I was wondering about this, particularly as we have seen an increase in prices over the last 3 years or so. So I guess this question is more geared towards providers as I wanted to know if they have done some sort of quantitative analysis to determine what is the best price point to maximize their income.

Some are very smart. Others use what some of us call "hooker math," which makes no rational sense.
Go figya.

cash flow.  Get the cash flow up and THEN think about how to maximize profits and see where you can cut expenses and overhead.  It's hard to make a profit from a mediocre cash flow.  Cash flow gives you more option's on where and how to maximize your profits.  If your business model is so tenuous or undercapitalized that you have to figure this out before you start, then there is a high percentage you will fail.  The good news when failing in P4P is that you can always go to work for an agency and give them a share of your cash pie.  (no pun intended).  

Even the most robust, detailed, objective, and thorough analysis can crash and burn against local market conditions.  

Of course there are exceptions, but I think that holds true in most cases. Anecdotally, at least, that is what I have found.  
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Now, generally speaking, I would agree the provider charging 2k is most likely seeing fewer clients than girls charging 75% less, but isn't that the point? Their date inquiries, dates and closing percentage don't need to be anywhere near that of a provider where this lifestyle is their sole source of income.  
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And then we always have to consider in the fact that camming, personalized vids, OF, etc all adds income where no in person visit is required at all, and that just adds to the profitability mix. I believe those options ladies now have at their disposal, is an under mentioned reason as to why rates have climbed so dramatically in recent years.

I would imagine more clients at a lower price point will make the most. We're assuming this is the same lady. If you're at $500 and highly sought after, 6 or more in a day certainly can be done. That's 3k or more. At 1k, she would need 3 in a day. It's harder at 1k to average 3 a day. Move that up to 1.5k, and averaging 2 a day is likely also hard at that amount. But that $500 might be able to toogle up to $700 and pull 4-5 clients still. That's if they even want that many clients.

The sweet spot depends on the location and the price to rent a one bedroom apartment in that location. To maximize profits the provider should be charging 1/3 of that cost. Example: the average rent of a one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles is $2,200. A price point between $700-$750 would be optimal for that location. Average one bedroom in Wausau, WI (where I live!) is around $800, so I charge slightly more using this formula. Now....obviously a lot of other variables going on here. Looks and age of provider, niche services offered, as well as saturation of providers in that area are all factors to consider. More competition=lower provider cost and vice versa (usually!!) And if the provider has another revenue source she is not going to be completely relying on this revenue stream to pay her bills so she may not be using this formula. And as always, it is not how much money you make but how much money you spend. This industry can be fast, easy money and unfortunately some providers also live their lives that way. They may not have a lot to show for all of the cash they made if they spend it as fast as they made it. In the end to make the optimal profits you have to treat it like an actual job. And as to who is doing "better" you would have to look at the P & L statement, not the car she drives or the purse she carries. Good question!!  

You were an accountant in another life.

Please, do tell us the explanation of this "hooker math" that makes no rational sense. I have seen this term thrown around before and the explanation I was given made less sense than the amount the provider was charging. Pray tell good sir.

I'd guess that a lot of providers do this analysis.  Some formally.  But others, intuitively.

I suggest, dear Madam, you do a search for "hooker math."
It should be quite a treasure trove.

Scarlet(t), this is one of those things you have a hard time imagining it because you don't engage in the behavior and are a rational person. Also you aren't a client, but clients understand it immediately.  Hooker math is a (derogatory) term that describes pricing structures that don't make sense because the pricing structure is based on the whim's of the individual provider and not based on norms of the market place and client expectations. It usually refers to haphazard pricing structures and incongruent information.
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One example is inconsistent pricing per hour. Most providers (like yourself) structure their prices to incentivize longer bookings, which results in a lower price per hour. Longer dates cost more but the average  rate usually decreases with longer bookings. Some providers have rate structures that average out inconsistently. A two hour date might be cheaper than both a 90 minute and a 4 hour date. Sometimes these longer dates cost more AND come with the expectation you buy the lady a nice dinner. Another example comes down to add-ons and certain limits. A provider may be  willing to do XYZ for $$$ but no ABC (unless for $$$$ secretly). Every provider is free to set their boundaries and prices. Sometimes we just find them funny and joke about it.

