New economic indicator — the cost of doing business in Manhattan outstrips fast-food value meals:

Luan Sadik and his sister, Elizabeth Sadik, charge in court papers that [Burger Kings's] 99-cent menu and the more recent dollar value menu were forced down their throats.

They said they were required to sell food at “rock-bottom prices” that didn’t keep pace with the escalating cost of rent and other expenses in pricey Manhattan.

Burger King sued the Sadiks in federal court in Florida last year after the Albanian immigrants closed the doors at two restaurants without the company’s permission.

Then six weeks ago, Burger King shuttered the Sadiks’ remaining fast-food restaurants at 485 Fifth Ave. and 129 E. 47th St. for breaching their franchise contract. The Sadiks have responded with a suit of their own in Brooklyn Federal Court.

“The essence of our complaint is that greed is dictating [Burger King's] decision-making, not fairness,” said lawyer Oliver Griffith, who represents the Sadiks.

Griffith summed up his clients’ plight this way: If a Whopper hamburger costs $3.50 in Manhattan and a customer can buy two Whopper Juniors for $2 with a value meal, the restaurant operator eats the $1.50 difference.

Their monthly rent at the Fifth Ave. restaurant was $9,000 and $18,000 at the E. 47th St. location. The company also collects a royalty based on gross monthly sales.

“The value meal may be a wonderful thing, but with the cost of doing business in a market like Manhattan, the franchise cannot sustain itself,” Griffith said.