It is possible to find excellent, low-cost food in NYC and 20 Grams Coffee shop in Brooklyn can attest to it with their viral $2.55 cheeseburger.
In this episode of Word of Mouth, we speak with owner Young Kim and Executive Director Samantha Casale to understand how this hamburger ended up being NYC's most popular slider. We likewise visit their kitchen where they utilize fresh, seasonal, and local produce to develop the savory sliders that are taking the city by storm.
20 Grams Cafe runs above the Jubilee supermarket over on West Street in Greenpoint.
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Plenty more new stuff from us coming soon : )
@Munchies And Munchies replied to me, am I in another timeline?
Me2.
To be fair its a very nice grocery store, they carry a lot of good stuff at reasonable prices. They were also giving out grocery store discount coupons with the purchase at the cafe.
The burger for 2.55 is their lost leader. Like the 1.50 hot dogs are Costco or 5 dollar roaster chicken at Kroger. The food is already discounted so they can draw more customers. Why would they give out a coupon when the burger IS THE COUPON?
@scottyhart7181idk, but that’s what they gave me when I went couple months ago.
@scottyhart7181 because some people need extra motivation to actually shop. Also builds good will for the brand, as customers love discounts on top of an already good deal.
why use “to be fair” here? lol what are you juxtaposing?
@scottyhart7181 They just do. Why are you questioning it as if they weren’t already doing it?
What people dont realize is its very clever marketing. They might not make any money on the burger but it gets people in the door, and talking, and sharing and clicking. This all creates hype and hype =more customers who spend money on other products in the store. Just what grocery stores do, you go in for milk and come out with lots more …
The £1 burger man in blackpool is the same, and people spend money in his arcade
The deal part is implied. Anyone can see that. The reason it exists is the real story.
Yes, they mention this in the video
Still, I wonder, couldn’t they up the price to $2.95… or maybe even just $2.75?
well yeah, it’s a common tactic. Loss leaders. Same with costco and their hotdogs.
It’s still crazy though that they could still afford to keep that business going considering it’s NYC and the rental spaces are high af.
Hope you enjoy this one. Lots of new MUNCHIES videos in the works.
The irony of something called “Word Of Mouth” is, like many Munchies videos, the 20 Gram Cafe PAID them to get this video produced and posted. Its advertorial. Sponsored content.
@metromusic5725 excited to watch the new movie “Vice is Broke”
if they are anything like this video, please, do not make them
@VinceGarrido I mean, they get paid by the restaurants to make videos about them. They’re not gonna say no (even if they’re terrible)
Hey munchies its been a month. I want a video. Like this is fine. I just watch these on my breaks between cooking meals at work. I need some new stuff to watch.
they sound like how all bosses should be, so many businesses are short sighted and don’t understand the power of a loss leader, thats money that would be wasted on marketing, but they are marketing through word of mouth and value
This is very unique, if it was more popular people might goes to over cheap burger places
That’s why Costco is such a popular brand. Their $1.50 hotdog is losing them money but they keep it that way to draw people in.
Their hamburger isn’t a loss leader though, he’s just breaking even on it.
Doesn’t make sense. Capitalism exists to enrich profit. I don’t like that system, but as long as people want and support capitalism that will always be more important.
@allanpeter7700This isn’t a burger place. This a grill inside of a grocery store. A normal burger place would go out of business if they did the same thing.
This guy is genius. He create traffic in store with 5 cent marging burgers and sell other stuff with good margin as an additional
A “genius” that googled “loss leader”. Your bar for genius is insane.
@DeathCrunch But they aren’t making a loss on the burgers, so how is it a loss leader?
@PGraveDigger1 They’re sold well under market value, they’re actively chosing to lose profit.
I get the dull semantics you’re attempting but the guy literally explained it.
@DeathCrunch Losing profit does not a loss leader make.
Honestly this is really nice to see this concept still exists outside of Costco. Thank you! Young Kim and Samantha Casale for making this happen.
@jimbojimbo6873The other items in their shop are probably expensive, like with Costco people go there for the cheap food but then end up buying a TV or something expensive.
