David Chang Angrily Defends Charging $5 For Coke

This is nothing, Miss Lily's offers a stylized version of every West Indian restaurant in  flatbush with smaller portions and 4 times the price.......

they sell cases and cases of mexican coca cola at COSTCO

Drink good ole' fashioned H20.

If you want it for $1-$2 go to a bodega. If you want it at a fancy pants restaurant, then pay the $5 and STFU. Any fancy restaurant will charge you the same $5 or more for a bottle of sparkling water that can often be had for much less in bodega. Same thing. Just less caramel color, sugar, and caffeine. Where's the controversy?

Either they'll sell well and he'll keep selling them, or he'll get a different drink to sell that he can sell well at the price point he wants to maintain the profitability and image he wants for his restaurant. The least likely scenario is for the restauranteur to lower his price on the drink because the bodega sells it for less. He may just get a drink that the bodega can't get, to avoid these unpleasant comparisons.

A bottle of Coke in a fancy pants restaurant is a different product than a bottle of Coke sold at a bodega/deli around the corner. EVEN IF the same delivery truck dropped them off with the same driver, same bottle, same soda. The venue, it's atmosphere, and the costs associated with maintaining it are an integral part of the product.

Either that or no one would ever order a bottle of beer at a pub, because you can get the same bottle of beer at the market for much less, a 6-pack often costs only slightly more than a pub beer. I often get a pint because maintaining a draught is not something I want to do, and the market or pharmacy are going to do it either.

New Yorkers and people all over the world down all kinds of drinks at restaurants, bars, pubs, etc all the time (that can be had elsewhere for less) without much of a reaction. Why the shock with a bottle of Coke?

This isn't the only restaurant to charge more for the same bottle of Coke. At least it isn't a fountain soda of variable quality and machine cleanliness.

If someone will buy it, more power to Mr. Chang...otherwise, economic realities will set in.

Chang is such a diva! On a side note, I'm pissed that his (once awesome) compost cookies etc are now pre-packaged with a load of preservatives and taste nothing like they once did when they were fresh out of the oven. NYers get the same week-old (or more) cookie in a sack that my grandmother in Arizona would get, rather than something special. I call sell-out. No surprise that he wants $5 for a Mexican coke.

What a bitch... I get my mexi-coke for about a buck fifty at the overpriced snack shop in my building. It can't be that hard to come by, really.

Chang is such a diva! On a side note, I'm pissed that his (once awesome) compost cookies and other milk bar cookies are only sold in prepackaged-for-mass-sales wrappers and now taste nowhere as good as they used to because they have to have so many added preservatives. They used to be fresh out of the oven, and a local treat. Now NYers get the same cookies that were made last week to be shipped to my grandmother in Arizona. I call sell-out! No surprise he wants $5 for Mexican coke...

I know a 99¢ store that has Mexican Coke. For 99¢.

I'm not paying $5 dollars for any coke, bad enough certain grocery stores in certain neighborhoods charge as much as $2 dollars, beat it!

lol I saw these in Stew Leonards also and started laughing. Laughing at the folks who fall for this BS.
I remember when I was a kid I drank bottles of Coco Cola larger than these and enjoyed them. Cherish the past folks because the future is f*&^%*.

"No one gets angry like I get angry. I just turn into a complete maniac. My brain feels like it’s gonna explode."  I feel sorry for his staff and whoever that -have  to- live around him, and complete dismay for anyone that willingly walk into his place and give $ for a concept that is way overhyped and carries no value

They Mexi-Coke at Costco by the case.  What about charging $13 for a bowl of ramen?  A better one in Japan might be 500yen or less.  You live in New York to be ripped off for everything, I don't see the big point in fixating on one soda price.

So, more than a NYC restaurant worker's hourly rate, got it.

A big glass bottle of Mexican Coca Cola at Oaxaca Taco in Park slope is $2 I think. Is their overhead really that bad that they have to add $3 to that?

David Chang - The most overrated, talentless chef in NYC. Some people just get lucky (from daddy's money).

David Chang - Please, turn into a complete maniac and explode on me once. Make my day, punk.

Charging $5 for a bottle of coke that costs $1 is not good business practice. 

That is a 400% markup.

Most wine/alcohol is marked up 100%-300% at restaurants.People have the RIGHT to freak out about this. 

While we're bashing him... The pork buns at Ippudo blow his out of the water.

Wine/alcohol is not marked up 100%-300%. Standard markup is 4x.

Multiplying by 4 gets the same result as adding 300%.

Charging five dollars for a bottle of coke that cost you one dollar is an excellent business practice if it maximizes your profit.  What's not a good business practice is being a complete jerk when someone criticizes you for charging five dollars.

