Restaurateurs - Tell me About Rising Food Prices and Declining Spending
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 8:17I am working on an article for this site about the rising price of food, coupled with a decline in consumer spending; how is it (if at all) affecting businesses. I am looking for some input from local chefs and restaurateurs. If you are interested in answering a few questions and giving your take on the current economics of running a restaurant in Los Angeles, please get in touch:
foodblogging@gmail.com
I would also be interested in hearing from our readers — as customers — if they have noticed a shift in the way that their favorite dining spot is doing business these days.
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
sneakypeteiii says:
June 24th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I talk with my local Chinese take-out guy once in a while — he’s upset about the doubling of rice prices in recent months. They seem to have decreased the size of their containers ever so slightly, while increasing the prices by about a quarter or so to keep up.
Golden Deli in the SGV, however, seems to be unscathed. Business is as good as ever. They even offered to buy me lunch one day given the amount of business I give them, but I wouldn’t let ‘em :)
MaxMillion says:
June 25th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I spoke to Chef Maki at healthyca recently and he had some shocking statistics about the alarming rise in prices he has been facing for corn, wheat, flour even quinoa etc
healthyca has a new menu yet Maki did not raise his prices nor shrink his portions.
Yes, we are all hurting, but I worry for the small businesses such as his and other restaurants…
Jonah — I’ll have to email you some of the stats Maki gave me for your article. I think it’s an important and timely one to write about.
Matt says:
June 25th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
The cafe in our office, run by Bon Appetite dining, really seems to be cutting corners. Smaller servings, less expensive food items, charging you for every little extra when they didn’t before.
It’s sort of annoying. I would rather them past the extra cost on to me and keep the same portions/quality of food as before.
Jonah says:
June 25th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
sneakypeteiii- I have had a couple of places specifically tell me about the rise in the price of rice. Something that we take for granted as being low-cost seems to be having an impact.
MaxMillion- Please do send me the comments or have Chef Maki get in touch with me.
Matt- Our office eaterie also just posted an increase in prices, it seems that no one is immune!