Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Bagels
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Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by Bagels »

So it's come to this. In the last day, I've read about restaurants, including Texas Roadhouse and Potbelly, that are now willing to sell their ingredients to the public. For example, at Texas Roadhouse you can buy some steaks, or a few pounds of potatoes (no word on whether they're selling the dough for their delicious bread). Any other restaurants doing this?
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by mjhale »

I was in Safeway today and noticed that they were selling the big plastic bulk bags of the soups that they would normally put in the self serve containers for you to ladle out what you want. I should have looked at the expiration date on the bags. My first thought was oh they are trying to clear this stuff out before it expires since the soup thing is shut down. I wonder if restaurants with low or no carry out and delivery volume are getting to the point where they are trying to sell their ingredient before things expire or go bad. Doesn't seem like a good sign to me if they are selling off the raw ingredients that are used to make their dishes. If a restaurant has gotten to this point sadly I don't think they are going to make it much longer.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by Alpha8472 »

Panera Bread is selling groceries online. They are selling loaves of bread, tomatoes, avocados, apples, bags of grapes, gallons of milk, and yogurt tubes.

The food is going to expire anyway since it is unsold. Is $4.99 for a gallon of milk worth it?

Supermarket deliveries are unreliable. Safeway deliveries are being pushed back. It seems like it will never get here. Instacart is canceling some deliveries.

Panera may be a more reliable delivery service than a supermarket.

Subwaygrocery.com is selling bread, meat, egg patties, cheese, vegetables, frozen soups, cookies, chips, and some items are in bulk.

Two Fuddruckers in Florida are selling, toilet paper, bleach, hand towels, gloves, and pots and pans.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by Bagels »

Wow, sad, I didn't realize this was as widespread as it is. While I don't think it indicates these specific locations/restaurants are about to go out of business, it's definitely a sign of just how bad things are.
Alpha8472 wrote: April 8th, 2020, 8:05 pmTwo Fuddruckers in Florida are selling, toilet paper, bleach, hand towels, gloves, and pots and pans.
Wow, that's desperation. And commercial toilet paper generally isn't "sheeted." I wouldn't be surprised if that's the end of those Fuddruckers... but hey, at least they're benefiting more than they would in a typical liquidation.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by SamSpade »

Denny's in Klamath Falls and Medford, Ore. along with some locations in California are also doing this.

In my hometown, a restaurant is doing it alongside their regular carry out meal service. They were able to obtain staples that have been short on the consumer market, like flour and toilet tissue.

KOBI-TV: Denny's helps community by selling groceries
Post Register: Restaurant adapts to the moment, sells supplies in bulk
Last edited by SamSpade on April 10th, 2020, 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by storewanderer »

I really think this is also driven by their suppliers who are experiencing huge volume declines and trying to sell stuff any way they can.

I have seen US Foods product at Raleys and seen SYSCO product at Safeway so I know they are attempting to sell through grocery stores. I suspect their product cost is higher than what most grocery stores want to settle for so this may be part of why these suppliers are trying to get their products sold through these means.

Panera Grocery is a joke. $4.99 for milk and $1.49 for a single tomato in CA? I am surprised Panera isn't selling menu items since their stuff is all frozen anyway. The Subway Grocery seems to have pricing that is somewhat comparable to a grocery store, oddly. 0.40 for a tomato. 0.75 for a cucumber or bell pepper.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by Alpha8472 »

Some Denny's locations are offering groceries online: bread, eggs, cheese, toilet paper...

Half pound of bacon: $6, 8 ounce American Cheese: $3, a dozen eggs: $3.50, 5 pounds of chicken breast $20, 3 rolls of toilet paper $2.

Speaking of toilet paper, Trader Joe's was out of toilet paper and a hotel chain sold them their overstock of single rolls of toilet paper. Trader Joe's regular supplier will be back up later this month.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by Brian Lutz »

At least up here where I live it seems like supplies of toilet paper in grocery stores are stabilizing, with the paper products shelves at Target, Walmart and Fred Meyer more or less stocked now. Eventually I suspect there's going to be a surplus on the market since people who have stockpiled won't be buying any for a while.
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by mbz321 »

Costco has been selling off supplies typically used for in-store food production. The Food Court menus are permanently shrinking so the overstock from items that aren't going forward are being sold out on the sales floor, such as big packs of cheese and frozen chicken strips. My location also seemed to get in a lot of merchandise that is typically sold in their business center locations, which makes sense as I'm sure traffic to those are way down (three are permanently shuttering to be used as e-commerce warehouses).
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Re: Restaurants Selling Ingredients

Post by storewanderer »

I think as restaurants deal with uncertain demand they are trying to cash flow however they can. Given they are allowed to reopen now it is interesting we are seeing this. I think the problem is they have no clue how much business they will do and figure selling this way will reduce spoilage and get them a little revenue if nothing else.
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