Food costs go crazy!
Dining out continues to become a great value as the cost of food continues to skyrocket.
While we have had to raise pricing, our raises are far less than what the consumer is seeing at retail. The last five months have seen the highest inflation of food costs in decades!
The causes of the food inflation are several factors which have created the perfect inflation Tsunami if you will. First was a major freeze in the Western USA and Mexico that drove produce prices as much as 400% on lettuce and other produce harvested in the first quarter of the year. This killed restaurants as prices could not be raised to adjust to this.
The next part of the Tsunami was our weak dollar. This causes two major issues. First, it makes our American products more affordable for other countries. This has caused the price of beef, fish and seafood to soar as they can buy more for less. Secondly, the dollar has helped cause oil to go to record costs against the dollar.
Gasoline costs over $4.00 drive food costs up to ridiculous levels as nearly all of our food is trucked in.Last year a truck cost from California to Detroit was $1700 less than this year which effectively puts a tariff on every case procured. Even our local suppliers are adding a gas charge on every delivery. Seafood boats are gas affected as well causing our fish prices to go up over 20% in most areas.
Unless we lower our deficit spending and if things in the Middle East do not settle down, there is seemingly no end to this food inflation.Our best bet is to buy local but that only works for five months a year. The end result is that no restaurant from McDonalds to the best of fine dining is spared. Price raises are here to stay just as we come out of recession. Hopefully this inflation does not put us back into recession but it very well might! Even the cheapest of food items have soared! A case of Idaho potatoes was $15 last year but today they are over $30. Carrots last year were $8 for a 25lb bag and they are now $22.
