The hefty price of a sausage sizzle at Vivid Sydney has cause a fiery stir online as Aussie’s battle with each other over how much they would pay for the staple.
Sydney has sparkled on the first night of the annual Vivid festival.
Organisers are expecting more than 3 million people to enjoy the light installations and musical performances around the Harbour City.
The festival – centred on the theme of humanity – will light up the skyline until June 15.
The dispute erupted on Tuesday when a person on social media platform Reddit posted a photo of a sign displayed at Vivid Sydney stating a sausage sizzle with onions would cost $8.50.
The photo of the large black billboard with the hefty price tag clearly printed in bright pink capital letters was accompanied with a fiery caption: “I don’t care what the reason is, but … $8.50 is disgusting.”
The price of a sausage sizzle at Vivid Sydney has divided Australian’s caught in a fierce online debate over how much the iconic Australia staple should cost. Picture: Reddit
People did not hesitate to lambast the contested price point which arguably ruffled quite a few feathers.
“I’d maybe fork out $5 if I was hungry enough but I would never be that hungry at $8.50 for a sausage on a roll,” one person said.
“It is sad to say it, but I hope they make a loss, and no one buys any but there will probably be enough stupid people that they make a considerable profit.”
“That’s just unAustralian,” a second person said.
A third pointed out the total price of nearly $10 for a simple sausage in bread would be enough to purchase the ingredients required to make several of them.
“For that price you can buy Sausages, Bread and Sauce yourself and have multiple Sausage Sandwiches!” they said.
Another questioned why Vivid Sydney, which was a “government run event”, was “charging such exorbitant costs to food trucks for this event”.
“Thus, forcing them into this pricing which we end up having to choose to pay.”
The iconic Australian sausage sizzle shot to fame more than 25 years ago when Bunnings started provided grassroots community groups a simple way to raise funds. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans
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Other people, however, defended the festival and the price of the snag by noting sky high costs for food were consistent across all stalls at similar events.
“It’s not just Vivid, it’s all food carts and stalls, the prices have gone stupid at every event,” one person said.
Meanwhile another person, who did not seem fussed over the fee, said: “I don’t know what you expected.”
“Also, the vendors get charged crazy fees by the event runners,” they said.
Sky News host Ross Greenwood says Bunnings faced a supermarket pricing inquiry today.
He says the company was forced there “because of plants”.
Bunnings controls about “25 per cent of the plant nursery market,” he said.
“The so-called ‘green life’ sector is worth about $2.9 billion a year in sales.
Greens Senator Nick McKim says Bunnings have encouraged suppliers to “grow and supply” a certain amount of plants and then “unilaterally decided to either purchase a very much reduced number or no plants from that supplier.”
The iconic Australian sausage sizzle shot to fame more than 25 years ago when Bunnings started provided grassroots community groups a simple way to raise funds.
Customers at the hardware store can purchase the favourite snack for just $3.50 (with or without onions) at the sizzles, or $5 less than what Vivid Syndey has charged.
Yet, Bunnings on its website noted it increased the price of canned drinks and bottled water from $1.50 to $2.00 at sizzles across Australia from February.
The change responded to calls from local community groups, not-for-profits and charities which saw decline in funds raised, due to the increased cost of the goods required to run the BBQ.