Here is one example of "hooker math":
1 hr $500
1.5 hr $700 (a discount on a straight 1.5 x 500 = 750, save $50! Whoo Hoo! How about 2 hrs?)
2 hr $1100 (Huh? What? A PREMIUM over and above 2 x 500 = 1000? And extrapolating the 90 minute rate would be only $933 for 2 hours!)  
"I'd like to schedule two 1 hr sessions from 2pm-3pm AND 3pm-4pm for $1000, OK?"
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What does that rate structure mean? She prefers 90 min sessions over 60 min but wants to discourage 120 min sessions? That is hooker math that doesn't seem to make sense to many of us.
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Rather than post separately to the OP, I'll add here:
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Search General for Freakonomics (there are at least 10 posts by impposter alone!). Here are a couple:
http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion-boards/ter-general-board-12/freakonomics-talks-about-this-topic-963279
http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion-boards/ter-general-board-12/freakonomics-of-prostitution--897117
and lots of additional discussion in all of the Freakonomics threads.  
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One of the Freakonomics topics is how to set rates.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hABM20X0iZg
And other Freakonomics links and videos.
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There are also threads on Costs, Expenses and Rates - do your own searching on General or Newbie.
Providers AND Clients have to figure the correct balance.  
Provider: Hotel room, adverts, appearance (cosmetics) / clothing (dry cleaning), hair / nails / waxing, travel (local and / or touring), some buy candles, soaps, snacks, etc., for their guests ... and other costs. The rate should cover those expenses PLUS some profit.
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Client: time away from work; pre-meeting prep (shower at gym, etc.); travel, parking, TOTAL time commitment needed for a one hour meeting (often = 2 to 4 hours!) ... Cost versus No Show
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Etc.

I used to see someone who overall her rates were low to comparable ladies. She was damn near a 10 and did everything. She was in a situation where she wasn’t always available to work. So by staying lower she always had tons of inquiries that gave her the flexibility. She wasn’t able to tour much. I used to read about guys mentioning she was hard to get a hold of. Now that she is able to work more she really raised her rates and it cut down the amount of inquires. However, I’m sure she is doing better than before with less meetings. That works if you are hot as fuck and have a reputation of being fantastic 😆

This is a great example but it of course begs the question: has anyone actually asked the specific provider about this pricing structure and why? If the provider's answer is just random then yes, I would agree there is no real thought that went into the structure. When guys just say "oh, that is hooker math" because they do not understand the rationale so they assume the provider is just too dumb to understand math is where I need more information. And for the example you gave, I personally get it. I only advertise 60 or 90 min dates. I do not want to spend more time than that with a new client that I may have no desire to see again.  Some providers may feel the same way but instead they offer the 2 hour option, but for them they want a higher price point to get through the 2 hours. Unless you are actually asking the provider for her explanation throwing the term "hooker math" around just makes guys look smug. There are for sure things clients do and say that leave me scratching my head, but instead of just assuming they are all round heads (or slobbyists!!) I have found it best to just ask rather than assume.

That's just likely to offed her. By the same token, I won't haggle for a discount the way an infamous former member here claimed to do.
If I feel the rate is fair I'll pay it. If not, move on to the next one.

The problem with Scarlett’s analysis is that apartment price really has no bearing on what you can charge. That mostly depends on how hot you are, your skills and what level of service you can provide. I would first figure out price range, services and number of weekly sessions I want to provide.  Next I would work on skills from start to finish of the session to make a man feel satisfied and desired. I would work up my menu and marketing based on what I have to offer. I would provide in the least expensive way I’m comfortable with to start, home, hotel, Airbnb etc.  As CDL said, first get some cash coming in, then tweak the model to maximize profits. Test various locations, and if one is more profitable lock something down in that area. Consider beauty upgrades. I know a slender hottie in LA who got a nice pair of bolt-ons and was able to increase her hourly rate by $200 per session! Now there’s an ROI (and new pair) to be admired! I think most providers ,except super hot ones, probably have a range of $200-300+/- that they can realistically charge while maintaining some minimum acceptable cash flow. I would always be thinking about how to tweak things to increase profitability. Of course I’m a business person and this is providing!

