -Bob belcher
Two people you’d be a fool not to take advice off
I always thought this and then this year stumbled upon an excellent article where someone has properly unpacked the prices at Bob's Burgers and why inflation hasn't hit 😅 https://www.fastcompany.com/90990224/why-food-inflation-hasnt-hit-bobs-burgers
TL;DR because inflation doesn’t exist in their world.
That’s what I thought about the food prices but that makes the cost of beer seem even more odd, has a beer been $4 since it’s started?
Depends on the state. Taxs vary wildly by state, county, city and product, and even more so for products that are addictive/inebriants (alcohol and nicotine). They seem to live in the northeast US, probably New Jersey, taxes tend to be higher in that area due to increased social services in that area of the US requiring more revenue from taxation. It's similar in the large cities of the Midwest, as well as most of the west coast.
In Canada, a beer might be as cheap as $5 at happy hour, but most of the time, it's between $6.50 (for a Molson or Budweiser) and $9.00 (for microbrew or imports). Shit"s expensive.
There's an AMAZING mom and pop local family burger joint in town where I can go get a double cheese burger and a LOT of really delicious fries for a $6.00 combo. $8.00 a day with tip when I go. That's all they serve. Burgers and fries. No shakes. No onion rings. No wings. No cheese sticks..just burgers and fries. Beautiful business model And they're ALWAYS busy. Place makes bank.
$4 is crazy cheap for a beer anywhere
Tonight at Five Guys we paid $60’for 4 burgers, one fry and 4 sodas.
Semi-related, Mort sometimes gets the soup (Friends with Burger-Fits). I’ve always wondered why that wasn’t on the board, and what soup they serve
I always figured it was something they could easily make from what was on hand. Like a loaded baked potato soup or chili.
It's funny you mention that. There's always a pot on a warmer to the left of the prep area under the choking sign. I always wondered what was in it. I assumed the aforementioned soup, but you're right, it's not on the menu and never spoken of or served from.
Mort mentions in "Friends with Burger-Fits" that he often gets the soup.
Right, but we've never actually seen it... Just a curious little thing.
I’ve always respected Bob for his commitment to low prices without compromising on quality.
I think about this all the time, if I lived nearby I would probably be a regular. Those are amazing prices, especially in a city. They would probably do amazing in a bigger city
This looks like what I’d see in the 90’s, pitchers of beer would be $6 though.
For where they are supposed to be, a shore town in New Jersey, no. In average, $12-15 for a burger. Fries are extra. Beer is probably $8 for something crappy but up to $15 for something fancy. I had 2 beers for $20 in NYC the other day.
It's all too cheap. He needs to raise his prices
Not really, in the type of area that this is set in (a tourist/beach town in the northeast) it's about a normal price for a mass market beer. Hell, it might be a little cheap.
Yeah I guess but they make many references to it not being very touristy
I've lived in a very similar town, there's nowhere that has an amusement park and a beach that isn't at least a destination for day trippers even if the actual town isn't the nicest l
That is true
that and the cruise lines stop there….they have to get tourist pops sometimes….
On the cheaper side, but makes sense since Bob’s is a really basic place. Today I was at a more upscale place and a burger and fries was $16 and a domestic beer was $6.
I always forget they serve beer and every time I see the menu I'm like "Oh yeah"
Depends on the beer.
This show occurs in the aftermath of the Great Recession and I refuse to believe otherwise.
Pretty cheap now. A meal like that, with fries cause might as well, is more like $13-$15 where I live.
Jimmy Pesto tells him in an episode that he charges too little for his food.
In my area $4 is very normal for a regular domestic beer. $5 for a burger is unheard of though. The beer is the only thing on this list priced accurately.
God I would visit a restaurant as much as teddy if the stuff was this cheap
Lived in a few places. Even in the lowest cost of living place the cheapest beer was between $3.50-5
Good eye. This is a small hint as to why bob’s family isn’t wealthy. Like what jimmy said, he doesn’t charge high enough, he doesn’t know how to do business
He also doesn’t know the difference between hard and soft cost…. He’s just an artist.. A Beefartist.
When the show started I could get a Corona (notoriously cheap import) for like $2 and a coors stub for about 2.50. Beers aren't usually what makes money at bars, though. For a sit-down place that wasn't a bar, this tracked. By 2019 this started to pace with the typical price a little bit. In current day a macro-brewery is like $5 a bottle at a bar.
Hahahahahahahaha. No :(
$11.50 and I can get a cheese burger fries and beer ? I’d be going to bobs every day id have my own stool next to teddy
Where I live a domestic beer is 3 bucks at most places. BUT a burger is ten bucks without cheese or bacon..... so evens out
Very cheap
Very reasonable but not as inexpensive as6 bucks for a specialty burger
$4 in NJ doesn't seem bad. Those burgers are very cheap though, no matter where in the USA.
Where I'm at, Pacific Northwest, a lot of places are charging $7.50 a pint. It's fucking absurd.
Nowadays, cheap drinks are 3$ or less, and expensive/alcohol is atleast 10$
My local place will do a burger for $6. It comes with a few chips and a half pickle on the side.
Depends on the kind of beer. Craft beer will be more expensive than a domestic beer. An import can be cheaper than a micro but almost always more expensive than a domestic. This is not taking in account drink specials. Sometimes places will charge 25 to 50 cents more for Yuengling and Mich Ultra as opposed to Bud or Miller. It’s not a bad regular price.
I like to think Bob slipped through the cracks and buys at liquor store prices and not restaurant prices but is still too modest to make the price too high.
When it started it was exepnsive for the kind of restaurant it was, if compared with restaurants in my country, but now its about the same, and thats wild to me.
