4mo ago

Why are vegan and gluten free items more expensive?

So I shop around to get some bits and pieces for a good home made meal, and I notice some items say, a pack of vegan burgers, these are more expensive than regular burgers!

I'm not a vegan but I'm curious as to why these items are priced as such, it's a bit of a pain for people who can only eat gluten free food as those items are priced high too. The bread we get for me grandpapa is pricey for what you get.

Is it different production methods that make it pricey? You'd think with healthier, easier to get ingredients would be cheaper than producing regular non vegan items.

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75 comments

It's straight up just because people will pay the price they're asking...
- This is contrary to basic economic principles.
  If a beef burger and vegan burger cost the same to make, but people will pay more for the vegan, that world attract more vegan producers to the market, and more competition would reduce the price.
  
  Yup it is contrary to normal economic principles, read up on luxury goods and in particular veblen goods and how price finding works there.
  In the end humans are not at all times rational. There is no homo economicus. Economics is as much math as it is a social study.
  
  While higher prices cab make products more appealing, that is not the primary reason why vegan products are more expensive.
  
  That is a very rudimentary understanding of the system that doesn't always pan out in a particular time frame or due to external factors.
  It takes time for that effect to occur
  It doesn't take into account barriers to entry, of which there are many for food
  It doesn't take into account that there are are actually a small number of companies that own the bulk of our food supply chain and it's in their financial interest to keep prices high for things that are perceived as luxury
  
  It's not rudimentary, it's a complex system reduced to a few sentences.
  Vegan patties have been around forever.
  There aren't significantly more barriers to entry for food products than other industries.
  Yes vendors want high prices, but that applies to any product, not only vegan products.
  The answer is, as everyone else has pointed out, economies of scale. There's a larger market with more participants producing more beef burgers than there are vegan patties.
  
  Economies of scale affects the costs to the manufacturer. Competition/demand affect the price to the consumer.
  
  Correct. That's precisely why producers of meat patties can still be profitable at a much lower price point.
  
  "basic economic principles" is handwaving. you're storytelling, not making a scientific postulate
  
  It's a lemmy comment.
  
  it's storytelling, not science
  
  It's social media, who's making scientific postulates?
  
  lots of people talk about economics as though it is science.

75 comments