Restaurant prices are just ludicrous

[Mummyhokey]

I know that this is hardly breaking news, but seriously what the actual fuck is going on with prices in restaurants?

Went out to a High Street chain restaurant last night for DD’s birthday. So whilst the food was cooked fresh on site there was absolutely no local chef input into the menu etc. There were also only two waiting staff working a busy place so the service was slow even though they were doing their best.

The cost of the meals was, in my opinion, completely unrealistic in terms of what we were getting. Little change from £20 for a basic burger or chicken dish. Another fiver for a side order. So for the four of us, £100 gets us one course each. Drinks on top, £3.95 for a glass of watered down Diet Coke. Twice that for a beer. £6 for a slice of cake for dessert.

This seems typical now for restaurants. It’s just totally unaffordable for most families to do this more than very occasionally, surely? I get that utilities and wages have gone up, as have the cost of ingredients. But have they gone up by that much? The increases seem outrageous. That slice of cake works out at about £50 for the entire cake. I could buy the ingredients for that burger for well under a fiver.

And then the 12.5% optional service charge added to the bill so that the options are ‘Pay it’ or ‘Ask for it to be removed and feel like a dick for doing so’.

No offence to hospitality business owners or the people working in them, but this just can’t be sustainable surely?

Sadly, very sadly its not just NI, its increased min wage, increased elec costs, increased supplier costs, increased rental all passed on to the restaurant who then have to
paddle to stay afloat.

I am not an advocate of Starmer or Reeves, This government have done zilch to help small businesses, or encourage new business. Why would you want to build a business in this climate.

We are being taken over by mega brand chains rather than encouraging someone who loves food and wants to create an experience.

The real hidden costs are.... property, business rates, insurance, utilities, staff salaries, staff on-costs (NI, pension), fixtures, debt servicing. This amounts to about 60% of the bill. 20% of the bill is VAT. The remaining 20% is for ingredients and profit. Nobody gets rich in this trade. The best you can do is to establish a concept, build its popularity into a small chain, sell out to to a large corporation who then roll out the concept nationwide.

Trouble is UK and Ireland have never really been eating out countries. In much of Europe and elsewhere it’s a common thing most people do once or twice a week. In the UK perhaps once a month, or even every other month. So that’s reflected in the number of customers, restaurants, and therefore the prices those restaurants can offer and remain viable.

I agree. The price of burgers is ridiculous. We rarely go out these days. On the up side I’ve become pretty good at recreating these meals at home.

Unfortunately previous governments havn't helped "small" businesses either, hence the closures of huge numbers of small independent shops, pubs, cafes, guest houses, restaurants, etc. They're all obsessed with big businesses/chains who obviously have the power to lobby government ministers and senior civil servants to benefit themselves. We're not a national of "shopkeepers" anymore thanks to a few decades of anti-small business governments.

Same with the ridiculous ideas to force ISA investors to invest in the stock market - again, that's not money which will go to "small" businesses - it's money that will go to the chains and big businesses thus feeding the overpaid managing directors and shareholders. Where's the money for independent shops, private guest houses, small private restaurants, etc - there's none unless the proprietors are willing to take out bank loans on security of their homes, whereas big businesses get money from institutional investors, no security required!

I agree these prices are high and a 12.5% service charge is excessive. I eat out 2 or 3 times a week, in and around Southampton; for a main, pudding, and a couple of drinks, cheap is £30pp ( Hungry Horse), medium is £40pp, expensive is £50pp. More than that I ain’t paying it.

Big businesses/institutional investors are now taking over professional services such as GP practices, vets, opticians, accountants and solicitors. They think they're clever because a lot of the time they retain the "image" and business name of the private firms they take over, to fool the public/customers into thinking they're still independent firms. But in reality, it's the millionaires/billionaires behind the scenes putting in the money to buy out the private/independent owners and reap the profits as they put in cheap staff/locums etc so service quality nose dives.

Just atop going to these run of the mill places that have got expensive. I have. There's no point complaining as cost of labour and ingredients has gone up at lot in the last 18 months, and with the economic recession affecting a lot of people, especially ones with mortgages, fewer people are eating out, which means all the overheads and the minimum profit margin to make it a viable business have to be spread across fewer diners..

Just treat yourselves one or twice a year at somewhere special, and push the boat out.

It's easiest enough to get similar prepared ready to eat food at M&S or Waitrose to heat up if you don't want to cook and have a night in with friends or watch a film at home.

I think it's time dinner parties and Safari dinners were reinvented.

I think the minimum wage increases are a main driver. Lots of hospitality staff are on the minimum wage and then there has to be incremental increases for each level of management. Ultimately the consumer has to pay for it. Those staff can't be expected to deliver 10% more output because they are being paid 10% more.

