It's Too Expensive Here!

[ElQueso]

Just an example of how crazy prices are here, in my opinion.

Today I made a birthday cake with our oldest. We bought four bars of Aguila amargo (bitter - 60% cacao) chocolate (600 grams total), a bag of powdered sugar (250 grams), 200 grams of butter (don't remember the price, we already had that) two boxes of chocolate cake mix (she didn't want to wait to do it from scratch), all for a total of about 300 pesos. In an hour, we had a really good chocolate cake made that beats the taste of every cake I've ever eaten here - literally. The cake (Exquisita) was good and moist, without being too dense. The icing was just completely spectacular and it made me think of the chocolate icing my mother used to make for my birthdays It took us about an hour and we don't do this every day.

The reason we made it ourselves? A similar cake would have cost us around 600 pesos (we looked), at least where we live, and smaller in diameter than what we made, though about the same height. And the cake itself would have been either dry and tasteless, or too moist and dense, the icing sickly-sweet and thin.

We bought our supplies retail. Granted, we didn't factor in our own labor costs and other overhead. But without overhead we would have had a 100% profit on that cake. If we were buying our supplies wholesale (not to mention making the cake itself from scratch), and thinking about mass-producing cakes (even if only ten a day, say, with one person doing the work [I could see producing 10 cakes in a couple of hours max, at least of the same type) we would have brought the costs of labor per cake way down. I can see no reason why a bakery here can't make a really good profit on a cake, sell it for less and have better quality than are generally available here.

Crazy.

 

[chris]

There are a few decent bakeries in Recoleta (you're right, cakes run $500 or $600 pesos) but most bakeries in the city are pretty bad in my opinion. For one thing few bakeries use butter which is why most medialunas are so awful. I did find one recently that produces really good quality, light medialunas (not the usual dense tasteless kind) though. There is also the issue of tastes. People in Argentina like things very sweet. Your cakes might sell in Recoleta where there are people who have more sophisticated tastes but I wonder how they would sell in most neighborhoods.

 

[ElQueso]

As far as sweetness goes, that wasn't really a huge part of my point. They can have sweeter cakes and things, that's fine - but even then the cost is outrageous (I could have made a "regular" cake for here, at a fraction of the cost!). To me, the cakes made here (I mean the masa, or bizcochuelo - the actual cake part of the cake) are mostly terrible, even here in Recoleta. Pani is a huge exception!

I mentioned the chocolate because I've been told often that good chocolate is relatively expensive here and that's why it's not used that often, or only in small quantities, yet I used a really good chocolate and came up with a not expensive product.

You may be right about Recoleta tastes, though, not being a fair representation. But if they'd like the taste here in Recoleta, I could probably make a killing! Pani is pretty expensive even for Recoleta...

 

[Somewhereinba]

Who would think businesses extort the fuck out of prices because the silly people still pay - basically the rule is keep raising the prices until people stop paying. What is wrong with paying $30-$40 for a shit chocolate cake that cost $10-$15 to make?

 

[hannstew]

What, no dulce de leche?!?!

 

[semigoodlookin]

Just an example of how crazy prices are here, in my opinion.

Today I made a birthday cake with our oldest. We bought four bars of Aguila amargo (bitter - 60% cacao) chocolate (600 grams total), a bag of powdered sugar (250 grams), 200 grams of butter (don't remember the price, we already had that) two boxes of chocolate cake mix (she didn't want to wait to do it from scratch), all for a total of about 300 pesos. In an hour, we had a really good chocolate cake made that beats the taste of every cake I've ever eaten here - literally. The cake (Exquisita) was good and moist, without being too dense. The icing was just completely spectacular and it made me think of the chocolate icing my mother used to make for my birthdays It took us about an hour and we don't do this every day.

The reason we made it ourselves? A similar cake would have cost us around 600 pesos (we looked), at least where we live, and smaller in diameter than what we made, though about the same height. And the cake itself would have been either dry and tasteless, or too moist and dense, the icing sickly-sweet and thin.

