Certainly fast food chains (and really and small mom-and-pop, ethnic type eateries) are a big portion of their customer base. Large restaurant chains (think Morton’s, Ruths Chris, Cheesecake Factory, et al.) are also large customers.
That said, even the stand alone, more unique places that, say, folks here on HO would seek out, are also customers. They may buy less from Sysco (or US Foods) than chains or franchise operations but buy they still do.
It’s not really a good or bad thing. Just sort of a thing.
TL:DR. Don’t let the presence of Sysco dissuade you from patronizing a restaurant.
I have some friends whose parents are restaurant suppliers in Toronto.
The chains and chain-style pubs rely on Sysco or Sysco-type companies in Canada, too. One friend’s husband had the Sysco sales territory including Granville Island in Vancouver 15 years ago, and I accompanied him on one of his workdays. He himself had been a chef at midrange restaurants and pubs at one point, and had moved onto sales at Sysco. Sometimes the restaurants were ordering things like napkins and glassware, so the truck isn’t always a sign that the restaurant is serving previously frozen chicken nuggets et al.
The smaller Greek or Italian restaurants might rely on smaller independent Greek or Italian run suppliers. There are certainly Asian supplier, as well.
I associate Sysco with processed pub food.
It’s nice to see my local pub getting its meat delivered by a local butcher.
Of course, in some parts of the US and Canada, the restaurants don’t have much choice when it comes to who supplies them.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
44
Me too. Until some years back - in the days when I played on eGullet. I remember posting a review of a meal at an upscale restaurant in the city. Another contributor, who was an industry professional, said that the dessert I had described probably wasnt house made but bought in from a food service company like Brakes Brothers (which I assume must be a similar business to the Sysco being mentioned). I replied “nah, wouldnt happen in a place like that”. Couple of days later, she posts a photo of said dessert taken from food service company’s online brochure
I remember a similar story here in the states when it came to light that some very high end chef (think Thomas Keller level) was serving some version of Sysco French fries.
When asked about it he said “They’re certified organic, they’re consistent, and they’re delicious. Why wouldn’t I serve them?”
Knowing the turf, or knowing someone who knows the turf, is half the battle. When I lived in Ecuador, knowing locals got me eating king style, on a college kid budget. One bad meal was in a tourist dump. The rest were amazing bang for the buck. But, that’s also an exchange rate advantage to my currency.
I tried explaining earlier (in vain) that I don’t (have to) take the exchange rate into account when I spend my summers in Berlin, bc I deal almost exclusively with German clients for my translation work, i.e. I get paid in Euro & spend it in real time while I am here.
Just like I get paid in $ back home for my other, stateside occupations where I pay for and buy things with dollars
I suppose when compared directly, the difference in buying power of either currency at various moments in time might be more menial than I experience them, but it still seems to me that there is more to it - again, some suggested food costs, no need to insure employees, no ginormous hurdle of having to purchase a forbiddingly expensive liquor license, etc. etc.
As with most things, there seem to be any number of factors.
I can eat cheaper gua tiew in Bangkok than anywhere in Germany or the US, for that matter… but I have to fly there first
Where were you in Ecuador? I spent some time there last year and may be going back this winter. I spent most of my time in Cuenca and really enjoyed the city and the people were great. My favorites were the seafood at Capitan and the variety of dishes at the touristy Raymipampa. But the best dish by far was the bbq pork upstairs at Mercado 10 de Agosto. My lack of Spanish almost crushed that one, but the owner took the extra time to take my order the first time I went and it was great. Ordering the second time was much easier.
Never found really good mote or cuy…
Most of my time was on a small ship off the Galapagos and they prepared few Ecuadoran dishes. Though I have to admit I cannot remember any of my meals aboard, which is seldom a good sign.
Any tips on Ecuador would be greatly appreciated!
Here is the pork dish i cannot remember the name of…
I spent a few weeks in Cuenca. Just might retire there. My homebase was the Batan Alto neighborhood in Quito, though. Easy to travel around the whole country. Great food at every turn. Perhaps the best meal I’ve ever eaten were grilled prawns on the beach in Esmeraldas. Blew me away. Even coming down the mountains from Quito to Esmeraldas, we stopped at a fricking shack for some soup. Oh boy soup, thought I. I get the soup and there’s a huge blue crab right in the middle , surrounded by shrimp and some fish and bivalves. Had to tip extra since I ate a hole in the bowl.
If you have friends that like cigars, be sure to peruse Cuencas tobacco places. People would pay $20 here for what’s 50 cents there. Galapagos was the one I couldn’t’ afford, so I opted for the much cheaper Cuyabeno National Park, headwaters to the Amazon. Even in the middle of the jungle, I’m eating piranha, beans and rice that kicked ass. I lived for seeing and catching stuff, so my guide obliged, Piranha fishing, caiman hunting, attempted to detain an anaconda, caught a peccary, leafcutter ants, monkeys all over hell, parrots squawking above. I know in the Galapagos, you can’t touch a thing. I would find that difficult.
PM if you need any old info. Been quite a while since I’ve been back, though. The more I saw, the more I loved the place. Miss that action. Just landing at night in Quito. BeeeUtiful. Might retire in Cuenca, though. Did you tried the dried beef? OMG, with a Pilsener (porque cerveza es salud.) Practically lived under this big bridge with some hipster nuts playing tunes and drinking Pilsener (porque cerveza es salud.)