I see your point ... and I raise you one more point.
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There have been quite a few posts by guys who report, "I sent her an email to ask "Q" and she wrote back, 'How dare you ask me that? You are banned and blocked. Do not ever contact me again!' Huh? What did I do?"
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Many times the Qs ARE inappropriate or poorly phrased but I can see the same thing happening with this topic. "How come your 2 hour rate is more than 2x your 1 hour rate?" "ARE YOU CALLING ME STUPID? Blocked! Do not call me again!"  And variations, some of which are innocent but many of which send the "Are you calling me dumb?" vibe.  
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Maybe such Qs should be asked DURING or AFTER the first meeting? "We had a good time, right? But I really need to know ... What's up with your "hooker math" rate structure?"

This is a great question and you’re right, it is a business. Therefore, on the backend, it should be treated as such.  

Ug....I hate when I have to admit you guys throw back some good points.  lol  
And as Eva pointed out before, I do look at things as to how I would think about them as a provider. So yes, there are for sure some providers that when you ask about the rates will get offended by the question.  
I *have* been asked why I do not have a 2 hour + date listed on my website and I am honest that I only spend extended dates with gents that I have seen before and enjoy their time.  
On the flip side providers that offer that structure may only offer the 2 hour (more expensive) option for new clients but offer the lower (60 min and 90 min) option for repeat clientele.
 I do also offer a 30 min option for some of my repeat gents so they can visit on their lunch hour, but this would not be an option I would advertise for new clients regardless of the price point, just like the 2+ hour option.  
So in the end providers are different as to how they run their businesses and pricing structures, but without further information as to *why* a particular provider charges what she does the term "hooker math" just does not hold water.

Thank you for your response, I also have a degree in business! And as I stated in my post a provider can charge what ever they want. The example I gave about rent is a good barometer to determine mid range pricing for a market area. As to the example you gave about the "beauty upgrades" again, a provider can charge whatever they want, that does not mean they are actually making the extra $. Your example of ROI would only be accurate if the provider stated she was booking 5 clients a week at her previous rate (say $500) so that would be $2500 a week and now at $700 (with implants) she is booking 4+ clients a week ($2800+). Now we also need to consider the average cost of implants in the US is $6,000, so not including the time she had to take off to recuperate, at the extra $200 she would need to see 30 clients to make up the cost of the surgery at her new rate. Now if she is seeing less (say only 3 clients a week at the new rate, so $2100 a week) her ROI would not be good.  So again, ROI is not just charging more, there are a lot more variables to consider.   A provider could be "super hot" (your words lol) and could be charging $500 but if she is super flaky and not a good provider her "super hotness" is only going to take her so far. Looks, age, personality, location, and marketing all play an equal role in how successful a provider can be in this industry. And yes, if she is not getting the business she wants there are lots of variables to consider including the actual price point.

Good point on the wellness. I think that is key for being able to maintain emotional intellegence. Some of the ladies I have seen that are chugging through clinets often come across as lacking emotion and the ability to emotionally connect. Their service feels scripted and/or robotic. It's often why I struggle to rate a lady higher with service.

So many small businesses get stung by the fact that they just didn't really develop a business plan before they opened their doors--it ain't just providers.  

Possible, I am just perplexed why he would attempt to brag about having a business background with that example he gave about ROI. It would be like McDonald's spending a billion dollars to redo all of their restaurants and then someone saying "now McDonalds charges twice as much for a Big Mac after their billion dollar upgrades! What an incredible ROI!" I think even someone with basic to no knowledge of business or economics would be left scratching their heads. That is not how it works.....

How true. There does seem to be a correlation with the women I see at the higher price points, as they tend to have a more cavalier attitude about the clock. I think they view the date more as an "event" rather than a specific block of time. Even dates when we go slightly past the agreed upon time, I am almost always offered a shower, told not to worry about the time, as the woman will invariably say she was caught up in convo too, she was the one asking me questions, we were enjoying the last of our drinks, etc.  
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I don't ever expect to go beyond the allowed, time regardless of the fee, as I do check a few times with the lady with a "how we doing on time?" query now and then. But when we happen to do so, its nice to know I wont be rushed out the door and certainly that goes to client retention with me as I so appreciate that and don't take it for granted.
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That might not be exactly what you meant Paige, but the higher charging providers, in my experience, seem to want it to be more of a luxury outing, as they most likely don't have a guy waiting after I leave, and they want me to seek a return visit with them in the future.

