Hipster Cafes and Bakeries

Labour costs are higher in France than here.

Yet you can get a main course in a restaurant in central Paris for 9.50 - 12.50.

I'd love to know where that is. Even small side street hidden restaurants used by locals charge €18-€20.

In Germany the standard main course is over €20 in most ordinary restaurants and it's fairly basic food.

In Dublin you can get good value without looking too hard - here's my favourite place - brilliant food and superb value https://enotecadinapoli.ie/eat-italy/lunch-menu/

A frozen, laughably titled Cuisine De France baguette? A favourite of builders without any taste buds.

An insult to a proper baguette.

FfS you should be ashamed of yourself. Rubbish dropping off at work and nicking the toilet roll. I'd say you wouldn't spend Christmas and everyone in your circle knows it.

Hospital shops are a worse rip off than that.

Unfortunately, i didn't have the luxury of just pissing off to the next shop as I'd just been a few days after major surgery - nil by mouth and only sipping water until 2 days before, doctor finally said i could eat - awkwardly it was between hospital meals, so.. famished as i was i wheeled myself down to the shop which took a good ten minutes being as weak as a kitten and bought a prepacked ham and cheese sandwich from a company that makes them for the hospital (company based in finglas)

7 euro.. for a f**king ham and cheese sambo on white bread with nothing else on it.. I had enough sense to ask how much is the sandwich, young lad behind the counter confirmed it was 7 quid and looked at me as if i was going to be a Karen.. i just handed him his cash.

in fairness, it was good, but i'd not eaten in 5 days.. so yeah.

I could if i'd the strength and energy went to aldi or lidl, bought a loaf, butter, ham and cheese for the same price and left whatever i didn't use with the ward and still had change left over from that seven quid.

Anyway..

The catering staff from my ward in the hospital that evening asked me if i'd like a sandwich, i greedily said yes.. and guess what.. same package, same company, same ham and cheese.. these guys are catering to the hospital too.. they must be minted! :D

The fresh baked goods in supermarkets are mostly prebaked from Cuisine de France, aren't they?

Had a pastry in Bread 41 recently. €5.40. It was amazing, and nowhere else does anything like it. I know it's overpriced, but I don't mind treating myself sometimes. They were sold out of it on Friday, so got something else, which was €3.40.

Thats just marketing it's what they do

Tbf to Sceál their Almond Croissant is top class but they only do it at weekends which is very annoying, their coffee is woeful though for the price they are charging, Firehouse are now pushing pastries out to every coffee shop going from Cabinteely to Wicklow Town, being mass produced without too much of a dip in quality which is great too see, coffee in Wicklow Wolf (surprisingly good) and a firehouse pastry goes down very well and doesnt break the bank.

I know what marketing is, but doubt gouging is part of the marketing mix? Maybe your marketing comment means 'they do it because they can' ? Thats profiteering, not marketing.

If we ever have another recession, places that charge very high prices for at best ordinary products, will be moaning about how they can't make a profit, turnover is down, and they are struggling to stay open...

Another part of marketing is developing long term customers by providing quality products at fair prices. Businesses that do that often stay in business through tough times because they have a loyal customer base that believe they get good value products.

The marketing strategy of charge what you can get away with will fail miserably at this because it's short term, max profit, non-customer loyalty /value based. Thats a marketing fail.

Maybe go back and read your post and my reply

I didn't reply to a post about gouging. I replied to below

"I never said they taste nice. They are the opposite. However, many places offer them like they are an exquisite, boutique bakery item, with as many adjectives to describe them. They then price them accordingly "