It’s one of the most frustrating lines on a menu.
Maine Lobster……................Market Price
If you are savvy, the immediate thought is that this is the space in the menu where they are really going to gouge me! Your mind immediately races to an astounding price tag for the dish of at least $50 and at worse $100. That’s too rich for most people’s blood. So, why include it on the menu at all?
That’s an excellent question. Especially since a restaurant, like most retail businesses, is all about real estate. The menu has some of the most important real estate inside that business. There is limited space to show the range of unique and delicious offerings that the Chef can create. So, why spend space on something that the restaurant isn’t even willing to share the price of? Well, before you go too far down the rabbit hole of assumptions and stories about what might be going on here, take a moment to think. That dish must be delicious enough or special enough to gamble precious space on that menu to place it there.
The Market Price thing is still confusing enough to scare you off though, isn’t it?
Well, ok. I get it. Entirely!
So, what if I explain why the restaurant doesn’t want to “put a ring on it” regarding the price? That's easy enough. It’s because that dish is created from ingredients where the price fluctuates enough that it will cause the restaurant staff to change the menu every month or two weeks, or at times daily. Sometimes it feels like hourly to those who work there...and sometimes it is! The ingredient could be a wild caught item that is rare, so the price increases for that item when it’s not in season, or the hunters/fishermen/foragers just haven’t collected a lot of it. The price goes down when that item is in season or there are just plentiful amounts found or caught.
Why can't the restaurant just print more menus? Printing new menus for the entire dining room is very costly to a restaurant. The beautiful linen textured paper, the ink, the time that it takes for the manager to make the changes...in a restaurant, every dime counts. So, constantly having to update a menu with the cost of an item that fluctuates so frequently is high. The more economic answer is to print a menu where there isn't a constant need to reprint it. The answer is to just specify Market Price and have the Server verbalize the info.
Some of you folks may also think to yourself, “Then why not just set an average price on the item?” Well, restaurants work on very thin margins to begin with, and are canaries in the societal coal mine. Fortunes of a restaurant’s long-term success totally depend on going with the flow of the market and of the availability of product. The majority of the items on a menu have enough of a margin of error in the pricing so that small fluctuations in the price of the ingredients are accounted for. With Market Price items, there isn’t an average cost that is dependable enough to use.
What we are all currently seeing in grocery shopping even for staple items is kind of a nightmare scenario for a restaurant. After all, eggs are going for $7.99 a carton or more these days! Imagine having to deal with that when you are making breakfast sandwiches that have been put on your menu for $3.50, much less providing King Salmon with Hollandaise sauce to a guest. When more than 1/3 of your menu item's price is now the cost of just 1 ingredient, that's a big problem. You then have to adjust prices upwards in a big way, causing massive discomfort in guests. Major price swings are exactly the opposite of what you want to put your guests through on a regular basis. That's how you go out of business. So, again the answer is cases where you 100% know that major component is going to fluctuate in cost is to put Market Price on the menu.
In the end, my suggestion is before you dismiss that Market Priced item, ask about it. If it’s too expensive, ok! Cool. However, unless you ask, you don’t know.
By the way, you aren’t embarrassing yourself by asking about an item. The server doesn’t know that it’s too expensive for you. Heck! Just ask the server to tell you about the item and they will provide you all the options for preparation along with the price. In this instance, you may not like what the preparation is with the dish. Only you know your reasons for not selecting any given item on a menu. The server is there to help you make the best decision for you, not judge you for your taste in food.
In the end, as food professionals, we all want to provide a range of items so that the guests who walk in the door have a delightful experience. That means there should be great options for the guests who want to splurge given their budget, and those where money is no object. Whether the Market Priced item is more reasonable than expected, or WAY outside your comfort zone, it’s kind of cool to learn about how much Porcini Mushroom Risotto is going for these days. Then you will have a bit more information that will assist you the next time you go out to another nice dinner.
Mmmm. Porcini Risotto. Now I'm Hungry!
"Can you tell me about that dish please?"
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