One of the greatest things that annoyed me about living in America was eating out. I had difficulty finding decent vegetarian options outside of major cities. I was often offered far too much food for one person to eat and always had to pay far more than I expected after taxes and tips on the bill. However, I’m not sure the amount of taxes or tips included could explain the price of a meal The Miami Grand Prix this weekend.
Formula 1 is an expensive sport. In most countries, you’ll have to pay for a dedicated streaming service to watch it. You may be asked to spend $50 on a hat for your favorite driver, and if you want to go to a race in person, you should expect to spend close to that Four numbers for the experience.
So certainly after getting out a few hundred dollars for a ticket and a few hundred more for accommodation and travel, living at the race location isn’t going to add that much to the final bill, is it?
Incorrect. Many Participants in this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix took to social media after the race to complain about extremely high food prices in some areas of the venue. One Twitter X, User @johnhydejr posted a picture of the deal, which included $280 lobster rolls and $180 nachos.
Over on Instagram, the Two Girls 1 Formula page took his fans into the Paddock Club experience where they were served a $200 fruit platter and $300 chicken fillets. Presumably these prices all include Florida’s six percent sales tax on food and drinks and a 20 percent tip – F1 fans aren’t animals, after all!
That’s a ridiculous amount of money to spend on food and immediately turns off many fans who may be wary of attending a race in the future for fear of going bankrupt over brunch. Now the race organizer is trying to justify the prices by arguing that such social media posts lack the “context” of the sky-high prices. reports Autosport. According to the website:
Tom Garfinkel, president and CEO of Hard Rock Stadium, said concession prices reflect the widely varying levels of disposable income of racegoers, from regular fans to wealthy businesspeople and celebrity VIP guests in the grounds’ expansive hospitality areas.
“Someone sent out a tweet the other day saying a lobster roll was $280, and they sent it out with no comment,” Garfinkel said. “And the context that wasn’t taken into account is that it was a suite.
“It was a lobster roll for probably 10 people for $280.”
A quick Jalopnik math shows that these lobster rolls cost about $350 after tax and tip, which works out to about $35 per lobster roll if it’s actually serving 10 people. In contrast, a lobster roll in the middle of the Miami coast will cost you about $29 after tax and tip. So I have to make a bit of an argument here because you are assuming that you have to pay a premium for this Food like this on an F1 weekend.
But a $200 fruit plate with some strawberries, dragon fruit and grapes? How many mouths does it have to feed for it to be even remotely justified? 10, 20, 30 people?