Comments on: Restaurant Ups Prices Due To Gasoline

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 18:56:23 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I went out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant I’d been wanting to try (plus I had a coupon). When I got the bill, I saw that they had charged $1 for chips/salsa, which is normally free in Mexican places in our area. Then, I saw that the ice tea was $1.75! I’m kind of muttering in displeasure about this to my fiance, and we go up to the register to pay. The owner is running the cash register and we get to talking…he tells us that he had to charge for the chips/salsa, raising prices, because the people supplying him are raising prices….anyway, I came away from that dinner with some understanding of small business owners and the prices they pay and then charge us, their ultimate customer. Waling out of the restaurant, I wasn’t nearly as …miffed, I guess is the best word, as I was walking up to the cash register! Anyway, that’s my two cents.

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:03:02 +0000

Some places I order from have increased their delivery charge (which makes some sense, although there’s no way that the cost of driving from the restaurant to my house and back has gone up _that_ much), but I haven’t seen anyone increase _menu_ prices (ie the price for carry-out or dine-in food).

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:05:17 +0000

Seems like a convenient way to pass the blame to someone else.

By: jim

jim — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:40:59 +0000

Probably for simplicity… the $1 increase across the board bothered me far less than the watering down/changing brands of the sauce because the increase was explicit and reasoned (even if I didn’t agree with it).

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 17:37:51 +0000

Weird. Why not just increase their prices by $1/item rather than playing games like this? I guess that would require new menus, though. It’s also weird that they applied a flat increase to things that cost varying amounts. Why an 11% increase on a $9 item and an 8% increase on a $12 item. Doesn’t the price of gas affect them both similarly?