After we were required to start working on office a couple years ago, I decided to explore the area for a while, trying new potential lunch places. I found this little out of the way craft burger place with something like "2023 best burger in the city award winner" painted on their fence.

I thought, "Sweet, this ought to be a pretty good burger". I sat down, checked out the menu, ordered a burger that sounded good (something simple) along with some fries and a water. Didn't look at the price while browsing the menu because... it's a small burger place. Even if it won an award a few years ago, how much could it cost? By the time I even thought to consider it, I'd already ordered and the menu was gone, so I wouldn't find out until the check came.

I figured 15 dollars for a nice craft burger wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation. I could even see around 20, since we are in the burbs of a metro area, which tends to make things a bit more expensive, though this didn't seem like an expensive joint... Turns out it was 28 dollars and change after tax. I about choked when I saw the total. And this was before beef prices went crazy the last year or so.

The burger was good. It was not 28 dollars good. I haven't been back since. I've also heard similar stories from coworkers "Good, but not good enough for the price". Whoever is keeping them in business is getting fleeced. There's no way that that burger and fries cost them more than $5.00 in ingredients, tops. That's a hefty ass margin.