Except for family-owned ethnic joints, restaurant/take-out prices here have been through the roof since the pandemic hit, and if you order through an app, they become totally surreal.

Like you, I'm glad I have a well-stocked pantry and know how to cook. I expect a lot of people are going to have to acquire some basic kitchen skills in the coming year; the cost of food itself will be bad enough without adding on restaurant/take-out overhead. And I predict the delivery app trajectory will follow that of Uber/Lyft who have priced themselves out of the ride business now they've burned through the venture capital.

 

I took a couple guys to lunch today at Charleston’s, like a little nicer than Chili’s, and it was $93 with tax and tip. Only one guy drank tea, no alcohol, no dessert. Three meals, a tea and an appetizer. $93.



At least I could expense it.

 

We are heading into a really bad time
I payed 640 for a icecream cone the other day .
They wend up a dollar in 4 days ☹

 

We are heading into a really bad time
I payed 640 for a icecream cone the other day .
They wend up a dollar in 4 days ☹

I'm building a rose trellis using 4x8 foot lattice, needed 1 more to finish project, from Friday to Monday the lattice went up $7.50. 1# box of screws up $3.00 in the last 7 days.

 

$40 plus a tip for 2 large pizzas delivered last night.

We could cook most of the week for that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

$40 plus a tip for 2 large pizzas delivered last night.

We could cook most of the week for that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Give it time... that'll change soon enough.

 

Its not restaurant prices, its food prices period.

 

(ie) Inflation, as the Dollar continues it's slide prices rise on everything. There will be massive job losses coming in the service sector.
The fix is for the FED to go all Paul Volcker but that will stall the economy (stagflation) and crash the stock market...But they won't So Inflation continues ravaging the economy until it's endgame and the Dollar is finished. It's a catch 22 either way spells disaster but the lesser is for the FED to QT (tighten) and possibly save the Dollar albeit through a severe recession/depression...

 

The price of food is getting out of control!! FJB!!! When I went to two different stores today there were empty shelves and a lot of low quantities. Pull your seat belts tight this is only getting started. I'm glad I carry a gun.

 

I don’t think it really the price of the food , it’s the way of doing Business
They create a shortage then jack up the price .
It’s not reall the price of food it’s the middle man

 

I don’t think it really the price of the food , it’s the way of doing Business
They create a shortage then jack up the price .
It’s not reall the price of food it’s the middle man

typically any service--from hair salon to restaurants price this way...cost to them times 3 equals your cost. the food industry is playing games. they ve raised their prices as far as they think you ll pay verses not pay and then shrunk the portions. ie i have had amy s frozen pizza s for years. they went from 5.99 to 7.50 and their pizza size shrunk about 2 inches. burger king is giving less toppings...ie 2 pickle slices instead of 3. doritos are now giving 5 less chips per bag.

 

Our fav BBQ joint just added a $5 upcharge on brisket in combos. If you want chicken and pork it will be 16.99 if you want one of those and brisket in your combo its 21.99 and it's not even a full order on a combo.
Only one pizza place delivers to us and their price went up $2 across the board a few weeks ago. Still good pizza for 7.99. Now if we ordered the same pizza from the most popular joint in town it would be double to triple that.
Our fav Chinese and burger places, both hole-in-the-wall, always packed, hasn't raised theirs-yet. One mom and pop place I supported for 30 years lost our business. Their prices stayed the same the qulity of the food took a HUGE hit. I'm not paying 1.99 for 6 tatertots and $1 extra for a slice of cheese slapped on top of them. One order used to feed 2-3 people. What a shame I would be happy to pay more for the same quality.

 

Yes, food prices are up and will keep going up, and that impacts restaurant prices.

That doesn't change the fact that $40 plus tip for 2 pizzas you could make yourself for a fraction of that is going to be looking like something we should cut from our budget to a lot of people soon.

Bottom line is that the cost of the food you eat in a restaurant is only about 30% of the price on your bill. Cook yourself, and those $40 pizzas wouldn't cost you more than $12, no tip to add. If you ordered through an app, that tacked on it's own surcharge, so the cost of the food in those pizzas is even less. (If you grow your own tomatoes and make your own sauce, it will be even cheaper of course.)

People now eating out or ordering in at least 5 nights a week are going to be able to afford a lot of inflation if they start cooking for themselves instead. Eating a meal you didn't cook yourself used to be a rare treat for a lot of us. I doubt the health of the nation will suffer if it becomes one again.

Of course the current inflation is a true disaster for the poor who aren't eating Mickey D, Popeye's, and nukable ready meals plus gallons of sodas, but I suspect that is a rather small percentage of the population here at this point. Most have a lot of notches they could tighten that belt by.

 

Yes, food prices are up and will keep going up, and that impacts restaurant prices.

So has labor. Fast food places around her are offering $20+/hour + hiring bonus + shift differential and still can't fill all the slots.

 

Did anybody really think that raising minimum wage would keep prices down?

 

 

Plus people are paying top dollar to get employees just to show up to work and then work at a subpar level (if they even show up). Things are really weird. I prefer to stay home.

 

Well the idiots in charge paid them to stay home and get more than they were making at work in most cases. Then they rammed through the narrative that entry level jobs are somehow supposed to pay for all of the costs of living.

 

This is why, now more than ever, our dining-out dollars are spent on food I can't copy at home.
Yes, I can make a burger on the grill at home but it isn't a burger off the VERY same flat plate grill I ate a burger off of 60 years ago. I can make sushi at home, but it's just raw fish. Not the masterpiece Itamae will create in front of me.
And I don't mind paying more for those experiences if it means my server can afford their insulin and text books for next semester.

