Thirty or forty years ago when you went out for a meal at a restaurant you would go in and eat and pay a reasonable price for a reasonable meal.  Today when you go into a restaurant you pay a reasonable price and get a super sized meal or an all you can eat buffet.  This transformation has over taken the food world and as a result it has transformed the waistline of most Americans.   The abundance of food has created an epidemic of obesity that is rampant across The United States today.   It was not too long ago that if you purchased a soft drink while eating out you had to pay for each and every refill.  Today when you order a soda you slurp on two or three refills during the same meal and do not have to pay ANY extra cost.  If you were to compare the size of portions from the 1950’s till today you could fill an entire college course curriculum with the information.

One interesting aspect of the growth of portions in restaurants is the economics behind the drive for larger portions.  As a consumer who is trying to adjust their diet to lose weight the knowledge of the economics behind restaurants will assist you as you travel down the weight loss road.  Being able to have more information may enable you to make better decisions when standing at the counter while at the burger joint.

Economics of Restaurants

The number one concern for a restaurant (actually any corporation) is to make a profit.  Every single decision that is made is to increase the profit of the business.  If you listen to advertisements you might think safety is a concern but actually the prevention of lawsuits is the concern.  Everything that is discussed in the corporate world is how to drive profits up.  How to make more money is the overwhelming factor behind all in corporate America.  With this being understood you may wonder how a restaurant can give such large portions of food and still remain profitable.  To understand this let us look at what bills a restaurant has to pay to operate.

Fixed Costs
Every month a restaurant opens its doors it has bills to pay.  Some of these costs do not vary like rent or mortgage.  No matter how many customers walk in the door the business still has to pay the rent.  Fixed costs are not affected by anything and still have to be paid despite how many or few customers walk in the door. 

Variable Costs

There are some expenses restaurants have to pay that vary slightly but still must be paid such as payroll or the electricity bill.  These costs can be managed slightly by management by policy or procedure but must be paid nonetheless.

Food and Paper Costs

Another cost that is a big one for restaurants is what is referred to as food and paper.  Simply stated this is the cost to supply food and napkins and even those ketchup packets at the burger barn.  A tightly run business keeps the packets behind the counter while the costly joints keep them as free range areas for the consumers.  An example of this would be a popular fast food chicken sandwich establishment.  They always have a spread of condiments available on the consumer side of the counter, but as fast food restaurants go, the place is considered pricey.  The point is that any cost the business generates is passed along to the consumer.   Everything the restaurant does or does not spend is in the price you pay for the burger or taco or chicken sandwich.
Whether it is fixed or variable or whatever, the cost to turn on the light bulb to keep the fries warm is paid for by the dollar you slap down on the counter.

So....Why are Portions larger today?

The Bigger Burger or the larger soda or the endless refills are all part of the cost to run the business.  When you factor in all the fixed costs and the variable costs the food costs are no longer the overriding concern of the corporations.  In an effort to bring you into their business and extract the money from your pocket the cost of the bigger burger is negligible.  The cost to make your french fries a super size is not going to affect the bottom line of profit that much.  The cost of a 20 ounce cup of soda is maybe seven cents, with the cup cost included.  A refill is only about two or three cents.  From the profit perspective it is to the corporations benefit to increase portion size because it is not too costly to do so.  Food is abundant and the cost of food is one of the expenses a restaurant can absorb and pass along to the consumer. A larger portion is only minimal cost.

The next time you are at the counter deciding what to eat just remember that the corporation you are now supporting does not care if you die from a heart attack, as long as you don’t die while at their counter.  That would make bad publicity which could hurt their profits.

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