Spent 13 hours in the truck today getting to Florida.
First things first need some dinner which of course has to be fresh seafood.
The fresh Grouper seemed to sound the best for this evening.
Never really gave it a thought before but how is market price determined?

Supposedly, it is based upon what the restaurateur paid for it, adding on the customary markup, but I suspect it is more what the market will bear.

What isn't "market price?" Do restauranteurs charge cost, cost plus or less than cost for anything else? Are wholesale seafood prices really that volatile?

It’s based on how much is available. They really jack it up when it’s scarce.

All I can say Black, is I hope you really enjoyed it . I get to our place in the PNW frequently and it is near the Pacific ocean. I always get to my little burg for oysters or clams. Salmon and or halibut. Then there is the Dungeness crab. Ho boy.

Market price is set by the Fish Council, which is made up at a minimum of at least six tuna and one lobster, plus industry representatives, as invited, on a one-year, non-repeatable term. Only the tuna and the lobster have a vote. They meet every three weeks, and their decision is final.

It's first put out at an inflated price. When it begins to stink the price is lowered till it sells or is ready to make fish dip.

It means their cost varies too much to print a retail price on the menu.
Just like everything else, they will charge as much as they think they can it can sell for, in other words, as much as the market will bear.

Here’s a pretty interesting article on market price.
It also has me quite curious about the 160 day whiskey aged beef.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news...rice-on-menus-a-scam

I come from a commercial fishing family (Alaska, Washington) seining, longlining, dragging ... and I crewed seining up in Alaska during my college summers. But that was a long time ago. Back then our salmon was graded on freshness, color, texture, eyes clear and how it was handled (not hooked through the body for example), as well as the species of salmon. The lower the grade, lower the price and vice versa. From the water to the dock is one price factor and beyond that things like supply and demand, transportation cost and processing.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Supposedly, it is based upon what the restaurateur paid for it, adding on the customary markup, but I suspect it is more what the market will bear.

All of those are factors in setting the market price. Supply AND demand, and all.

And yes seafood prices are volatile. Just by way of example - about four years ago, Louisiana and Texas were producing oysters in unusually large quantites. You could buy a dozen at a good restaurant for $4 or $5. They are more like triple that now, as supply has contracted. It is about water quality, rain (got to have the right salinity in the bays), etc. Oyster prices vary a lot from year to year and season to season.

I grew up near the coasts of MA, NH and ME. A lot of *freshly caught* seafood restaurants in these fishing towns had market price for most fish items. Their explanation was if the fishermen had a lot of _______ to sell then the market price would be lower. If they offered less than usual the price would be higher. Typical supply and demand. I saw the same thing for lobster. Restaurants that didn't have a market price had frozen fish so it didn't matter as much to them how quickly it moved. FWIW I remember Chinese restaurants in Boston that had fish swimming in tanks when you walked in offered market pricing as well.

In my experience when you asked the server what the price was they told you immediately as it was something that was covered during the shift meeting. I never got the feeling that they were trying to gauge the interest of the diner and price accordingly.

Purely supply and demand. It totally depends on how many the commercial fisherman are catching and how much demand there is.......

It took me a while to glom onto what this was about. I'm guessing some seafood restaurants don't put a price in their menus, but just "Market Price"? Never seen it myself.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
It took me a while to glom onto what this was about. I'm guessing some seafood restaurants don't put a price in their menus, but just "Market Price"? Never seen it myself.

flashguy

It's pretty much the mid and higher end restaurants. I see if fairly often.

Here's a link to a restaurant called the Angry Butcher at Sam's Town in Lost Wages. scroll on down to the Cold Water Lobster Tails
butter broiled .........MP

https://www.samstownlv.com/dine/the-angry-butcher

Many years ago, I was a dinner guest at a really upscale restaurant that was way out of my budget. I noticed that they had different menus for host and guest.

The menus were almost identical; the host menus had prices, the guest menus did not have prices for anything.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Many years ago, I was a dinner guest at a really upscale restaurant that was way out of my budget. I noticed that they had different menus for host and guest.

The menus were almost identical; the host menus had prices, the guest menus did not have prices for anything.

Took Mrs. Flash to an upscale restaurant on Oahu shortly after we were married. It was a place called Nick's Fishmarket.

It was dim inside and a spot light came up on your menu just as you opened it up. The spot light was on a dimmer, so it came up gradually.

The busboys wore tuxedos, as did the waiters, but the waiters had the jackets on and the busboys didn't.

If you pulled out a cigarette, an arm would shoot past you with a lighter in the hand and they'd light your cigarette. As soon as you put out a cigarette, the same hand changed out ashtrays for you so you wouldn't have a dirty ashtray on your table.

No prices on the ladies menus, only on the men's. Don't remember the prices, but it was worth it to see how Mrs. Flash reacted to being in a place like that since she was raised in poverty.

Fresh is supposedly right from the dock to the restaurant, so it's that days prices at the dock, it should mean you're getting just caught seafood...

Lucky enough to hit several exceptional dining locations in my travels, The Mansion at Turtle Creek, The Maisonette (shame it closed), Berns Steakhouse, Smith & Wollensky NYC, all exceptional food and service...

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
It took me a while to glom onto what this was about. I'm guessing some seafood restaurants don't put a price in their menus, but just "Market Price"? Never seen it myself.

flashguy

It's pretty much the mid and higher end restaurants. I see if fairly often.

Here's a link to a restaurant called the Angry Butcher at Sam's Town in Lost Wages. scroll on down to the Cold Water Lobster Tails
butter broiled .........MP

https://www.samstownlv.com/dine/the-angry-butcher

As you might guess, I don't do haute cuisine and I have no one to impress. The swankiest place I eat at is Red Lobster.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
As you might guess, I don't do haute cuisine and I have no one to impress. The swankiest place I eat at is Red Lobster.

flashguy

I have no one to impress either and in actually don't care about the opinions of anyone but my family and friends.

I do like to live well, though, and I can afford it so I do it.

Doesn't mean I don't like a burger and fries at Smashburger or Habit Burger, though...