Ding Tai Fung (鼎泰è±) is a world-famous restaurant chain with a humble beginning not too far from where I lived in Taipei. Over the past several decades, they have opened dozens of branches all over the world. Chinese, and foreigners alike, flock to these restaurant for their steamed buns, fried rice, spicy sour soup, etc. If you show up at their original restaurant on XinYi Road (信義路) at Taipei, the queue is over 90 minutes, at 2:30pm, for lunch.
Recently, their Taipei restaurants decided to charge people 50NTD extra (slightly less than $2) if they wish the fried rice to have extra soy sauce. The news and public up-roared. This is outrageous mark-up, said the news, and unreasonable profitability. DingTaiFung’s pricing makes their foods and services not accessible to the public.
Seriously!?!?
There are restaurants that charge 500NTD for a bowl of noodle, while the street vendors sell the same dish for less than 100. I see T-shirts from $5 each to more than $200, with essentially the same material.
As long as it is not a monopoly, a business has the right to price as much as they wish. The only right the consumers have is not to buy. There is no fairness in pricing for a market that is fully competitive and the goods fully substitutable. As far as I am concerned, those who feel the fried rice too expensive, with or without extra soy sauce, can simply walk to the restaurant next door and have a bowl of noodles for far less.
I will have DingTaiFung’s fried rice any day and won’t pay for the extra soy sauce. They will be glad to serve me the dish, without the extra sauce. At the end of the meal, I will thank them for the delicious food and excellent service and they will thank me for my business.
Free will, free market, all is good. Hmm, I am hungry now.
Postscript: DingTaiFeng later decided not to offer the option for extra soy sauce. So the controversy ended. Even with extra NT$50, fried rice with extra soy sauce is no longer.