When you hear on the news retail and hospitality companies complaining about the Labour government's clueless management of the country's they have a point

£100 minus VAT is about £83

That's barely the cost of employing anyone for 4 hours , let alone ingredients, rent etc

Until those who run the country have experience of running business they will never understand

83,000 hospitality and retail jobs lost since Civil Servent Sir Kier took over

It’s insane. Barely go out these days

Pubs and restaurants are suffering from high costs for staff ( minimum wage increases) energy ( renewables are expensive) rent (greedy landlords) rates (inefficient councils) as well as the food ( farms suffering) and drink (duty increases) Not much they can do about most of those but sadly the cost to customers means that going out is now a less frequent event than it used to be resulting in businesses folding.

@PistachioTiramisuLimoncelloi completely agree. I have seen lots of new smalls businesses fold in my area. Lots have been sweet shops as another poster mentioned. It makes me wonder about the market research and profit margin research the owners are doing as well as who if anyone is advising them.
i read a stat once about catering businesses having a low success rate of surviving the first year. And yet they pop up all over the place. You can often predict which ones will survive too.
One coffee shop near us refurbed a building which had been derelict for years. It’s all by itself right on the coast in a really popular dog walking and families with scooters spot. I know the community was delighted it opened. The footfall was massive it’s a really popular spot year round and right in the beach. They converted the upstairs into a yoga studio and an air bnb. Every time we went out that way it was busy. They just sold coffee and cake and it was reasonable. It was so nice. It folded within a year. Another company has taken it over.
it seems like catering is one of the hardest industries to make a buck in now.

No doubt restaurants, cafes & fast food outlets have doubled/tripled in price over the last decade. No argument there. People who dine out regularly are really feeling it.

Running a food service business these days is an extremely expensive endeavour and much more than the food on your plate is factored into menu prices. This is modern day reality. If you take the time to research the overheads, insurance, penalty rates etc. that small businesses are expected to survive & profit through, then the end price is justified. Profit margins are small. Location is a large factor also. Also, good precincts & neighbourhoods (i.e. with little or no bad element, illegal immigrants, etc.) charge much more rent, which has to be factored into drink & food prices.

My advice is to accept rising costs & get used to it because things are only going to get worse on that front. Keep the dining out to a minimum, maybe once a week or fortnight, make your own breakfast & lunch, invest in a decent Barista coffee machine (I have a Delonghi) & minimise purchasing fast food (including restaurant meals). Develop a more organic approach to the food you put in your mouth & not only will you save heaps of dosh - you'll become a better, healthier version of you. Guaranteed you'll save at least $100/week (probably more) if you do all of these things. You could also adopt cooking as a hobby. I think the younger generation has collectively lost the joy of preparing healthy, wholesome food with their own hands. Some who are well taught by parent/s, chefs/short order cooks, do not have that problem, but the vast majority do because mum & dad lead such busy lives & do not have the energy, time or desire left at the end of the day to carve time out for this healthy family activity.

In Australia dining out is now out of reach for many middle income families. 100£ for four meals? That's to be expected in Australia, even after exchange rate is factored.

A local bar employs four staff. The owner was saying how costs went up £2000 a month in a year just through staffing - cost it's not just the minimum wage, it's also increases in employer NI contributions. He is a lovely guy and really good to his staff but that's a hell of a lot to find extra on the space of a year -£24,000 just on staff.

Not true in London.

Whatever the reason for the costs and subsequent ridiculous prices, people can’t afford it. It’s not a good business model. Just telling people they need to pay more or lose restaurants and cafes doesn’t work. If your choice is essential things like rent/mortgage/ food shopping/ clothing your kids/ running your car etc… luxuries like eating out are going to go first.
Even as a middle income family, we are not going to prioritise eating out over say, going on holiday - which is also bloody extortionate now.
Maybe we should tax those billionaires a bit more!

If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. But this doesn't mean restaurants aren't charging a reasonable price for eating out.

Arguably too many people were eating out before and we do have too many restaurants.

The problem is that there are too many chains and these have been expanded beyond a sustainable level by cheap debt.

Hopefully if there is a contraction, this is where the losses will be seen and people will switch to independents or smaller chains that are not owned by venture capitalists. These are usually cheaper and serve better food, plus if they see an increase in footfall, so more likely to stay in business.

I only ever eat out now when I have Tesco vouchers to spend. It is so expensive.

I think that is the problem with minimum wages at the level they are - it makes lots of business that rely on employing people unviable. People aren't willing to pay the prices that cover the costs and those jobs are then lost.

That’s ok then 🤷🏻‍♀️

My local to work has changed hand and now is a specialist Thai restaurant - same layout/furniture but no longer a standard pub grub menu.

The lowest prices item is £17

When we went to the pub lunch time you could have a sandwich and chips - or crisps or salad.

I can’t remember the last pub to offer a decent lunch menu that didn’t cost the earth.

They stopped, so we stopped going.

Well do you think other people should be under paid and exploited? Or work until we are 70 before getting a state pension?

Or should we reduce the minimum wage and NI contributions so we can all have cheap restaurant meals?!

That unfortunately is the economics of it.