What am I missing in this equation?
I got a gift card to Red Lobster, so I went there to eat the other night. Here’s where it got weird - according to their menu, a basic lobster tail was $25 - but a whole, live lobster was $19 or so.
That seems weird enough - but then there were items on the menu that included a lobster tail (the same one that was $25) PLUS other menu items, but were still a few bucks cheaper than just buying the lobster tail.
What am I missing? It doesn’t make sense.
Wild guess – A tail that’s large enough to look substantial on the plate would have to come from a lobster whose total weight is significantly greater than that of the lobster when ordered whole. I.e. the tail could come from a lobster that originally weighed 2 pounds, but the whole lobster you order would weight 1.25 pounds.
If you buy a whole lobster, you’re doing the work of cracking open the shell, scooping out the meat etc. Also, weight might be a factor: a meal-sized lobster tail will start at 6 oz or so, but if you’re buying the whole beast, the tail will likely be smaller (and the tail is the best bit on a lobster, or at least I’ve never heard anyone opine otherwise!).
Are you sure the lobster tail that came by itself was actually identical to the tail that came with other items? The solo tail might have contained six ounces of meat while the tail that came as part of the lobster might only be a three ounce tail.
There’s also the difference between Maine lobster and Rock lobster, which is more expensive in that area. Here’s a Red Lobster menu from a Chicagoland area store.
Sometimes pricing just doesn’t make sense. Shopping for oregano last week at my local grocer, I noticed that the 1.5 oz jar of McCormick oregano was CHEAPER than the 0.75 oz jar.
If a lobster tail is considered more of a delicacy than a whole lobster, it’s reasonable for the tail to be more expensive. It’s weird, moon-man marketing logic, but that’s usually internally consistent.
But of course. You still have to cook a “live” lobster.
(I wonder how much poor Bubba went for.)
If you are taking your date to Red Lobster, you are more likely to get the tail, as eating a whole lobster is messy. They get to charge a premium since you are basically stuck buying it.
As was pointed out, lobster tails come from a different animal than the lobster that is served whole. Lobster tails comes from warm water lobsters, whole lobsters are usually from northern climates.
I suspect that the difference comes from the relative rarity of each species and the work entailed in getting the product to market.
Pricing in restaurants is subject to maximizing of profit. This means, that pricing of an individual dish is more likely to be driven by its popularity than by its costs. An example:
Cost Pricing A Sells A Profit A Pricing B Sells B Profit B
Dish One $ 8 $13 200 $1000 $15 150 $1050
Dish Two $ 9 $14 100 $ 500 $14 100 $ 500
Dish Three $10 $15 50 $ 250 $13 100 $ 300
Total Profit A: 1750 Total Profit B: 1850
Now in this example Dish One is obviously the most popular. If we use an equal profit per dish of $5 we will earn $1750, but if we make the most popular dish more expensive, and the least popular less expensive, we can increase the total profit by $100.
In real life, the costs may also be dependent on how much of a specific kind of dishes are served, so this can add to the dynamics of this equation.
So while the pricing on the menu does not need to make obviously sense to customers, it may still make very much sense to the owner.
However, in the case in question I think the Rock Lobster/Main Lobster argument is probably the most likely to be true.
cu
In grocery stores, I find that broccoli crowns are often a much better deal than broccoli (unless on sale) – but I don’t much care for the stalk part.
The tail is definitely the premium part of the lobster – high taste, little work. I’d prefer a whole lobster myself, but I’ve had practice. At Canadian Red Lobsters I think the tail is slightly cheaper than a whole lobster, though.
Well . . . you can get lobster tails solo in Maine, etc. And they taste pretty good. What you can’t get is a whole lobster (well, you could, but what would be the point?) from spiny/rock/“Florida” lobsters, 'cause they don’t have the big claws.
Sometimes . . . the tail offered is some kind of exotic – I’ve seen restaurants making a big to-do about “Australian lobster tails” (and indeed my Cantonese friends, who I assume would know seafood if anyone did) assure me these are indeed worth the price premium. But I found it hard to believe that at a Del Frisco’s steakhouse when they wanted something like $89 for the 1.5 lb. tail (when you can get a whole lobster in most Chinatowns for $14 or so).
You have now. I like the claw (though it’s all pretty good). And a friend swears by the “knuckle” (the ball-joint type piece connecting claw to carapace).
I like the tamale or “coral,” which is lobster roe.
I dunno, I usually have to take my date someplace better than Red Lobster to get some tail.
Slight Hijack;
20 oz Coke costs about $1.20
2 Liter Coke costs about $.99
But in this case, I think it’s merely a conveince cost.
Meeko:
Convenience and usually, refrigeration. The 20-ounce Coke is being sold refrigerated, intended for someone who wants his immediate thirst slaked. The 2-liter is sold to someone whose need is not as immediate, and who will refrigerate it himself later.
Shelf space costs a retailer less than fridge or soda-machine space.