How many tens of thousands of restaurants are there in this city? I really can't understand people who choose to go to the most expensive of them, and then complain about how expensive they are.

But yeah, it does kind of suck in this guy's case that he spent that much money on a Coke, when...

"Myself and a couple other SE'rs had lunch today..."

... he should be spending it on grammar lessons.

Not as annoying when people say "So and so and I" and use it in the object sense, as in "between you and I".

We all know it's "you and me". Well at least some of us do.

Oooh, I hate that, too! I mean myself hates that, too! I mean me mean myself hates that, too! Wait. What?

Hmmm the Mexican Bodega here in Williamsburg has Mexican Coca Cola for a dollar a bottle. Really not that hard to find Mr. Chang

drink water, you fatasses.

Best reply on here!!!!!!!!!!!

so how does one pronounce "Momofuku?"

J. Kenji Lopez Alt should head over to a 7-11, buy a Super Big Gulp of whatever variety of Coke he favors, then drink it while standing out front on the sidewalk on 23rd St. and appreciate what an extra $2.50 buys you at Chang's restaurant.

Successful restaurateurs should probably not be getting exercised over the gnat-like buzzing of food bloggers. Any food blogger who wants to be taken seriously should not embarrass himself by carrying on over the price-point of a fountain soda in a NYC restaurant like someone's relatives in from out of town getting ripped off in a Times Square chain eatery.

You know what you do if the price of a good is too high? DON'T BUY IT.

Just read on the comment section of the Serious Eats that the coke price has been reduced to $4. Is there anyone out there who can verify

NEWSFLASH: THINGS COST MORE IN RESTAURANTS AND BARS! Incredibly, that is the mechanism by which one makes something known as "profit" in order to stay open and pay the bills.

I love momofuku and like to get a quick pork bun at the milk bar if the line isn't too long but the drink options are not that great.  It's either beer or the coke.  I would pay 2 bucks for an 8oz bottle because I don't often want to drink more than that and 2 bucks is an acceptable price to go with a delicious bun but 5 bucks is a bit much.  I can't wait to try the duck place as the best duck I ever had was at Ko.

Just finished my Momofuku ramen, it kicked all other Ramen's ass on the way to my mouth.

One thing is for sure: David Chang is about to sell a shitload of Mexican Coke. If there's one thing idiot foodies like, it's blowing a ton of money on something they think is special and controversial.

Just like braised cheek of whatever animal is available. Charge a fortune and some nitwit will think it is wonderful.

David Chang should go back to China. He is similar to his chinese relatives who are stealing our jobs.

No one is stealing jobs. The jobs are given away by American companies, because no one else was willing to work for them, until it was a last resort, whether it just be a mail boy or a burger-flipper.

There are plenty of Indians in this country that could, and would, do tech support.  No need to outsource it.

While I'm aware that you were just taking this "opportunity" to be racist, I think it's worth pointing out that he was born in Virginia (and, as others have mentioned, is of Korean descent).

Thanks for making some lemonade out of the lemon.

You're ignorant.  BTW, nobody is stealing your "jobs"; they are being given away by Americans.

David Chang is of Korean descent. (Chang is a Chinese name though)

Just like how Lee is a common Chinese and Korean last name, Chang is also a Korean last name probably pronounced Jahng. Blame the korean romanization...

Theres a CH and a J letter in Korean.

Yeah Korean romanization can be confusing, like how there are korean letters for B and P but for some reason what should be written as Bahk is always written as Park

Not only that, he totally went peepee in that Coke.

We should see each other socially.

Totally just brought me back to 2nd grade.

I laugh because it is so very, very wrong.

Psst...go back to youtube.  G'ist is too much for you.

Welcome to America and the free market.  Mr. Chang can charge whatever he wants.  Too expensive for you, then don't buy it.  Simple

Ah, but you've forgotten the number one favorite American pastime (particularly amongst bloggers):  whining

Of course he can charge as much as he wants for it.  But he shouldn't come up with some bullshit excuse to charge that much for it.

But no one knows his cost structure - rent, advertisement, $ for researching new recipes. Maybe he marks it up so much for those things.

Telling him to that he's overcharging for a coke is akin to someone telling your boss, colleagues, friends, etc. that your salary is too high.

I hope my boss gets the message if he overcharges by around 400%. It would be professionally embarrassing and it would put most business models out of business.

Almost every alcoholic drink you've ever bought in a bar or restaurant is marked up 400%. It's SOP.

Not really.  I used to think that too untill a bar owner told me, there is some mark up but not what you think.  Bars and restaurants don't get liquor wholesale(it's illegal to sell liquor wholesale in NY), so they pay what you pay at the counter.  
What a lot of clubs do though is refill top and middle shelf bottles with house booze though.