Think the business plan for many is seeing the rates others are charging a then their ego itself worth comes into play and says- “ X is worth $$ then I am worth $$?   or more-  
Not a lot different than the sports teams of America.

You beat me to it, about needing to know both R and I to determine the ROI.

I actually have their book! And yes, they do have a pretty detailed section on prostitution, but if I remember correctly the book came out in the mid 2000s. And their study was on a very targeted section of street sex workers. The industry is just so very different now with the internet. I also have "An economist walks into a brothel" which came out in 2018 or 2019 and talks about legal brothels, but even that would be considered obsolete in terms of sex work at this point. Maybe time for a new study!!!

YES! Everything you said is correct. It is a small business and to be successful you have to run it as such. And yes, I was poking holes at the guy's comments on ROI, but this is something that all providers should be asking. Do I NEED to get breast implants to make more money? Get hair and eye lash extensions? Get my nails done every week? Get all those extra toys and outfits? Is the $300-$500 I am spending a month on ad sites really bringing me that much more money than if I post free ads? How often should I post on social media? WHAT should I post? How often should I follow up with my current client list to see if they want to rebook? Should I offer a discount as an incentive? Should I tour? WHERE should I tour? How much do I need to make to pay all my bills a month? How much do I need to make to put money away for savings/retirement? I am a 45 year old average looking whore that lives in the middle of no where Wisconsin. There is really no logical reason I am as successful as I am besides my solid business knowledge.  Like everything else in life it is the 80/20 rule. 20% is about your looks/personality, 80% is about good business practices. You can make a lot of fast money in this industry, but if you don't have the 80% business model to back it up your sex work business is going to crash and burn or never take off at all.

Years back, I attended a business seminar in the line of business that I was in at the time.  For three days, the speaker presented slides, spoke eloquently and answered questions about his experience growing a business from a single location to a dozen.  At the end of the third day, he revealed the "secret" to his success:  "Raise your prices!"

I can’t begin to tell you how high the percentage of women I have seen in this business that I cannot have a conversation with. Some, it’s their English. Some, it’s their lack of interest. Some, are just not too bright. Some, just cannot relate or connect with me. And even if they look good and the sex is good, my interest in them comes and goes by the time our session is done. I’m more likely to repeat or book a longer session if you can carry a conversation. It’s pretty clear from your posts that you have no problem carrying a conversation. I imagine that brings some of your clients back. Any provider with enough practice can get good at the sex part. But the conversation part, IMO, isn’t just about practicing. It’s about your personality and wit. And if you don’t have that, no boob, ass, or lip job will fix it.

Thank you,  that was very nice of you to say that about me. I really appreciate your kind words!
And considering there is no way in hell I am ever getting a boob, ass, or lip job good conversation it shall be!!  

I guess I've been lucky. First of all, lucky to have had most of my experiences in New York, which has long attracted some of the best women in the world. And lots of time in LV, another town that's a babe magnet. And so many of these women are very smart sexual rebels who are just fun to be with. Add to that lots of time in Costa Rica with its great buffet of chicas from all around that part of the world who love to have fun. Hot sex and dinners on the beach. You just can't beat it. And their English was plenty good enough.
My favorite line was when, after a very hot bout in Jaco I told one of them how old I was and without missing a beat she said:  
"I don' know about that, Papi, but you got an 18-year-old dick."
Yes, she might have been lying. But if you were in my shoes would you care? I sure as hell didn't.

The ratios there might be true but I don't think that is what the 80-20 rule actually is about.

Actually I was making light of the fact that I am a business person who knows nothing about provider economics! However, I do have a good idea about the economics of her breast implants! Here’s the math I was using; when she got implants she raised her price $200 AND she got a nice incremental boost in average weekly sessions. Let’s say she went from 7 to 10. She earned an extra $200 for 10 sessions, say $2000 per week for 40 weeks (conservative estimate of time worked). That’s $80,000 annually. Plus three additional sessions per week at $600 ( her post surgery rate) equals an extra $1,800 times 40 weeks is another $72,000. Total annual return on her boob job is  $152,000! Assume Rolls Royce job at $10,000 ( they are really nice!). Even if my stats are off by a multiple (cut all assumptions by 50%), her ROI is a thing of beauty! Forget the extra sessions, the $200 per session increase leads to a payback period of five weeks.  When I make a great investment in my business the payback is three years! By the way, she is fun, young, slender and hot! In her case, the boob job was an excellent choice and business decision.

