Fancy Food Things to Buy If You Win the $1.6 Billion Lottery Jackpot

Remember the Barenaked Ladies song “If I Had $1,000,000,” in which Ed Robinson and Steven Page sing about all of the things they would buy if they had $1,000,000? The year 1992, when that song was released, must have been a sweet, naive time, because if there’s a jackpot winner in tonight’s Mega Millions lottery drawing, that person will get to decide what to do with $1.6 billion. (They will also have to pay something like $400 million in taxes on a $904 million lump sum, but please do not complain about the taxes on a 10-figure cash prize that just fell into your lap.) If this person is a gourmand, or if they want to follow the trend set by modern venture capitalists, there are plenty of food and beverage options waiting to be purchased with that not-at-all-hard-earned dough. Here are some ways to part with that cash:

• With the robust after-taxes estimate of $569.5 million, per CNBC, you could purchase 16,507 kilos of Almas black-gold caviar, the most expensive in the world with a typical price of $34,500 per kilo. That would probably be enough for a good party.
• How about 123,261 whole legs of Manchado de Jabugo jamon Iberico, which checks in at $4,620.28 per leg? That, too, would make for a good party.
• A beverage will be required to wash down all that salty caviar and ham. About 10,772 bottles of 1996 Dom Perignon rose gold Methuselah champagne, the priciest bubbles available in 2018 ($52,859.43 per bottle at Cru World Wine), might do the trick.
• If there’s going to be wine, there may as well be cheese. The Mega Millions winnings could buy 949,167 pounds of ultra-lux Pule, a crumbly white variety made from the milk of Balkan donkeys, which sells for $600 per pound.
• Plan some trips to Disneyland, skip the rides, and enjoy 37,967 meals at the theme park’s high-end 21 Royal restaurant, where dinner goes for $15,000 a pop.
• You could take over a majority stake of ultra-hip fancy-coffee chain Blue Bottle, which was valued at $700 million when Nestle bought 68 percent of the company last year.
• Shake Shack opened the week trading at $54.75 per share. Buying up 10,403,727 shares might be enough to offer Danny Meyer some new menu suggestions at the burger chain.
• Or, like the Barenaked Ladies, you could buy such things as a house, a fake fur coat, a green dress, and a monkey, and you’d have plenty of money left over. You’d be rich.

Correction: October 4, 2018, 8:45 a.m.
This post has been corrected to reflect 21 Royal is located at Disneyland, not Disney World.

• Mega Millions [Official]
• Here’s the Tax Bite on $1.6 Billion Mega Millions and $620 Million Powerball Jackpots [CNBC]