They seem like cool people, that’s what makes a good neighborhood shop, please stay around guys!
loss leaders are a thing in basically every business, its just harder to see sometimes
in the case of costco theyre able to have such an extreme precieved loss leader because of the subscription fee
the hotdogs alone cost over 5$ to make
yup. this is a great loss leader. i’d happily grab 2 of the burgers and shop there.
０．０
The garlic confit smashed into the burger is a crazy touch.. I gotta try this!
This is the kind of places people should support as much as they can. I would even tip them every time because it’s so cheap, and then there’s places that charges 15$+ for a single burger of the same quality
nah garlic is crazy ong fr fr
It’s a game changer when you do it yourself 🔥
Every small business needs to remember this, be good to your community and it will grow and be loyal. Glad to see that some people can remember what respect, love and value can do for a business.
Many big chain burger joints started out this way….after a few decades in business the founders retire and everything goes to hell.
yes because that is exactly what this 8 minute and 56 second video proved this business is, go damn you are so smart – thank you
@VinceGarrido good…good…let the hate flow through you
its a loss leader like costco hot dogs.
It’s a loss leader for a grocery store. A normal restaurant could never possibly compete.
These people deserve all the awards
Young and Samantha just seem like good down to earth people. Love to see them succeed.
That or brilliant business people, either way.
@OfficeAssistantClippy I say both! 🙂
Standard Costco business model. very smart!
Ya’ll know you aint just leaving with a burger
Yeah but its cool because when you have to get your groceries anyway you just get a burger too and i dont think that schoolkids or construction workers getting their lunch will get more than the burger and maybe a drink
@krazzerboii7513 Fair point! I guess it’s a play on numbers. Say 9/10 people only get a burger, that’s still one extra they up-sold. Now I feel like a burger
@krazzerboii7513Sure, but I also think that those groups are more likely to buy here than at other places, for convenience and goodwill reasons.
@BlanekdCheque True. If a burger is at some random joint 5$ lets say and I will get a drink anyway, buying here is win win for everyone then. I can get 2 burgers and a drink in this place for same value. And they made their money on the drinks that I would pay elsewhere for same price.
Costco is not locally sourceing their market food & it is barely eatable.
Isn’t it crazy how different of an environment this looks like when you care about your customers AND your employees? It’s crazy that it should be the first step, but so many places aren’t like that. Anyway, love the atmosphere and excited for Munchies!
So cool that he ended up as CEO from being a part timer. What a great come up.
Yeah and still charges .40 for cheese lol no way he’s only making 5 cents.
nacionality
@TOM.THUMBStheres restaurants charging $1 for cheese buddy. Relax.
@777mvtt comprehension sucks.
@TOM.THUMBSim sure it does
Costco $1.50 hot dog model. Bring people into the store!
I’ve worked for Young in the past. It was only for a few months but I can tell he is an upstanding person. Im happy to see him getting recognition, well deserved!
Ask him if he wants to catch a fade
@GregSage-b1g😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The fact they could easily get away with $3 $4 or even $5 dollar burgers but keep it as cheap as possible really tells you how much heart is in this business mad respect
It’s a loss leader. Other respectable businesses with heart utilizing this strategy include Costco, Aldi, IKEA and McDonalds.
No but in all seriousness, this business might very well be respectable, but that would be unrelated to the use of a loss leader.
@0L0FED It actually wouldnt be a loss leader if they hit a certain number of unit sold in a certain amount of time, based on their wholesale food orders. Depending all on their food cost, and the local market of course
@mobius3466 Would still be a loss leader. They don’t have to sell under cost for it to be a loss leader, just under the standard market rate.
But I still really do think they sell this under costs just to attract customers.
t-bonestickyfingers1336 they earn 5 cents from this. It is not in fact a loss leader by definition.
@mobius3466 at 5 cents a burger after accounting for employee and rent it’s main priority is to bring in foot traffic. Realistically he isn’t taking from the burger side of the business.
It’s like the costco rotisserie, a loss leader. They make very little on it but its a great way to draw in people who may not normally visit and they browse around before or after they get their burger.
3:33 nice clip, you see the blue-collar guy leaving and the Wall Street guy entering. Good food unite all kind of people.