French Fries in Columbia

9 restaurants in Columbia list french fries on their menus. The cheapest is Vennari's Pizza & Subs at $4.03. The typical price across town is $5.95, and the dearest we found is $8.00 at Cured;18th & 21st, so the two ends of the list are $3.97 apart, which is 99% more for the same dish. Of the 9 kitchens listed, 1 charges more than a dollar under the typical price, 6 sit within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track french fries in 498 other areas and compare them all on french fries across United States. The typical price there runs $6.49 at the median, so Columbia is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 394 of the 498. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Big Tony's Pizza II in Chicago, IL, and the highest best price is $7.50 in Seaford, NY. The nearest area with it is Ellicott City, about 5 mi away, where the best price is $5.00.

Where is the cheapest french fries in Columbia? Vennari's Pizza & Subs, at $4.03 on 7180 Cradlerock Way. The same dish reaches $8.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $3.97.

What should french fries cost here? About $5.95 is the typical price across the 9 kitchens in Columbia that list it. Of the ones listed above, 1 is more than a dollar below that and 2 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Ellicott City, about 5 mi away, where the best price is $5.00. That is $0.97 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.