Hacker News Reader

Comment by haunter | Hacker News Reader

Japanese food prices are ridiculously cheap. Well that's true to pretty much whole Asia too. Even in HK which I consider more expensive than Japan a Big Mac is only 2.9€ (27 HKD). And that's McD, local food spots are even cheaper. If you have the money there is no better time to have a holiday in Asia.

A Big Mac is 10€ in France...

We are ripped off big time in the US and Europe for nothing.

View on HN

My guess about how/why McDonald's is so cheap in Hongkong: (1) Guangdong province is just north which means there are lot of farms with very cheap labor. (2) Minimum wage in Hongkong is frightening low. As a counterpoint, I would offer that retail/commercial real estate is crazy expensive. I have no idea how this translates into my McD's is so damn cheap in HK!

american fast food learned that if they try to hit the business market they can sell higher mark up items. it's why mcdonalds for a long time went to premium chicken and premium burgers that were more expensive. they changed strats, but for a while in the US that's what a lot of fast food was doing. they were chasing whales.

France has a 12.02 EUR minimum wage, plus the high employer social contributions.

We (it's a similar story in the UK - 14 EUR minimum wage) are indirectly paying a lot of extra taxes

Not forgetting 20% VAT of course

And our governments doing all they can to ensure property prices stay high and rise even higher (don't listen to what they say, look at the data)

how much is that minimum wage reflecting on the actual prices? from a google search the average location in france spends around 30% of its total expenses on wages and social insurance. if the total labor cost was half what it is (6eur minimum wage) that would imply around 15% lower prices, maybe 25 to be super optimistic.

the actual difference is more than 60 percent. hk is not really known for cheap rent and taxes cant fully explain the rest. what im trying to say is the insane prices in europe and usa are a choice.

Please use proper spelling and punctuation if you wish to be taken seriously.

Lower-case is neither cute nor a flex.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com