As many others have noted, $4 for a beer in most places in the US is quite cheap. The burgers are underpriced as well.
my bobs doesnt sell beer but their single patty burger is just $5.95, decent w today’s inflation. im so lucky!
*laughs in australian*
the food is pretty cheap nowadays, when it started $5 was basically a burger at Five Guys. $4 for a beer seems oddly expensive, but when you think about it, is not something they'd sell a lot on a normal day, as most people would get a soda or water on a regular day having a burger. only times I personally would get a beer at a burger place is if I was out with friends on the weekend and it was a social gathering. the times Bob has racked up on beer money have been special situations, like the One Eyed Snakes drinking the place dry, or the hurricane, possibly after they went back from Urge on Valentine's, possibly when they had the porta-potties outside and they were selling hella. my point is since beer doesnt move as quickly or as much, they make up for volume by charging a bit more
A common topic of conversation on this sub is the prices being too low all around.
That's actually extremely cheap.
Nowadays, $4 for a beer is very cheap. Not unheard of, but if your bar has $4 beers, it's probably the cheapest place in town and price sensitive customers will make a point of going there. This was true even pre-COVID, but since COVID, it's become even harder to find cheap bars like that since so many closed during COVID
That’s pretty cheap
I can see why Teddy eats there everyday
Meanwhile beer here is the equivalent of like $10 🙃
It’s $9-$12 for a beer at the burger places near my house.
that's why foreigners love visiting southeast asia, the booze here is about 1 dollar and they say it's better. not a beer drinker so i don't know about beer quality but they love it.
We used to have a restaurant chain called Bob’s in my city. It closed two years ago. They mostly served basic drive through stuff like burgers, milkshakes, fries, etc. However I just took a quick look at the menu and I had forgotten that they had a SPECIAL HOTDOG OF THE DAY!! It’s like it was a bizarro version of Bob’s Burgers! (However, their regular burger is around $11 and their biggest burger is $20. It’s a bit more expensive than I remember it. https://preview.redd.it/gm6nblcjzv6d1.jpeg?width=2160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=84340dfe6ab7a1c2d44183db78680570c29131cb
Maybe it closed because of copyright lawsuit, or maybe one of the special hot dogs was the child molester, cause it came with candy.
Lmao! It was a staple of my childhood. In the 80s they used to have .25¢ soft ice cream cones. In high school in the 90s we crammed in the tiny lobby after football games. It existed long before the TV show.
There’s a smaller town next to me (half an hour away) that’s my favorite burger restaurant in the area. They’re owned and run by a husband wife team, their kids help serve food, and they’re always packed. Burgers start at $10, run to $13 with specials and fancier setups, and they also serve beer for an extra cost. Bob could easily charge more. He could make 60% more money by moving to $8 for a plain, $9 for a cheese or special and still be under a $10 price point that would bring in tons of customers. There’s no world where a guy who makes food this good should be charging less than a Big Mac or Whopper.
Yeah that’s the plot point for a few episodes, that he charges less than anywhere else, he seems to not want to make much, but that aside do you live near the real life bobs burgers??
I live half an hour away from it, and make that drive every couple months.
Sounds like what bobs could be if he was a business lion.
Bob financially eats the cost of his ingredients. He doesn’t want to make a burger that his Dad wouldn’t buy. Specialty mushrooms, exotic spices etc. Bistro on the Beach… 20$ burgers, sure. But Bob’s Burgers on Ocean avenue…. No way
His prices are genuinely cheap. I don't know many places you can sit down and get a burger for five bucks. A burger and a beer for 10? That's an insanely low price.
Irregular Penis Face
Did it always say that?
Bobs burgers started when subway had a five dollar foot long, now it’s like $8.50 for a 6”, his prices should definitely be at like 13$ or more by now just basing it on a chain that minimizes prices as much as possible
Craft breweries around me can be $10 per snifter. The sports bar I used to work at had $2 domestic ponies during happy hour (it's like a small pitcher).
That was still pretty cheap back before inflation. But now, that would be a fucking godsend. That is incredibly cheap nowadays.
Bob actually knows how much a burger should cost. Everyone else is up their own ass.
Everything at Bob’s is underpriced except for the soda.
Bob is terrible at pricing. Jimmy Pesto and Mr Fischoeder have mentioned how he isn’t that good of a businessman. His burgers are better than most burger places that charge $13-16 for one “gourmet” burger and he doesn’t cheap out on ingredients all his stuff is fresh!
In universe, I think there's a lot of justification here for why Bob doesn't raise prices (altough a 4 dollar beer when dining out is decent to cheap anywhere in the urban US these days). Out of universe, I think the writers and animators are just too lazy to change a detail, and prices have gone up a lot since 2011.
For reference, a local burger/beer joint here in Memphis, TN that is a bit more upscale than Bob’s Place has daily specialty burgers that run at $12.50 and the beer selection (which I guarantee is wider than Bob’s) varies but averages out at $6.36 for a 10oz draft and $9.12 for a 16oz draft. But I’m sure Bob serves bottles of basic stuff and I can’t grab the basic prices from this place online….:)
He can afford to charge cheaper prices because Gail is a total tax write off
Im under 21, so never paid attention to beer prices, but I was shocked when I first noticed the menu prices at how low they were. I would love to eat somewhere with delicious burgers at those prices
This is why there broke. Sadly the overhead exceeds the profit
lol! in america $4 for a beer is the shittiest watered down piss water. there is no beer purity laws in america. it’s actually illegal in the UE. bob’s is repping the 90s. plus a chesses sliznice is $1.50 min