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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
It doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Based on some quick searches, bulk cheese breaks down to about $.19 a slice, two pieces of bread is about $.10, butter is wobbly here because I don’t know exactly how much they’d be using, but let’s say half an ounce/1 Tbsp is about $.25? Probably not a whole lot of profit after the cart and rent for the space, but you could probably get close to breaking even if you sold enough and/or had a better bulk supplier than what I can see with 5 minutes of research.
It’s gonna margarine, not butter. Or some other kind of butter flavored spread.
If you wanted to get a better estimate, go to McDonald’s, order something and add cheese. Whatever they charge you for the slice of cheese is probably double their cost.
I realize this is a joke but how could this be profitable? The ingredients alone are more than a dollar.
Yes, it’s profitable. They lose money on each sale, but make up for it in volume.
He did the math
He did the melty math
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.
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 isn’t free? Nor is Gas for transportation nor for generator.
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?
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?
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=prod22990913&mobiledetect=false&pid=092410_RFI|ANDROID|Featured_Products|Sara Lee Classic White Bread (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.
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.
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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.
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.
It doesn’t seem too unreasonable. Based on some quick searches, bulk cheese breaks down to about $.19 a slice, two pieces of bread is about $.10, butter is wobbly here because I don’t know exactly how much they’d be using, but let’s say half an ounce/1 Tbsp is about $.25? Probably not a whole lot of profit after the cart and rent for the space, but you could probably get close to breaking even if you sold enough and/or had a better bulk supplier than what I can see with 5 minutes of research.
It’s gonna margarine, not butter. Or some other kind of butter flavored spread.
If you wanted to get a better estimate, go to McDonald’s, order something and add cheese. Whatever they charge you for the slice of cheese is probably double their cost.
Umm… what? 2 slices of white bread, 1 slice of American cheese, and some butter is not more than a dollar.
You must be one of those people who complains about not having enough money when you spend it like an idiot.