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Late night pizzas

fast-alsI got a pasting last year for slagging off Ray’s pizza, but I was kind of asking for it. My gripe was that the pizza, although delicious, was overpriced. Our reader Nanazolie agreed:

A pizza is cheap to produce. I make some at home for less than 3 euros. The dough is essentially flour, water, yeast and olive oil. Top that with a few spoons of tomato sauce and cheese. Even with a slice of ham and some sliced mushrooms, that wouldn’t bring the cost up too much.

Regular commenter Sarah says Ray’s is “like crack for me. I would happily pay €3 for a slice.”

In fairness, Ray’s is indeed quite delicious late at night after a few scoops. I even like their chips. But like almost all Japanese and Thai food in Ireland, it’s still overpriced.

I return to this issue because, on a recent visit to Cork, I tucked into their Ray’s equivalent, Fast Al’s. Selling pizzas by the slice at €3.50, it was heaving with hungry bodies in need of booze soaking. We tucked into their slices and can confirm they are as good as anything Ray’s has to offer but like all late night pizza,  still overpriced.

I know I’m asking for a fight by slagging off Ray’s or Fast Al’s. Bring it on.

7 Comments

  1. Of course late night pizza is overpriced, its catering to drunks. How about an entry on how drink is overpriced? Or would that be stating the obvious too?

  2. hmmmmmm the cost involved in pizza making is a lot more than ingredients, that’s the cheap part…..

    wages
    rent
    rates
    refuse
    insurance
    accountant
    tax
    vat
    packaging
    ESB
    water rates
    GAS
    Phone
    maintanence of equip
    new equipment
    plates, knives, forks, pots, pans, glasses
    cleaning products
    menu printing

    there’s more but I can’t remember….

  3. It’s me, regular commenter Sarah! I bought five slices of Ray’s pizza on my way home from an evening out recently. FIVE. Okay, they cost me €15 but they fed two people for two days. A late night curry in Charlies costs around €10 and chips in my local chipper are €2.50. I know which I prefer!

  4. Eddie Rockets charge an extra 10% after midnight. No rhym or reason for it.

  5. All pizza places are overpriced in Ireland though. I have an Australian friend who says at home pizza is the cheap takeout but for some reason its got a premium price here. To rehash a well worn phrase, I guess its just another example of rip off Ireland – there’s plenty of competition at this stage, so there’s really no excuse.

  6. Actually Claire, I’m sure the reason has to do with the extra wages paid to staff for late night work and extra security for dealing with the drunks coming out of the pubs.

  7. Z I’ll refer you to the answer of Italian Food above…the reason EVERYTHING is more expensive in Ireland is because wages, especially low end jobs are too high, after that Rents and other government taxes and insurance.
    Wages and rents are approx twice that of any other OECD country and both account for 40% of the costs of operating any food retail business. Get wages of $5 an hour ( 4 euro ) and Aussie rents and you’ll see cheaper food……you willing to have your salary cut by 35% ?