Never got the right mindset for Quito, too many hills to climb. LOL!
I am with you on the Ecuadoran Pilsener. That is what I had with just about every dish. Capitan served it nice and cold. Odd how they disappeared so quickly…
I will PM you later with questions about Cuenca, Cuyabeno and Esmeraldas. Cafes worth visiting is first on my wish list and places to see a close second.
I need to work on my Spanish before I go back. The sad part is that in Italy I ended up using my fractured Spanish to communicate with the driver because my Italian was worse than my Spanish and mi Espanol es muy feo. Es suficiente para una cervesa o un quarto, nunca mas.
And I butchered even that phrase!
I stopped paying too much attention to the exchange rate when I lived in NYC in the 90s. The Canadian dollar was worth $0.65 USD. The numbers on the menu looked the same, since NYC is an expensive city and the Cdn dollar was weak at that time.
I would have friends visit, who would convert everything to Canadian dollars, then complain about the prices in NYC.
I’m not going to enjoy my travels much if I try to eat what I can buy for $40 Cdn when I’m visiting Western Europe.
The last meal where I kept to a type of budget, where I maybe ordered less than I would have if the exchange rate was in my favour, was a dinner in Geneva in 2015. I had a side salad, French Onion soup, small chocolate mousse (2 sizes were offered) and a blackcurrant nectar with sparkling water, and that meal cost around $70 Cdn ($52 USD). If I had more meals in Geneva, I probably would have gotten used to their prices.
I watched some world traveller friends eat instant ramen in Iceland last month. I get eating at IKEA, at departments stores, eating lots of hot dogs or buying food at grocery stores to save money in Iceland or Scandinavia.
Unless I was staying for a month, you wouldn’t find me eating instant ramen in Iceland. Even if I was eating Icelandic toast or cereal for dinner, I would choose that while in Iceland instead of instant ramen or cup o’noodles.
I might be tempted to order some Icelandic Chinese food, to see how it compares to other Chinese food. To see what kind of Chinese food Icelandic locals like to eat.
Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe AFAIK, so I’m not surprised at those prices. Yoikes.
We’re usually in Berlin for 2-3 months, so we do have to budget bc we go out 3-5 times a week on average vs. back home, where we rarely go out for dinner. 2-3 months during which I am not getting much of any work is a long time to just be spending money every day
Thankfully, it is mucho cheaper here than in Switzerland (or the US), and we don’t really do the super-fancy shit anymore. I find 29 Euro for a filet steak with accoutrements to be a pretty reasonable price, but I’d still consider it a splurge. Most dinners we have out here are cheaper than that.
I am finding rather good meals at a decent price easier to find in NW Montana vs my old home in the Washington DC metro area. Conversely, finding really good meals is easier in the DC area, though they do tend to be more expensive or from a less well known cuisine.
For example, i found a lakeside pub in Montana that grills a decent steak that they call a ribeye, though it does not quite look like a ribeye to me. Is there such a thing as a Chuckeye? From maybe the 4th to 5th ribs instead of the 6th to 12th ribs? Whatever it is, I like it.
And with a garden salad plus a baked potato for just $21US it is a bargain in my book. With a pint of a locally brewed ale the tab comes to less than $30 before tip.
It has become a weekly dietary splurge for me.
The odd part is that nearly every time I order it the regulars at the bar are shocked that their favorite beer bar prepares a steak. I am kind of worried that if the secret gets out, the price will go up!
LOL!
That is a bargain. Going rate for steak frites is mostly around $40 Cdn to $50 Cdn ( $30 USD- $32.50 USD) in Toronto and other parts of southern Ontario right now.
My hanger steak frites at Craft Farmacy in London ON was $43 Cdn this week.
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Presunto
(--> Back in Athens - Goat's/Sheep's Yoghurt every day ... [Fleeced Taxpayer :@)) :@)) ])
56
Even cheaper if you go for lunch specials/menu (platos) del dia. I’m a supporter of breweries that serve hot meals and seek out lunch specials wherever I visit.
In Vilnius, Lithuania. Pub has lunch specials for every day of the week, and they change the menu weekly to offer seasonal dishes/ingredients. https://i.imgur.com/RukoiPm.jpg
(Imgur has blocked Discourse from downloading photos so to see them you open the links)
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
57
Menu del dia places in Spain are usually the bargains of any visit to the country - even those in tourist area (although you’ll find them in the back streets). Daily changing menu with two or three choices at each of the three courses. Home style food generally intended for locals who cannot get home for lunch. Place I go in Mallorca offers such a menu, including olives, bread, wine and water for €15.
Except that the answer to your original question about why dining out is cheaper in Germany does have something to do with purchasing power parity and currency – whether or not you ignore the exchange rate yourself doesn’t change the underlying economics of the answer. (Also closely related: why your bank in Germany pays you a different interest rate on your funds there than your bank in the US does on your dollars.)
@BKeats already linked to the Big Mac Index – here’s a lay explanation of Purchasing Power Parity, which is the underlying principle:
Generic bagels run between $2 and $2.50 a pop here in the Bay Area; $3 each or more if you want the “better” kinds (Boychik, Beauty, etc.). When I visit NJ, I pay at most $1.25 per bagel, so I’ve gotten in the habit of buying a half dozen the day I fly back home.
