Ditto to all the above. I recently received an email complaint about my hot dog prices where the complainant said, "I think that $4.00 is an enormous amount to charge High Schoolers for just a dog & drink. Where do you think they get the money? outrageous!"
After two weeks of trying to control my angry response I have written this, which goes along with the above topic:
"In the 5 1/2 years I have been operating the Theatre, I have not personally made any money; in fact, I keep dipping into my personal savings for major improvements. I am to the point where I need to start making some money.
I simply thought some people would enjoy being able to get something different for lunch, and since the theatre just sits idle most of the time, I could sell hot dogs, sodas, and popcorn to supplement my theatre sales. They are simply an alternative to the hamburger everyone else in town sells.
My lunch is not geared toward high school students as I am so far from the school, but they are certainly welcome to come in if they wish. My target is geared more toward my neighboring business owners and possibly passing motorists who recognize the Casper’s name.
As far as the price is concerned, I think $4 for a quality Casper’s hot dog and a 32 oz. soda is reasonable. My hot dog alone is $2.50, which is cheaper than what I was paying for them while I was working everyday and eating them twice a week. Sure, you can get a hot dog and 20 oz. soda at Costco for $1.61. I cannot compete with any business that large. They can afford to lose money on hot dog sales, because they can make up the difference on big-ticket items. I have no other means to make up the difference."
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Moviegoers have a choice; to buy concession items and enjoy them while watching a professionally run film presentation while seated in nice, comfortable seats or to sit in the nice, comfortable seats and enjoy the quality presentation without food. That's their choice.
Self-employed people make money by making a profit. That's what it takes to stay in business without a Sugar Daddy or Mama. Like the Costco example above, if a store has numerous items to sell, some items can be sold for small profits while others bring in much larger profits. A 9-volt battery sells in a drug store for about $2.99. The store's cost for that item is about 90 cents. The mark-up for a battery for your car remote is even more. The mark-up on the darn garage door I just had to buy is over 300%. That's just the American way. I'd much rather pay $2.50 for a hot dog than $1200 for a garage door. Do the newspapers make a big deal about the cost of garage doors????????
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