Lately I've been passing on ordering it as an appetizer, mostly because I'm trying to eat better and lose some weight. When I used to order it, I never paid attention to the price....until now. It's usually $5.25- $6.99. Which made me think, is Queso the most marked up product in a restaurant? Even more than booze? I mean, I actually can make a pretty good queso myself at home with about .50 worth of Velveeta, about .10 worth of hot sauce and a splash of milk. Really easy to make. Oh, and about .50 worth of chips. So lets' say around a dollar. I'm sure with the restaurants' bulk buying, it's probably less.

Anyway, first time I had really thought about the crazy markup for some queso.

Damn, now I want to eat some queso.

OK, yes....forgot about that. Actually thought about that yesterday as I left a fast food place, where I'm sure everyone "fills up" before they leave with another cup of whatever they bought. That fact that you can do that pretty much says alot.

I've thought this for a while. Something is wrong when a bowl of cheese can cost as much as a meal in some places.

Any good queso from a good restaurant has a lot more than just Velveeta and hot sauce in it. Cheese is an expensive food ingredient. It will most likely be pretty on pair with the same food cost percentage of other mid priced items. On average being 25% give or take depending on the concept. The most marked up item is usually tea at a restaurant. They make very little from tea though when it comes down to it. The $1.80 they make is a huge percentage of the item cost but that isn't much to flow through to the bottom line. The high ticket items will have a much higher food cost but the restaurant makes more to the bottom line off them. 50% of $20 is a lot more than 90% of $2.00. I love good queso.

In my experience, the predominant ingredient in restaurant queso is water. Add some processed cheese, cheese powder, some spices, and modified food starch to thicken. One can make a pretty good queso using that matrix, plus it won't scorch as badly in the hot well.

As I recall, and this goes back many years, the original Chili's queso was one-third Velveeta, one-third Wolf brand chili (no beans), and one-third milk. I thought it was pretty good...but it was known as 'Schlock' to the managers.

oh please we know guac is extra.

/texag$

Nine replies and no gluten comments. Nice.

In a mexican restaurant, the queso is likely the LEAST marked up food item.

(only halfway joking)

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the predominant ingredient in restaurant queso is water. Add some processed cheese, cheese powder, some spices, and modified food starch to thicken.

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That's not how any place I've ever been makes it. More places use Velveeta and almost no one does that. Water would make it inedible. The Chilis "queso" you mentioned was by far the worst of any major chain.

Real queso is a sauce made with a roux. The difference with places is 1) what kind of dairy they add; 2) what kind of cheese or blends; 3) spices, etc.; and 4) the salsa or ingredients that represent the peppers/tomatoes/onions/etc.

There: I've given you an outline for a homemade queso. Go for it. Mine isn't bad but I need to work on the spice concoction.

aeroag14 said:

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In before the crowd from the sodium citrate thread gets here and tears you a new one for talking about Velveeta queso

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I pay more than $1/oz for cheese sometimes when making sodium citrate queso

redd38 said:

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aeroag14 said:

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In before the crowd from the sodium citrate thread gets here and tears you a new one for talking about Velveeta queso

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I pay more than $1/oz for cheese sometimes when making sodium citrate queso

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I sometimes pay a lot but not near that much.

maybe $0.60 an ounce. But that doesn't include cost of sodium citrate, peppers, onions, cilantro, etc. A really good 8-10 oz of queso usually runs me $12-$15 if you include chips and what not.

My wife's cousin owns a bar in Frisco with $4 beer bottles and reasonably priced food.

Surprisingly, she said they make more money off their food than drinks.

Bruce Almighty said:

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aeroag14 said:

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In before the crowd from the sodium citrate thread gets here and tears you a new one for talking about Velveeta queso

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I think I'm going to make a queso dip with velveeta and sodium citrate.

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The velveeta already has sodium citrate in it. Don't even need to add any.

How has nobody mentioned Land-O-Lakes Easy Melt? Has no one here worked in a mid-range commercial kitchen?

It's like a special version of Velveeta. Big loaf of processed white cheese (-like product) that melts down into gooey deliciousness.

We use Land o Lakes Extra Melt at Orderup. It runs about .30/oz so a 4 ounce serving has $1.20 worth of cheese. Add in the fresh vegetables, fresh fried chips, & labor and you don't have that much margin left at $4.55 that we charge.

In addition to being gross, Velveeta does not have the heat performance characteristics needed for food service and is rarely if ever used. Just look at a crock pot with nasty Velveeta after sitting for an hour. Land o Lakes Extra Melt dominates this market and secondarily the food service companies have their own knock offs that are offered as a cheaper alternative.

I think it's simple supply & demand. Everyone wants queso dip when they go out for Mexican. And the OP said it himself - no one looks at the price.