When the Price Isn’t Right

It’s a night out at the ballgame, a night off for your diet. The salad can wait until tomorrow. You want a big, juicy and tantalizingly unhealthy Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carl’s Jr.

The Dodgers and Angels will be happy to sell you one. At Edison Field, you can buy one for $4. Or you can park your car at the ballpark, walk across Katella Avenue to Carl’s Jr., and buy the same burger for $2.19.

Why? Why must you buy a burger at the ballpark, like a drink at a concert or a bag of popcorn at the movies, then shuffle back to your seat with the vaguely unsatisfying feeling you’ve been ripped off and you can’t do a thing about it?

“What are you going to do? When you come to a ballgame, you’re going to eat,” said fan Russ Ortega of Mission Viejo, clutching a $3.50 soda in his hand. “But I think these prices are ridiculous.”

Carl’s Jr. is not alone in inflating its prices. However, since its burgers are among the few name-brand items on sale at both Dodger Stadium and Edison Field, we called Carl’s Jr. and asked for an explanation.

It’s not our fault, company spokeswoman Suzi Brown said. Carl’s Jr. allows franchise operators to charge whatever prices they like.

If the folks who run the Carl’s Jr. on your street charge too much more than suggested retail prices, Brown said, you can simply eat at the Carl’s Jr. on the next street. You do not have that option at the ballpark, and franchise operators there know it.

“They’re charging $5 for a beer too,” Brown said. “You could go down the street to a liquor store and buy a six-pack for $5. They’re charging what the market will bear.”

The operators--Ogden at Edison Field, Aramark at Dodger Stadium--run all stadium concessions, not just the Carl’s Jr. outlets. That is why a large soda is $3.50 at every concession stand at Edison Field, whether you buy it at the hot dog counter, the Carl’s Jr. counter or the Panda Express counter.

“Most of us have an expectation that, when you go to a sporting event or the movies, you’re going to pay a premium price,” Brown said.

That premium pricing applies nationally, not just locally. The Angels sell a 16-ounce beer for $5, the Dodgers for $4. The average price for ballpark beer is $4 for 14 ounces, according to Team Marketing Report of Chicago.

But why? The Carl’s Jr. on Katella Avenue is not losing money selling a Western Bacon Cheeseburger for $2.19 or a large soda for $1.49. Why shouldn’t a fan paying twice as much at the ballpark consider the difference pure profit?

“It’s too simple an answer to say you can charge what you want to charge,” said Howard Sandler, general manager of food service for Ogden at Edison Field.

“Costs are significantly higher in a building of this nature compared to a street restaurant.”

Higher wages and higher rents explain much of the higher prices, Sandler said. The typical Carl’s Jr. pays its workers minimum wage or a little above, while Ogden pays union wages, Sandler said. Disney, which manages Edison Field, also charges premium rents to stadium vendors.

“A stadium, like an airport or a convention center, is a whole different cost structure,” Sandler said. “Pricing is a function of that structure.”

An airport? Well, what about the Pittsburgh airport, which opened in 1992? The management company leased only to those restaurants and shops that agreed to offer the same prices charged at a typical city mall.

“The tenants didn’t see how it could work,” said Mike Caro, retail operations executive for BAA USA Inc., the company that runs the “Air Mall” at Pittsburgh International Airport.

“It had always been that way. Sales were low, rents were high, so you had to charge more. Our philosophy was, you have the passengers here. If you charge regular prices, you’ll have the volume.” The reluctant merchants, including McDonald’s and Arby’s, were overwhelmed with sales. The average passenger spent $8.50 at the Pittsburgh airport in 1998, up from $2.40 in 1992.

So why not implement the Pittsburgh pricing policy at Edison Field? While an airport vendor might sell all day long and into the night, a stadium vendor sells for a few hours. For a 7 p.m. game, Sandler said, the Carl’s Jr. stands do most of their business between 6:40 p.m. and the fourth inning.

And the stands do so much business, Sandler said, that cutting prices would not necessarily increase sales.

“In another environment, you might think that way,” he said. “But we do so much volume in that window of time when volume is available, so I don’t see that happening.”

Hungry people eat, no matter what the price, Caro said. But the Pittsburgh airport operators discovered that passengers who did not feel ripped off shopped more and spent more.

Translated to baseball, if Disney charged Ogden less rent and burgers cost $1 less, fans might consider stadium items more fairly priced and be more likely to buy $25 caps and $185 authentic uniform tops.

The Angels have yet to see any team apply that theory at a sports venue, Vice President Tim Mead said.

“Our organization, like any organization, looks at various business trends,” Mead said, “but in this case, history indicates otherwise.”

However, after spending $31.75 for four burgers and four drinks at a Carl’s Jr. stand at Edison Field, fans Tim and Christine Butenschoen of Orange nodded in the direction of their children, Jennifer, 14, and Branden, 8.

“We already had the talk with our kids,” Christine said. “No souvenirs. Don’t even ask.”

Caro claims no experience in stadium operations. But he remembers watching a recent television report from Three Rivers Stadium, where a crowd of 40,000 gathered to watch the Pirates play on a 90-degree day. In the report, a team official projected sales of 16,000 cups of soda.

“That should have been at least double,” Caro said.

“I go to a few sports events. I’m so turned off, I know I don’t spend as much as I would if the prices were more reasonable. I’m not even saying charge street prices, but paying $5 for a beer, I think, is ridiculous.

“How many will you drink at that price?”

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Outta the Ballpark Food Prices

A Carl’s Jr. meal costs $4-$5 more inside a ballpark than at the local franchise. The most inflated items? Sodas and fries, which are about double the normal price. Listed are selected items from the Carl’s Jr. menu at four outlets.

Item: Double western bacon cheeseburger

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $4.50

Dodger Stadium: $4.50

L.A. Carl’s (1): $3.39

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $3.19

*

Item: Super Star with cheese

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $4.50

Dodger Stadium: $4.25

L.A. Carl’s (1): $2.99

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $2.95

*

Item: BBQ chicken sandwich

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $4.25

Dodger Stadium: $3.75

L.A. Carl’s (1): $2.79

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $2.69

*

Item: Western bacon cheeseburger

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $4.00

Dodger Stadium: $3.75

L.A. Carl’s (1): $2.39

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $2.19

*

Item: French fries*

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $2.75

Dodger Stadium: $2.50

L.A. Carl’s (1): $1.39

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $1.29

*

Item: Large soda

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $3.50

Dodger Stadium: $3.00

L.A. Carl’s (1): $1.59

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $1.49

*

Item: Small soda**

CARL’S JR PRICES AT

Edison Field: $2.00

Dodger Stadium: $2.50

L.A. Carl’s (1): $1.09

Anaheim Carl’s (2): $1.09

* Only one size available at games; price for large size used for restaurants

** Only medium and large sizes available at Dodger Stadium

(1) Grand Av. and Sixth Street, downtown

(2) 2025 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim

Sources: Outlets listed