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I lived in Seattle most of my life before moving to the midwest a few years ago.
When people ask me what I miss most, besides friends and family, the answer is "mountains, the Puget Sound, and teriyaki places on every corner selling large portions for cheap!"
To get teriyaki in St Louis you have to go to a Japanese restaurant. You'll get about 8 little slices of chicken and a tiny pile of rice for about $10 - $12.
I don't even know where I'd get teriyaki. If it's on the menu at a Japanese restaurant, I've certainly never looked for it. If I'm in a Japanese place, I'm ordering sushi.
At home, I buy Korean bulgogi sauce at the Asian grocery store and marinate boneless chicken thighs in it. That's $2.00/pound for the chicken. Before I discovered that, I used to make my own teriyaki sauce. I'm not going to a restaurant for something I can do better at home with 30 seconds of prep time and 10 minutes on the Weber. That's a go-to of mine for pot luck events. It's equally good hot or cold.
I lived in Seattle most of my life before moving to the midwest a few years ago.
When people ask me what I miss most, besides friends and family, the answer is "mountains, the Puget Sound, and teriyaki places on every corner selling large portions for cheap!"
To get teriyaki in St Louis you have to go to a Japanese restaurant. You'll get about 8 little slices of chicken and a tiny pile of rice for about $10 - $12.
That's no exaggeration
There are more Teriyaki places here in the Seattle area than anywhere I have ever seen
I think the competition to attract and keep customers is what keeps prices reasonable and portions both large and pretty decent quality food
Although it seems cheap on a per meal basis - I think like a mathematician and biz owner and calculate what I think a meal costs
I see each order of teriyaki take out like this:
cost of 12 oz of chicken thigh (boneless ) = 80 cents wholesale purchase
cost of rice portion 10 cents
cost of can of soda or bottle water wholesale cost - 10 cents
cost of packaging / plastic fork bag etc - maybe 20 cents
so I see a direct cost of around $1.20- $1.50 for the food items
factor in rent for building utilities and employee costs ins etc and that I am sure adds a couple dollars ea serving so lets say $4
That has them profiting around $4 every order they sell - sounds reasonable to me
click the below link to see the exact meal on the left in pic - the chicken is sitting on a large bed of rice so the serving of rice is much bigger than appears. I also usually order it skip the veggies in the corner and they add more rice. I just make a small salad at home to eat with it. Usually get a full meal and left over portion for next day small snack or lunch
Wholesale water/soda is closer to $.40-$.50
Don't forget the sauce!
retail cost from Costco for a 16oz bottle water ( which ironically the Teriyaki restaurant offers Costco - Kirkland brand water as the choice )
retail price is $3.50 for I think 30 bottles - is less than 12 cents ea
The canned soda they offer is the non coke / non pepsi generic type and I am sure can be bought wholesale less than 20 cents a can
There's also cooking oil, seasoning, teriyaki sauce, etc. And operating costs include MUCH MUCH more than rent, utilities, employee costs, and insurance. (Yes, I know you said "etc", but that etc can be quite extensive)
I don't know of ANY Teriyaki take out by me - it's just "Chinese". I admit I haven't looked though - it's not something I've ever "had" unless I make it myself.
ETA - nope - just checked. I did a search on Teriyaki take out and my town, I get links to places that have Teriyaki Wings like Gators Wing Shack.
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