Restaurant Selling Food for Market Price Dubbed 'Sign of the Times'

A man was taken aback recently when he visited a restaurant in Richmond, Virginia, and found an interesting addition on the menu.

Neil J shared a picture of the laminated menu at The Mill on MacArthur to Reddit, where it has received more than 40,000 upvotes.

On the menu, the tater tots are listed at "market price" instead of with a clear cost, in a move that users have said is a "sign of the times."

"I was caught off guard when I saw it," Neil told Newsweek. "Then I thought it was hilarious. What a weird thing to put on the menu."

Wanting to share the funny moment with others, Neil posted the picture on Reddit's popular r/funny forum, where it gained more than a few laughs.

"Picturing the chef going down to the docks early morning to pick out the best tots, before it's open to the public," joked one comment that had over 16,000 upvotes alone. Another commenter joked: "'You wanna go out to eat?' 'Eh, I dunno, lemme check the tater market first..'"

The tater tot is a small cylinder of grated potato that has been deep fried. The name "tater tot" is actually a registered trademark of the frozen food company Ore-Ida, but is often used as a generic term for the deep-fried food.

Other Redditors were confused by the menu note, with one asking: "Does the price on tater tots really fluctuate that much?"

Carrie Bell, general manager at The Mill on MacArthur, told Newsweek: "Around a year ago the cost for tater tots per case inflated from around $25 a case to almost $75 a case. Our printed menu then had them listed for $4.50 for 2 dozen tots plus 4oz. dipping sauce. Unfortunately, this price increase was untenable for us as well as our customers, and we were forced to stop carrying them."

"When reprinting our menus this October we debated leaving the tots or removing them, due to product cost volatility. As a joke to ourselves we decided to leave them, but at market price. It has sparked a lot of good conversations between guests and staff, a small teaching moment about food costs and the continued struggles in the supply chain."

While the ongoing joke on the price of tater tots remains a point of interest for visitors and staff, Bell confirmed that tater tots currently cost $4.50.

"Honestly we can't see people paying too much more," she said. "We are a neighborhood restaurant and pride ourselves on great food that is affordable weekly. Should the price hike again, they will simply be unavailable to our customers."

Another commenter joked: "Due to over hunting, tot populations are in rapid decline globally. This is the natural result of tater over consumption."

But with the backdrop of rising prices as a result of inflation, Neil wasn't even that surprised to see the note: "Times are weird nowadays so 'market price' for tater tots doesn't seem that far-fetched anymore," he said. "I'm glad so many people were amused by it."