Restaurants Will Likely Be Forced To Increase Menu Prices To Keep Up With Coronavirus Demands
The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and continues to have a huge impact on the food industry. From contributing to bottlenecks in the food supply to putting strain on restaurants with social distancing restrictions, food businesses are continuing to struggle under the weight of a world battling coronavirus.
As such, in a new report from Business Insider, experts said that consumers should be prepared for restaurant prices to go up and menus to change as businesses grapple with higher prices from suppliers and other expenses.
"Generally, if the prices are significantly higher for 30 days or more, restaurants will have to start making decisions," Buyers Edge CEO John Davie told the publication: "Those decisions could either involve raising prices or in eliminating the higher-priced items from the menu. For example, some chains have removed brisket from their menus due to the escalated pricing."
It's not just the added cost of ingredients that restaurants need to worry about. Many owners have expressed worry about how their finances will suffer as dining rooms re-open with limited capacity and landlords who may have been lenient on rent begin to lose patience. We've already seen attempts to combat these problems in some restaurants, like those that added COVID-19 surcharges, but as BI pointed out, that didn't always go over well with customers, so restaurants will likely be pretty careful when raising prices.
In addition to raising prices, many restaurants will be making tweaks like beefing up their delivery offerings, continuing to offer alcohol to-go where possible, and offering a pared down menu to cut costs, according to a piece by Restaurant Business Online. As consumer trends continue to change, restaurants will likely continue to adapt. This is as good a time as any to remind you to support your local spot if you can by ordering takeout, leaving a good review, and being understanding of any changes they have to make.
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