And by house booze you mean groundwell water that a dog done pissed in twice.

The math is pretty simple. You can get 17 standard shots per 750ml bottle of liquor but let’s just round down to 15 for spillage and let's be honest, who gets a standard shot when they order a vodka soda? You always get more, right? So if you can get even 15 pours per bottle of Stoli, which as you point out cost the bar pretty much what it cost you to buy, so say $18 per bottle, each drink cost you, the bar owner $1.20 per drink. Mark it up 4X and that comes to $4.80. When’s the last time you paid $4.80 per a Stoli soda? That’s still cheap, right? Four time markup, at least, is what you see when you get a drink at a bar.

The formula makes sense.  Though $18 for a Stoli Bottle in NYC unless you're in the boroughs is pretty cheap too.  The bar still gets the liquor locally at retail.

Bars do not buy retail from liquor stores. At least not in New York State. I don't think that would even be legal according to SLA but I am not sure.

Anyway you cut it you will generally be paying at least a 4x markup.

That markup is an industry standard - would you pay $20 for what should be a $5 dollar bottle of beer?

$5 Mexican coke just seems trashy, like you don't understand value or taste but are willing to burn cash. Yes, I order one every time I order a burrito.

You know how much Corona costs in Tijuana? We traded a used, unmarked baseball cap for 18 of 'em.

Sounds like you overpaid for the Corona...

good attempt at a rebuttal, David "Chan" ... if that is, in fact, your real name ;)

Ok then he should be honest and say "I charge this much because I have high rent and pay my employees a good salary."  I would appreciate that honesty more than his ad hominen attacks on Kenji and absurd notion that Mexican coke is hard to obtain and is expensive.

A case of Mexican coke may be purchased at just about any Costco for about $10.

"J. Kenji Lopez-Alt"??

A one-man UN vs. the attitudinous kyopo celbrichef.

You know they sell mexican coke by the case at Costco, true story.

I can confirm that. I have a case in my living room right now. Wasn't that hard to obtain at all really.

Thank you very much for the info!! :)

Didn't know that...cool!

True dat!

Probably where Chang gets it.

David Chang is an asshole, SE writers are fools who have been blowing this guy for years, and $5 is way too much for a Coke.

Be thankful that's a full sized bottle unlike those Nips sized bottles in Little Italy.
$5 for a soda in a NYC restaurant?? Stop the Presses!

Why get angry about a bottle of Coke when establishments have been gouging out huge margins on beer & liquor for years?  It's part of the business.

Same for concessions at sporting venues and movie theaters.  Non-issue.

I regularly buy my Mexican Coca-Cola (about $1) at a Spanish supermarket on 34th Ave and Junction Blvd., in Corona (it's just a few blocks from the 7 train).

Yeah, try getting most Manhattanites to Corona. They'd rather pay the $5. Queens is awesome.

It  actually costs about 5 bucks to get there and back so..... 
And the awesome parts off queens that are more awesome than other boroughs, besides soda? I'm waiting....

Yeah, but $5 plus an hour +. 

I don't understand your second sentence.

Chang is a liar and wealthy enough already.

It's not even a milkshake!

Get it delivered:
http://www.amazon.com/Mexican-...

Keep it on the DL, the Rego Park Costco has 'em for 24/16$.

Mexican coke and pepsi cost me one dollar around the way.  I guess I can't knock the hustle though....

stock up on the "kosher for passover" coke when it hits the supermarkets. same as mexican coke

Most things kosher taste better.

I tasted no difference in Kosher Coke last year, but do taste a difference in Mexican Coke.

there definately is a difference! this irish square head looks for the yellow cap every year come passover. look for pepsi, at least i know that is made in brooklyn.

It must be the Mexican piss water they use.  
Coke, like Corona, has that much savored tang.

I definitely do this. Probably will get diabetes soon.

I'd splurge for a $5 Coke every once in a while if it was from Iceland. Best Coke ever.

But would you pay $5 + Tax?

+ deposit.

I call BS... Mexican Coke is easy to find in a variety of (not so fancy) neighborhoods and will run you somewhere around $1.25... at least that's been my experience.

Currently "one dollah" on Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst

i'd pay 5 dollars plus tax if it had real coke in it!   ________

It must be because of the high gas prices. we all know that its getting more expensive to live these days! or maybe bloomberg doubled the price so that only he can afford it! you know the way he taxed the hell out of cigarettes! mayor daddy knows best!
 
it would be nice if people would get a grip, realize that even in new york people are struggling. but im sure this dushe is not in touch with reality!