Fast food burgers just aren't as cheap as they used to be.
The New York Post estimates that fast food burger prices have climbed as much as 54 percent
over the last decade or so.
This is largely due to the emergence of fast casual restaurants and pricier burger chains
like Shake Shack and Five Guys.
But even if you've only got a few bucks to spare, White Castle can definitely cover your
burger cravings — and you can still afford to buy fries and a drink to boot.
"Ah."
"Monsieur requires a bit of refinement."
"Come on!"
"Perhaps an A1 Slider?"
"Stupid!"
"And a stiff cola for me?"
White Castle's sliders might not be as cheap as they were back when the brand first came
onto the scene in 1921 — after all, you could buy five sliders for a dime back in
the day.
But they're definitely still a bargain, you have to admit.
According to Fast Food Menu Prices, a White Castle customer can buy a classic slider for
just 72 cents and a cheese slider for 90 cents.
Today's slider is almost double the price it was in 1990, but a McDonald's hamburger
in 1990 still cost twice as much as a White Castle slider in 2020.
There's an obvious reason why White Castle's food is so cheap: The size.
You won't find any half-pound burgers at White Castle, and they never jumped on the fast
food super-size bandwagon.
Even today their fry sizes are kids, small, and medium.
So how does White Castle keep prices so low?
The long and short of it is the fact that the company believes in keeping things small:
Small stores, small menu, and a nearly non-existent advertising presence.
In 1991, White Castle's then-director of marketing Christopher Thomas said the brand was committed
to primarily doing one thing — selling burgers.
As he put it:
"We're a hamburger chain.
We've never digressed from that.
That's where some of the others got lost, in chicken, pizza, pasta.
They want every dollar out there."
In 2019, CEO Lisa Ingram reiterated that belief to CNBC, saying that,
"This model has worked well for us for almost 100 years."
Here's another interesting tidbit: White Castle doesn't franchise its restaurants.
Even when franchise investors cover a significant portion of the cost, franchising is usually
incredibly expensive for restaurant chains.
According to Yahoo Small Business, White Castle avoids this expense by keeping its stores
all company-owned, and keeping them near its distribution facilities.
This strategy helps keep prices down.
White Castle also makes sure its suppliers are within arm's reach of a restaurant.
And who are White Castle's suppliers?
White Castle, naturally!
The burger chain doesn't turn to outside suppliers for their food product: It has its own bakery
and its own meat-processing plant.
That's so smart.
According to White Castle's official website, the Evendale, Ohio bakery produces over 500,000
slider buns a week and it's done so for over 50 years.
Since 2001, the burger chain has also produced millions of slider patties each year in its
Zanesville, Ohio meat processing plant.
While White Castle might not have its own beef farms, the company is still saving money
because it doesn't rely on an outside meat processing plant to produce its uniquely-squared
slider patties.
The closer you look at the White Castle operation, the more one fact becomes abundantly clear:
These people are control freaks.
That's a good thing, though, because it means lower prices and a consistent product.
White Castle is strict about keeping everything in-house and it doesn't rely on outside contractors
to make its kitchen equipment.
Instead of paying an outside metal manufacturer to make the specialized kitchen equipment
for its restaurants, White Castle has its own 250,000-square-foot metal fabrication
plant in Ohio.
The White Castle subsidiary known as PSB Co. makes everything from the kitchen tools and
cooking fixtures to the restaurant's seating.
It probably would've been easier to hire a third party to handle this, but White Castle
founder Billy Ingram reportedly insisted that things be done in a precise way.
In 1934, he personally commissioned the building of the metal fabrication plant.
So what's the takeaway here?
Long story short — White Castle can keep the prices of its sliders low because they've
built a business they're nearly 100 percent in control of.
Again: That's so smart, and so simple.
“Simply delicious."
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