Subscribe to Alvin Poh's Blog by RSS reader
Subscribe to Alvin Poh's Blog by Email
Gadgets, Technology, Public speaking and IT from an undergraduate's perspective.
What Is Ghetto latte or bootleg latte?
Well, I never knew that there could be such a technical discussion on coffee, but apparently there’s a whole new set of terminology that I’ve just discovered about coffee, or in relation to coffee joints like Starbucks, for instance.
Ghetto latte or bootleg latte refers to a latte where the customer has used the complimentary milk and other condiments to convert a less expensive drink into an approximate copy of a more expensive one. This practice can be regarded as a form of arbitrage. Similar forms of arbitrage have existed in the past for other products including hamburgers.
Apparently, sometime in the past, Burger King sold Whopper Jr.’s for around $1.60, and hamburgers for $0.80. Since a Whopper, Jr. is just a hamburger with different toppings, people actually figured that they could order a hamburger without the mustard and ketchup, and ask for the mayo, lettuce, and tomato. The end result was the equivalent of a Whopper, Jr.
Burger King dealt with the arbitrage by charging 15 cents for the tomatoes and 5 cents for the lettuce. Thus, the total came up to a dollar. It wasn’t a pure loss from BK’s perspective because BK does save some because the heavily-modded hamburger was served in cheaper paper wrappers instead of the cardboard box of a Whopper Jr.
Interesting.
Subscribe to my blog: RSS reader
Email
01 Apr 08 |  |
About AlvinMy blog covers areas covering mainly IT, technology, and public speaking. My posts are usually about any useful things that I think are worth sharing, and of my research that I do. |
