The entire menu.

I'll still go there, but not very often anymore.

& recommend.

Remember the Sur-Charges are back on Freight shipments.

Right, so now there ISN'T, and actually for us, there really never WAS an increase.

Last edited Mon Jun 4, 2018, 10:45 AM - Edit history (1)

"wise" and "trumpster" is definitely an oxymoron.

Good catch.

Prices here start high and go up from there.
Have noticed over the last year thinking that the cost of a nice meal is getting out of my comfort zone. That’s for the moderate places. Forget the high end stuff.
I tend to cook at home.

See my reply 28.

I sure do. EVERYTHING who's price went up....Obamacare. Always some bullshit . Lets face it..."Greed". That's the answer.

and thrown on the other side of a stupid, expensive freaking republican HATE wall.

Assuming you aren't using cheap undocumented labor, minimum wage is trending up. NYC is going to $15 next year, the rest of the state is going to $10.40 which is still a pretty major bump over the Fed rate.

That's already definitely affected my prices for local product, even before the fuel cost started going up. I'm completely in favor of a living wage, but what Americans expect from a dining experience, versus what I can provide at a price they're willing to pay for it, is becoming rapidly divergent and I don't have a good answer for it.

Wife and I eat out often ,seems the same here in SoCal

instead of eating out.

That's not true, but it is closer every damn day.

prices when Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs kick in. The price on imported steel will increase 25% and domestic steel producers will also gouge us.

I remember in 1962 I ate at a mcdonalds in evansville. Hamburger was 14 cents. French fries were 10 cents.

about $11 for a half sandwich and a cup of soup.
That will be the last time too.

They must think we are

They got yogurt down to 5.3 oz. now.

What happened to 8 oz.? I guess you need two 5.3 oz. instead!

And gas.

From 2010:https://investorplace.com/2010/10/rise-for-mcdonalds-menu-prices/

i also do not use salt when i cook....grandfather lived with us growing up, salt restricted diet.so salt was never used.
any processed food has lots of salt in in so i am not sodium deprived.....

it seems restaurant food getting more salty.
more beverage consumption? hide lower quality?

Husband and I find that to be true just about everywhere. They load the food with salt. Even pricier restaurants. And I was astonished to see the couple sitting at the table next to us pick up a salt shaker and salt all their food before they even ate one bite.

And we will have to as we won't really have a place to cook. Both of us refuse to do the 'fast food' thing.

Prices have been increasing at an alarming rate. When we left Philadelphia we went out for dinner and just for the two of us it cost over 60$ - no appetizer, no dessert, cheapest wine on the list. Plus a 20% tip.

There's a couple of things I've noticed since moving part time(and with a bit of luck, soon full time) to France:
Food at the markets here is fresh, relatively cheap, and good.
Wine is incredibly cheap here (because it's considered a beverage).
Restaurant meals are more than reasonable - it's possible to go out for lunch and get a 'menu' - appetizer, main course, dessert - for 17 to 23€. Or you can just get the main for 12 to 15€. Glass of reasonable house wine for 4€. And the service? It's included. No tipping unless you want to put down .50€ or 1€ or nothing at all.

Menu prices are definitely going up citywide; in NYC's case I'd venture to guess the biggest driver is the increase in minimum wage (WHICH I COMPLETELY SUPPORT) - it went from $11 to $12.50 last January and is slated to go to $15 next year. The margins in this business (for at least nominally independent operations; chains and franchises operate differently enough that it's a generally different calculus that I don't really have time to get into at the moment) are absolutely razor-thin...a very well run, tightly cost-controlled ship will have a final net profit of 5-6%, and that's a very good scenario. It's not just my straight labor cost going up by a third, either - all my purveyors are in the same boat so they need to compensate as well, there's been a not-insignificant increase in wholesale pricing as well. I'd guess that total operational costs since 2016 are up somewhere around 15-20%.

Bottom line, all that extra expense simply can't be absorbed by the business while maintaining sustainability let alone profitability. Some places are opting to adjust the menus, to either reduce food costs or required staffing levels, others are just shrugging and raising their prices, and some are outright shuttering. It's a complicated situation that I don't have an easy answer to besides "you're gonna pay more to eat out", but maybe I can at least help you understand why it's happening.

I appreciate your explanation. I think it isn't just going to be in restaurants. I have noticed prices of groceries and clothes going up. This morning on MSNBC, Stephanie Rhule was talking about how the average car, about $32,000, is going to go up over $300.

I guess if all luxury and exotic brands were averaged in

I’d be more interested in the median price

I think that is for a brand new car.

It sounded about right to me. I was looking into buying a new Subaru and the are from the mid $20,000's up to low $30,000's. Volvos are over $50,000 for an SUV. Other luxury cars can cost $60,000 plus. I don't know how many new cars are selling in the $15,000-ish range.

but I believe it could be related to truck freight prices increasing. I have a small business that ships via truck freight (parcel too) and while I have good pricing in place, it is creeping up weekly. UPS and Fedex too. Everything shipped on trucks will increase because of that. My customers don't hesitate to let me know how they feel about it.

But we are in Oregon, where we passed a minimum wage that is increasing yearly until it reaches $15/hour in the Portland metro area. The more rural areas have a lower minimum wage and the rest of the state, like where my cafe is located, has a minimum wage in between the other two.

Our minimum wage is $10.25 right now, and will go up to $10.75 on July 1st.

Here’s the thing though, we’ve had very little complaints from customers. They all seem to understand why it’s happening.

And we are doing more business than ever! Since our customers are feeling the benefit of higher wages, they have been able to afford our modest price increases.

And have the most employees we’ve ever had.

I understand our situation is different than most but that’s what’s happening in my neck o’ the woods.