‘What are you, an idiot?’ Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary calls out people for splurging money on food orders

Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary has sparked a debate with his blunt remarks on people's spending habits, particularly regarding expensive coffee and food orders.

“Stop buying coffee for $5.50. You got to work and spend $15 on a sandwich – what are you, an idiot?” O'Leary said in a video clip posted on Instagram.

"It costs 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you. You start to add that up every day; it's a ton of money. Most people, particularly working in metropolitan cities, are just starting on their job, making their first $60,000, piss away about $15,000 a year on stupid stuff, and that's what they should stop doing,” he added.

Earlier, Chris Ellison, the managing director of Mineral Resources, opined against flexible working hours and said that the industry could not afford it. Ellison also does not want staff to leave the office to buy coffee.

According to reports, about 80 per cent of Americans consume at least one cup of coffee at home. Many Americans who enjoy coffee are interested in bringing the atmosphere of a coffee shop into their homes with coffee makers. An average American household spends nearly $75 on coffee yearly for domestic use.

This number rises yearly as premium coffee and speciality brewing techniques become popular. According to reports, around 12 per cent of Americans go to coffee shops every day, whereas about 36 per cent go to a coffee shop once a week.

On average, Americans spend $21.3 on coffee shops every week, which is more than brewing coffee at home. Apart from big players such as Starbucks, speciality coffee shops are also gaining popularity among youngsters.

In India, speciality coffee shops have raised around $100 million in venture capital in the last two years, compared with a cumulative $22 million in the four years before, according to a Mint report on January 14. This is due to the rising consumption of coffee in India and the declining cost of capital expenditure, the report said.