That you repeated it twice.  

In simplest terms, it's that about 20% of your input in anything accounts for 80% of the output.

You’re not wrong. But in some ways it becomes a little bit of the chicken or the egg. Which came first? A savvy business person knows exactly what you’re saying and wouldn’t want to raise the bar too high and go out of business. But they can set reasonable targets/goals and come up with a plan to get there. Does this mean if the market doesn’t agree and pushes against their plan they can do it anyway? No. But would they want to knowing the consequences? Alternatively, do such plans only succeed at the whims of the market?  

This is hilarious. *YOU* think she made a great decision because *YOU* like her breast implants. You have no clue if she is making more money. We can math back and forth all day but in the end you have no idea if she made a good business decision or not. You are simply going off the fact that *YOU* think she is much more attractive so you are assuming everyone else does as well. So again, *YOU* are saying she made an excellent choice and business decision but that is simply going off your feelings only, which you have right to do, but that has zero to do with how business decisions should be made.

Hooker math in mods eyes is ridiculous. Breast implants and rates assuming she does 1 hour dates. Riddle me this Batman…🦇  

anytime you make a capital investment in a business for new or upgraded equipment, it doesn't stay new forever, so you are allowed to depreciate the value over the expected life of the equipment (in this case, beauty upgrades" as a tax deduction against your income.  If you apply the tax benefits of the depreciation you get as the equipment degrades over the span of its useful life, then she comes out better than your numbers suggest.  You should always consider the big picture, not just the initial cost.    

Are you asking me why I keep saying that? I feel the need to keep saying that a provider can in the end charge whatever they want because I KNOW some of the dumb fuckers that frequent this board are going to throw me under the bus and say "but Scarlet said you should be charging THIS amount!!" Regardless of what a provider charges if they are getting enough clients and enough $$ to make them happy then they are doing what is best for THEIR business. The stats I gave are to maximize profits, but that is not the goal of every provider.

And I know some girls do. But I wonder what percentage don't file at all. This is just a wild guess but I think the number is less than 50%.

Sounds to me like you're very thoughtful about all this.  
And smart is sexy.

The person whom she replied to clearly used "what they can charge" in reference to market. Ie, looks and skills as pertaining to demand.

I would agree that it's less then 50%.  The problem for them is that if they don't file, buying anything like a house or a car on payments is going to be difficult.   If they voluntarily report income from an all-cash business, they are on their way to being able to qualify for loans, buy on credit, etc., and the IRS considers this a "gift" because if she didn't report, they would probably never catch her, so by finding a profession to report under (most Kgirls I know use either "translator" or "tour guide" for Korean visitors), and making sure your reported income is within the normal range for that profession, she will pay a little tax (usually at the bottom rate after allowed deductions) in exchange for building up a credit profile that will allow to build up an investment portfolio for that retirement that is going to come someday.  A good CPA can help them set all of this up so that it is transparent enough, but mostly UTR.  Cash stuffed in a mattress is not going to grow.  A little free advice for the ladies . . . . You will never get rich saving some of the money you earn, only off the money you invest.  It's hard to get started without a tax return you can show someone.  

Buyers and sellers (clients and escorts in this case) are the market. Escorts have a large influence over the market. So while they will struggle to get away with raising prices too much at once, they have the power to test the market. And, we have the power to not pay at certain thresholds and push prices back down. But of course this can’t be done by one person. As long as clients continue to pay increasing prices, escorts will increase them.

"And as Eva pointed out before, I do look at things as to how I would think about them as a provider."

Uh yeah, market is supply (providers) and demand (clients)

Using the power in this situation is an interesting concept. Public legal market, things like gas, groceries, cars and houses, become news stories if they surge in either direction. They become a topic among politicians at times. You’re pretty much comfortable talking to any one about it. There are no secrets about the impacts.

