this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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Where are you where it would cost more than $1. Buying product in bulk would be very cheap.
Because I have no life, I looked it up.
Bread in Finland is about 0.1 usd per slice Low quality cheese is about 8 usd / kg, assuming you need about 20g/portion that's 0.16 usd. Total is about 36c per portion.
If we assume power consumption of 5kw for the whole operation and power cost of 20c/kWh, that's 1usd/h
Assuming sales of 60 units per hour -one per minute, thats 60 usd of revenue per hour and 22.6 usd of non labor cost, it leaves 37.4e for labor, taxes, permits, tools, fuel.
It's at least only feasible in high volume locations.
I was with you until you suggested it would use 5kWh every hour. That's an insane amount of power even if they were using an electric griddle, which is unlikely. A small generator would be enough to power the lighting and refrigeration and then the griddle would run on gas, which is way cheaper than electricity (or the petrol for the electric generator).
I'd imagine energy costs would be a fraction of what you've calculated, and would scale up along with any increase in sales volume.
Depends on where you are, gas use is very rare here. Anyway the energy cost is a negligible part, you can halve or double it and it won't change the business case.
When allocating food cost (in your costs) 36% is around where you want it-30% would be more ideal, but you can get that through sales, bulk discount etc. So, regardless of volume food cost % is basically where it should be.
Some numbers in spain: slice cheese .19/slice bread .08/ slice (.16) Margarine (because: costs!) .04/10g .39
To get closer to a feasible food cost you'd have to sell at 1.25
Labor for a single grilled cheese is super easy. If you're selling a lot of them this could be decently profitable.
Gas for the generator is where it would kill you. Your best bet is to make all the grilled cheese as fast as possible to save on gas and dispense them throughout the day.
I live on earth. Even if you’re buying bulk, it will still be more than a dollar to make. The bread alone bought in bulk would still be around $0.25 per slice. That’s 50 percent of the cost right there.
You're getting ripped off.
Who's your bread guy?
Indeed. I can grab a loaf of cheap white bread from my local grocery store for under $2 which is cut into 22 slices.
Cut those in half again and double your profit!
You are getting 22 slices? What brand are you getting? I feel like 16 is the standard but about 50% of the time I'm fairly certain it's only 15 or 17.
Meijer and Walmart store brands of cheap ass white bread are 22 slices, Kroger is 21, and for a name brand example Sunbeam is 22. Nicer bread like Pepperidge Farm or Brownberry/Oroweat tends to be in the range of 16 slices per loaf (baring the thin sliced stuff) though.
I would love to see your source. I don’t buy bread in bulk but I have a friend who owns a local restaurant in my town. I know how much he pays for the bread he serves for breakfast and it doesn’t get cheaper than that.
https://www.safeway.com/shop/product-details.960013141.html
This is not the cheapest, you can get better pricing than this with a Costco business account. Your friend is probably not serving the lowest price bulk bread available, they probably have some self respect.
Well even with that bread you are still spending about $0.25 per sandwich on bread. I still don’t see how that’s profitable after adding cheese and butter. You could do it by drastically reducing the amount of cheese and butter but is it really a grilled cheese when you put a single shred of cheese on it?
Honestly the cheese and butter together will probably cost less that $0.25 bulk cheese is cheap as hell and you're using almost no butter per sandwich
If you buy enough cheese, it's essentially free on a per serving basis with the expense being the shipping.
I fight seagulls for it.
Youth these days think you buy everything and don't understand a little labour goes a long way.
I imagine fighting the seagulls would be like living in a post-apocalyptic future scavenging for food.
It's great practice to keep my katana skills sharp.
I don't buy in bulk, and I pay under $2usd for a loaf of basic white bread from any supermarket. After taxes, to be clear.
If I were to bulk buy / business discount, it would be less.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod22990913&mobiledetect=false&pid=092410_RFI|ANDROID|Featured_Products|Sara%20Lee%20Classic%20White%20Bread%20(20oz%2F2pk)
I’ll take your word for it. I’m not a member so it doesn’t show me the price. Looking forward to all the profitable $1 grilled cheese trucks coming soon.
You might be right about the profitability of the grilled cheese truck but it’s okay to admit you were wrong on the bread.
It’s the internet, not one really cares if you are wrong.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-White-Sandwich-Bread-20-oz/10315752?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=2588&adid=2222222227810315752_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9005929&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=10315752&wl13=2588&veh=sem_LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&&adid=2222222223810315752_117755028669_12420145346&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-306310554666&wl5=9005929&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=10315752&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6vaqBhCbARIsACF9M6lsjjxYststWrOt0rkEa2_jbKniaQPE8ehNZ5B7Ul3-XkKa2Qn68igaAn-EEALw_wcB
Here's bread from Walmart for about $0.06 per slice.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Singles-American-Pasteurized-Prepared-Cheese-Product-16-oz-24-Count/10452423?athbdg=L1600&from=/search
Here's cheese for $0.10 per slice
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Sweet-Cream-Salted-Butter-16-oz/132893363?athbdg=L1200
And butter for about $0.25 per ounce (you might use .5 oz per sandwich.) EDIT: checked my butter in my fridge, you're probably using 1/4 of an ounce per sandwich if that.
And none of these are in bulk, you can probably cut the cost in half or less buying even more generic products in bulk.
25¢ per slice.
You're paying ~$5usd for a loaf of basic white bread? Wow.
Where I live, it's currently $4Cdn for a loaf of basic white Wonder bread, it's $8.50Cdn for a stick of salted butter, and $5.50Cdn for a pack of 22 slices of processed cheese (not the thick slice type). My country is currently going through a bit of a cost of living crisis because shelter, heating, food costs are becoming insane. How much are those things where you live? I think it's interesting the differences based on where we all are. 1$ for an entire grilled cheese sandwich in Canada would be considered an incredible deal for takeout food pricing.
(presuming you mean $CAD for Canadian dollars, not cdn)
$4cad = $2.90usd = 13.2c/slice
$5.50cad = $4usd = 18.2c/slice
That's 44.5c each.
That's 125% profit. Given that a common margin aimed for is 100%, this is a good deal with your over priced products. And I don't believe you can't get basic white bread for less than $4cad in Canada.
Also, $1usd is $1.37cad
In the UK I can currently buy an 800g loaf of bread for 45p (£0.45), a 500g tub of soft spread butter substitute for 99p (£0.99), and a 200g pack of 10 cheese slices for 65p (£0.65).
Each sandwich would cost about 12p (£0.12) to make, excluding the energy costs.
Doubling up on the cheese, or using higher quality cheese would still keep it under 20p per sandwich, and that's off the shelf costs, no bulk discounts.
Excuse me while I write up a business plan...
I think this meme is older than COVID, so it might've been slightly profitable back when it was first photoshopped?
July 7, 2019 - so yep.
But still profitable after 4 years.
Would make more money renting the food truck out as capsule sleeping for 6 people though, these days.
I just priced it out from ingredients bought from Sam's club. 33 cents for two slices of bread, one slice of American cheese, and I added an extra 5 cents for butter substitute.