 

Yeah, tater tots under a slice of cheese have never been something I was willing to pay for. I'll eat out for something worth eating out for, although it's going to be very rare for me these days until the food price insanity subsides (if it ever does).

It's the shrinkflation that annoys me more than the inflation, though. If you are going to double your prices, tack on a bunch of new service charges, and simultaneously shrink your portions and halve your quality, then I think you really shouldn't be surprised if your restaurant is going bust. I'm glad I'm old enough that back when I was flush and occasionally went out to drop 3 figures on dinner, it was at places where the food and the service were both something to write home about. Those were the days...

At least this city still has some hole-in-the-wall ethnic places where you can get good food at halfway decent prices that you wouldn't make yourself at home. And there's still great pizza by the slice, the nearest being just 3 flights down the stairs.

 

When I was young burgers were 15 cents and our family considered eating those as a special occasion on the rare times we did. The real splurge in the summer was a half gallon of sparkle ice cream and a gallon of A and W root beer. Fat americans can get by on a lot less delivered junk food and we would all be a lot more healthy.

 

Rare occasion to go out anymore and likes been said I got a full freezer.
Don't miss the mouth breathers anyways , nowadays you might catch something.

 

Stopped dining out over 2 years ago. Food has been stupid expensive here in Anchorage for a long time.

 

After 43 years we still go on Friday date night, but usually go for food that difficult to prepare at home - mainly Asian, Chinese or genuine Italian.

 

NY MIN nailed it..I'm out,but the places I worked were casual to upscale,shot for 25-33% food cost.
Deliver charge..Phfttt..Gas was 2.01$ this time last year,more than doubled now.
That includes delivers to the resturant now getting fuel surcharges.Besides wages and lack of help,there are a lot of hidden costs.Fast food has to pay for all those cups,napkins,sauce packets..Chemical for the dishwasher and cleaning supplies were expensive even back then.

Now I sell construction supplies,I get the joy of hearing"I remember 2x4's were 3.99$,no way I'm paying 12$"..well,thats the price if we can even get them.

 

Burger at a local brewery last night was $18. It was a really good burger though. 8 wings was like $15

Sirloin at a restaurant a few weeks ago was a normal price. The steak was the size of a Bratwurst, and it was probably a choice cut of long pig.

Samsclub app showed meat at an insane price yesterday. Had to be a mistake, but it was similarly priced on ALL MEAT items.

I hope the nukes start getting launched soon. The world needs a real hard reset, and the people in charge need barbaric punishment.

 

I hope the nukes start getting launched soon. The world needs a real hard reset, and the people in charge need barbaric punishment.

 

Fortunately things aren't that bad in the Tampa Bay area. A dinner for two with two alcohol drinks each at a non-chain restaurant will run about 60 bucks with tip.

I wonder if the food prices will make dine and dash more frequent, and if so, if restaurants will start making you pay at time of ordering. I remember the days that you pumped your gas, and then went inside to pay. Those days are long gone. May be the same with restaurants.

 

Occasionally, the wife and I like to go out for a drink and some appetizers. She'll usually order a drink with a cherry garnish. Last week she noted the maraschino cherries are being cut in half. Yup, cut in half. It has got to take a person longer to prep the garnishes than the cost savings of cutting a cherry in half.

It's gonna get worse before it gets better.

 

It amazes me that people will claim eating out is cheaper than cooking at home. I have even saw a family of 6 claim that.
We ended up at Dennys earlier this year because the pizza place we want to eat at was closed. We spent 35 dollars for 2 of us with sodas. Extra fustrating since if we got pizza it would of been atleast 10 dollars cheaper and we would of had left overs.

 

If you like/need coffee, better be stocking up.

My guilty pleasure is Keurig K-cups of Starbucks Pike Place. I had it on subscription at Amazon. Last time I bought it (96-cups) it was $46. The recent one, which I canceled, was up to $68!

That's a 48% increase!

I have about 165 of them left (found a deal on them at Sam's), but not sure if I'll keep using them after those are gone.

 

Goose, I would get one of those reusable K cup mesh things and make my own. I just have a drip though. I have various caffeine modalities including pills, tea, and coffee.

I was self employed and a caregiver (different jobs) for over 20 years so harder to leap back into the work force. Walmart took me but only $13 an hour, at part time. I have been told I'll get full time if I just hang in there a few years but until then it's 20-24 hours a week. I have 2 disabilities (both invisible) and can't drive as I am more limited in what I can do. A good example, about 25 years ago I was looking for a job. The first batch I sent out the cover letter and resume, got lots of call backs. A few weeks later I sent about an equal amount, but in this cover letter I mentioned I could not drive. I got one call back and she wanted to know why I couldn't drive, that was it. Because "everyone" drives. It also limits the hours I can work.

So sometimes there can be a good reason for a dead end job. One thing I have grappled with the last year is applying for disability. I am definitely very limited. But I am also stubborn and very prideful.

I haven't eaten out at anything other than the local taqueria for a while now. My aunt moved out of town so I won't even be doing that.

 

Our eating out budget has stayed the same for a number of years but we enjoy it less and less. It seems like the service is worse, portions are smaller, meals aren't anything special and prices are higher, you certainly don't get what you pay for.

My wife is an excellent cook so we splurge a little on the food we cook at home.

 

Yes, we are similar. I used to enjoy eating lunch at the country club several times a week, overlooking the green and ponds. But since covid we stopped. The new employees and food was not up to par. I learned they were using frozen fish and bagged fries, and instead of handmade patties, had those frozen fast food burgers. The management changed and a different menu. Lunch, which was already expensive at around $50 with tip, is now closer to $70.

I'm just not paying it. I used to enjoy my "power lunches," but if we ate out like we used to our food cost would be nearly 3K a month!