I always love news items like this. According to Reuters, there exists a $175 hamburger. You can find it in New York at a place called The Wall Street Burger Shoppe. Presumably, big traders would be the only ones able to afford it.
Well, for those who would even think to complain about the prices at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), Burger King (NYSE: BKC) and Wendy's (NYSE: WEN), this $175 burger should put things in perspective. It doesn't sell a lot; the news piece states that the place moves about two dozen in any given thirty-day period. The Wall Street Burger Shoppe mostly sells $4 burgers.
But, really, this $175 burger is nothing more than genius marketing. The owners are obviously not under any illusion whatsoever that they can make a great return on capital by investing in such a pricey offering. All it's meant to do is to bring publicity to the establishment. It's obviously worked. As a way of branding, this goofy pricing scheme immediately differentiates the restaurant's brand from others. In fact, it was the stated intent of the owners to have the most expensive burger in the area. It's also a great differentiator between personalities. I mean, I think you can tell a lot about a person who is actually willing to buy this thing (and, you can certainly infer a lot about the person's net worth).
Yep, those $4 burgers seem like no cost at all compared to the $175 royal dish. Perhaps either McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's should leverage this example of 80s-like excess to their advantage.
If I were a commercial scribe, I'd pen an ad that makes consumers who buy this thing look, at best, ill advised, and those who choose one of the big three's value menus theoretical physicists by comparison (then again, considering some of the wacky theories theoretical physicists come up with, that might not be such an apt metaphor). I could definitely see Burger King using its ghoulish regal mascot to do a comedic mini-campaign based on such a concept.
Well, I won't be digging deep into my wallet to shell out an amount too close to two hundred bucks for my taste to enjoy one of these hamburgers. I've got to fill up my gas tank, remember...
Disclosure: I don't own shares in any company mentioned here; positions can change at any time.
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