You probably answered a question that I have been pondering for some time, where have the workers gone!!??  As many if not more remote options. I would think OF has been the highest diversion from in person visits.  Even SWs can work from home!!!

i may be a broke loser but i am an accountant and used to audit businesses

From the research I have done on this *most* of the gals that do sex work full time do file taxes. If they have another full time job I have yet to have anyone say they also include the money they make from sex work on their returns. And yes, if you are doing this full time if you want to make any large purchases you are not going to be able to bring in a duffle bag of cash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
"The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (the "vital few").
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"In 1941, management consultant Joseph M. Juran developed the concept in the context of quality control and improvement after reading the works of Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto, who wrote in 1906 about the 80/20 connection while teaching at the University of Lausanne. ..."
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"... Mathematically, the 80/20 rule is associated with a power law distribution (also known as a Pareto distribution) of wealth in a population. In many natural phenomena certain features are distributed according to power law statistics. It is an adage of business management that "80% of sales come from 20% of clients." ..."

a business plan is essential and however much money you think you need to get started….DOUBLE or even TRIPLE it!  

at a party once.

....was plastered and babbling or you misunderstood him.  Restaurants running correctly, in the right location with a good flow of customers will run between 10-20% profit margin.  This range is mostly dependent on either leasehold expense or debt service.   I can assure you that if the rake was .10 per guest and you ran 1000 covers thru in a day with a check average of $40, and operating correctly, the profit is a lot higher than $100.  Net will more likely  be $4K-$8K.  

Now, maybe he was being dramatic, and I don't know much about that industry, but it is an example that I've seen in my business of how a very small change in percentage of something, when multiplied by all the transactions involved, adds up to a great profit or a great loss over time.

mrfisher is a wise old owl.

I wonder if he specialized in high volume and franchise operations. If target is, say, 10,000 customers (meals) a day then that $0.10 isn't too bad for a small business restaurant. I'm taking that 10 cent to be net gain so the owner would be pocketing $1,000 a day, which is pretty good income for the average person in the USA. Hell, that's close to good escort pay -- but they probably have to work longer hours and have more headaches.

If a restaurant stayed open for 16 hours, it would take 625 customers per hour to reach 10k. That’s just over 10 customers per minute. In no world is that remotely possible. This means if you trimmed it all the way down to 1k customers, you would still need to serve one person every minute. So even that is not possible.

An average Mcdonalds will see between 1500-2000 customers per day in a good location.  I can assure you that a franchise nets more than $150-$200/day.

It could hold up to a thousand diners, and then had a large function room for weddings and the like.

in Swampscott. Great place to go for seafood and wonderful views of the ocean. And it's still around!

While a wide range the average absentee McD owner makes between $50K and $150K a year. If your serving 2000 meals a day that $0.10 produces about $78K a year. Boost that to 15 cent a mean net and you're over 100K. So I don't find the 10 cent clear per meal/customer all that far fetched. Clearly if the owner wants to pay them self rather than someone to manage things for them they make a lot more. But I didn't take the 10 cent number to be inclusive of pay to the owner.

I remember the Hilltop. It was very popular in its day. Low prices, large portions, it was great.

I've never spent much time in Swampscott, but once I had lunch at Hawthorne-By-The-Sea. The seafood was good and the view was even better.

I and my friends went to the Hilltop many times ... no one got sick, that I can recall.  
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There is some financial info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilltop_Steak_House
"In 1977, the Hilltop grossed $11 million in sales, which was described by Spinazzola as "probably the largest gross sales in a restaurant in the world”.[3] In 1985 it grossed $24.2 million from 2.35 million diners, which placed it at the top of Restaurants & Institutions‘s list of highest-volume restaurants.[6] Hilltop again topped Restaurants & Institutions’s list for 1986 with an estimated $26.9 million in sales.[5] The New York Times described the Hilltop as "America's largest restaurant, both in number of customers served and sales volume" in 1987. At that time, the Hilltop served nearly 2.4 million customers annually, three times the volume of the nation's second-largest restaurant, Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. That year they exceeded $27 million gross.[7] In 1988, it produced an estimated $31.5 million in sales and was again cited by Restaurants & Institutions as the largest-grossing restaurant in the United States.[8] In June 1989 the Hilltop projected $25 million in sales for that year.[1] In 1990, the Hilltop again topped Restaurants & Institutions’ list of top-grossing restaurants with an estimated $27.3 million in sales.[9] In 1991, Tavern on the Green replaced the Hilltop as the highest grossing independent restaurant in the United States.[10] ..."
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I'm not going to do all of the math, but:  
1985: $24.2 M (gross) / 2.35 diners (meals?) = $10 (gross) per meal.  10 cents profit on $10 gross seems kind of weak.
Oh! Oh! Not mentioned above: the Hilltop had a bunch of barroom / waiting areas. I'll bet that the booze contributed bigly to the gross take. What do you think the split should be? $5 booze + $5 meal. Still, 10 cents on $5 seems kind of low.  
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Boston had other (locally) famous steak houses: Newbury Steak House, Ken's Steak House (Ken's at Copley) ... Boston used to have a large meat packing district in South Boston. The adjacent RR tracks brought in trainloads of refrigerated whole cow carcasses for butchering and distribution to local butchers, restaurants, and supermarkets all over Metro Boston.