We bought our supplies retail. Granted, we didn't factor in our own labor costs and other overhead. But without overhead we would have had a 100% profit on that cake. If we were buying our supplies wholesale (not to mention making the cake itself from scratch), and thinking about mass-producing cakes (even if only ten a day, say, with one person doing the work [I could see producing 10 cakes in a couple of hours max, at least of the same type) we would have brought the costs of labor per cake way down. I can see no reason why a bakery here can't make a really good profit on a cake, sell it for less and have better quality than are generally available here.

Crazy.

I even find the price you paid for a few items, four chocolate bars, some sugar, and cake mix, for 300 pesos to be kind of expensive. What is that, around US$20 or £15. Sorry I am from the UK and don't know what people would pay in the US, but:

Cooking chocolate (600grams) - http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=255774919 (organic cooking chocolate, the best Tesco sells) - £5.00

Icing Sugar (250grams) - http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=252528791 (Popular UK brand, 500g so some left for another cake) - £0.78

2 Boxes Chocolate cake mix - http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=289584735 (950g altogether, not sure how much you used, most expensive they sell) - £4.50

Total - £10.28 which is much cheaper. I could have got the same ingredients (no organic chocolate, less popular sugar, cheaper mix) for around £5 - £6. I imagine if I had gone to a supermarket like Lidl or Aldi (lower end in the UK) it would have been even cheaper.

I totally get the point you was making, and it emphasized how even simple grocery shopping is expensive here and yes, indeed, buying stuff ready made is very expensive. It baffles me that some still argue that Argentina is more affordable than the US/UK when it is so easily provable that it is not.

My wife wanted to make "choco torta". As you know, its just some buscuits, cheese, and dulce de leche as a base. I couldn't believe that a simple dessert would run me over 200 pesos.

 

[citygirl]

What, no dulce de leche?!?!

Clearly no Argentine will buy it

I bake all the time for the reasons el queso discussed. Bakeries are generally quite expensive and the quality isn't equal to the price IMO. EJ: I bake my own bread and it costs me approximately 10 pesos to make a large loaf of bread that is delicious.

My cookies, cakes, etc (and el queso - it's SO quick to make the cake from scratch and much better plus it costs nothing - don't waste your money on a mix) are less than half the price that they charge in bakeries. And as someone who doesn't love DDL in EVERYTHING and finds most things here far too sweet, it's doubly a win - costs less and tastes better

My latest - damn, things have gotten expensive! - we went out to Irifune last night. I've been going there for years and years. 30 pieces of sushi/sashimi. 4 cans of Sapporo beer. That was it - no starter, no dessert. 1500 pesos. That's crazy.

 

[semigoodlookin]

My latest - damn, things have gotten expensive! - we went out to Irifune last night. I've been going there for years and years. 30 pieces of sushi/sashimi. 4 cans of Sapporo beer. That was it - no starter, no dessert. 1500 pesos. That's crazy.

For how many people? 2?

 

[Rich One]

There are a few decent bakeries in Recoleta (you're right, cakes run $500 or $600 pesos) but most bakeries in the city are pretty bad in my opinion. For one thing few bakeries use butter which is why most medialunas are so awful. I did find one recently that produces really good quality, light medialunas (not the usual dense tasteless kind) though. There is also the issue of tastes. People in Argentina like things very sweet. Your cakes might sell in Recoleta where there are people who have more sophisticated tastes but I wonder how they would sell in most neighborhoods.

If you add the overhead for rent, labor, benefits, taxes, iva, utilities, devaluation, etc. you add 50 % so we are at $450 that leaves a 30 % gross profit for a total 0f $600 ...??? very low by local standards , not worth the efforts. Lebac bonds pay over 30%...!

 

[citygirl]

Yes, it was dinner for 2 people. 1500 pesos total or more or less $100 dollars - not including tip. With tip, it was 1700 pesos. The food is good there and it's always been a favorite. But that's not far off from what I would pay today at Blue Ribbon Sushi in NY for about the same quantity of food/drink (although they don't sell beer) and lord knows the variety of fish there would be far superior.