Yes, in that sense restaurants are much more like gas stations -- neither really makes its money on the primary item of sale (food or gas) but related items, drinks and convenience store/snacks type things are where the profit comes from.

Business owner:   We lose a dollar on every customer.

Lady posrs rates such as: 500/hr, 1000 2 hours, 1500 3 hours....we can do tge math.  Or my favorite..
  1 hour 500. 1.5 800, 2 hours 1200. Huh? Can I book consecutive hour dates for 1000?

....first of all, there are restaurants out there that are giant compared to the industry median.  If this restaurant seats 1,000 guests, it's fucking massive.  Your talking about dining room(s) in the neighborhood of 15,000 square feet to accommodate the seating.   That is larger than THREE NBA basketball courts.  This also takes into account that it would e a great big box without walls or dividers, noise control, hallways etc.  A more accurate estimate would likely be 20,000 square feet.  Texas Roadhouse will seat around 290 on the average, depending on the property size, dimension and the market they are in and will feed around 5,000 guests per week.  They are one of the most profitable chains currently in the full service sector.  I can guarantee that the average Texas Roadhouse does not make only $500/week in profit.  Their own website states that they feed about 300,000 meals per day across the nation.

You can't even rent an apartment without a documented source of income. There are definitely accountants out there that specialize in helping sex workers. You need documented income to do almost anything. I think the easiest way is to create a legitimate business and then funnel SW $$ through that.

I think the lawyer remark was misunderstood and misinterpreted. I'd presume that the lawyer meant that successful restaurants make $0.10 in profit per every $1.00 the customer spends, not $0.10 on every customer. Basically he was saying they have a 10% profit margin on sales. That makes a lot more sense. I just did a google search and they said restaurant margins range from 0%-15% with the average for restaurants being 3%-5%. With those numbers it makes sense a 10% margin would be considered successful.
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According to a recent report the average customer spends $22 at Texas Roadhouse. If we take 5,000 customers spending $22 we get $110,000 in revenue. Assuming a profit margin of 10% we have a weekly profit of $11,000 an annual profit of $572,000 which seems much more reasonable and more in line with the figures you mentioned. Like you said Texas Roadhouse has a 15% profit margin which is great.  
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I think the lawyer was correct but MrFisher simply didn't understand what he meant and misquoted him.  

but do keep in mind that this was back around 1975, and and ten cents then was worth a lot more than it is today, so that narrows the gap.

You throwing a "back in 1975" story out here reminds me of the back when I was a kid I walked two miles in the snow to get to school type of stories. I'm impressed you even remember a conversation you had 50 years ago.

Could also have been a case of the lawyer saying what he thinks the floor was -- if you cannot make that 10 cent you're going out of business.

far too many independent restaurants are losing money and they don't even know it.  Established properties that have their operations and finances in order and their debt service in check can push a lot more dollars to the bottom line.  Most restaurant financing will run 3-5 points higher than normal business financing simply because of the risk involved, regardless if the owner has a big tank of gas or not.  If their profit margin is at 10% and they can attack the mortgage, every dollar they drop the loan will put another .12 toward their net.  I know people who argue with their accountants about not having debt on their properties but are enjoying taking 20+% of every sale home at the end of the night.  Thank God there are still a bucket full of ways to push personal expenses back on the profits of the restaurant and it's still a cash business if you know how to operate.    

the importance of paying attention to very small details, as life is made up of very small details and getting each of those right has a large cumulative effect on the whole.    

You raise some interesting points about how different price points can attract varying volumes of clients.