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?

I agree, it's inevitable.

However reducing minimum wage is a political move that is suicide. It's just not going to be reduced by this government.

I would argue it's possibly a false economy as you end up with more unemployed and on benefits too.

Obviously the solution seems to be to restrict benefits. So I don't know how it's helping anyone tbh.

The issue is housing; insane mortgage prices, landlords charging a fortune and properties lost to second homes and air b and b.

But no one wants to really tackle that either because of how many people see houses as an investment not a home.

I agree. The problem is the increasing number of people for the whom the "value" of their output is less than the minimum wage, so will be stuck on benefits for ever since they are effectively unemployable. People blame low cost labour coming elsewhere but those people are paid the same but work more effectively for the money.

If it cost 30% less to eat out, more businesses would be viable. Setting minimum costs will always cause some businesses to become unviable.

£460 yesterday for lunch in a pub for four. Food quality mixed, new Masterchef winning head chef wasn’t even there. Inexperienced staff, taxis another £80 on top. The whole thing just felt like a bit of a rip off - I don’t mind paying for something that feels like a treat, but this was average.

My example above of a small business gaining £24000 in staffing costs alone in a year doesn't even give an accurate reflection of the problem.

As a small business it actually gets some taxation relief. If he employs more people he would get hit for an even bigger % increase.

To break this down, if a business did only employ 4 staff to run a restaurant the difference £24000 they have to find us as follows

Assuming you did 30 covers a night every single night of the year you'd have to charge every single one an extra £1.30 per head to manage the same margins as previously.

This is without considering most restaurants have more employers so the burden is higher than £24000, the fact that other costs will go up as a result of those same charges and many restaurants will struggle to get 30 covers every single night of the year. Particularly in less urban areas.

The numbers just don't stack up. The government should be able to do basic maths and work this and the implications out.

They KNOW it will put a huge number out of business and will put prices up to a level where it it beyond the means if many to eat out.

Anyone who has a problem with this should address such concerns to the chancellor rather than their local struggling restaurant.

See I don't even know how to comprehend what you are to get a bill for £480 for 4!

That's the other end of the scale for ridiculous!

We went out last night. I rang to book as I thought it would be busy . Went for the early bird. 4 early bird 27euro x 4 = plus 2 desserts ( not from the early bird menu ) and 2 cokes =127 euro 118 pounds. I mean so much food, nice service,lovely food and very quiet. I counted 10 diners. The place was only a 3rd full. Thats a Saturday night in a place that gives lovely plentiful food. Said to my husband we will go again in October. I love the Marks meal deal / we cook and get dessert in on a Saturday ( normally ) i feel so sorry for restaurants. I hear in my job there is no jobs for young people / kids in college finding it v hard to get jobs.

I can NEVER afford to eat out!!

Realistically just about every sit-down restaurant has a choice to put up meal by at least £3.00 per cover or reduce quality significantly just to stay where they were twelve months ago. Realistically it's more likely to be an extra £5 per cover. Which for four is an extra £20.

As a minimum.

Plus, the portions have got smaller. We stopped going to our local for this reason. It used to be around £40 for steak, triple cooked chips (they were a £1.50 supplement), a sauce, salad and a non-alcoholic drink for two people. Over the last year it’s close to £55 with shrunken portions!! No thanks.

Yeah, that's bollocks. Going up well before that

Agree. It's been restaurant week recently where I live, so much lower cost.

The food has been mediocre. We picked aspirational places as a way to try what we normally couldn't afford. So unless they'd massively changed their usual food, it definitely would not have been worth the usual inflated prices.

Restaurant week is supposed to encourage people to eat out more, having enjoyed the novel exposure. It's done the opposite for me. Shown me the food isn't worth the usual prices.

The prices have gone up at a pretty steady and reasonable rate. It's 15 years of wage stagnation and the increased costs of other things that make it seem expensive. Only mentioning the food itself is purely ignorance on your part

Pizza express is big time struggling in Dublin
Like constant ads

Wtf?
How can a pub meal cost that much?

My husband and boys pay half that for haircuts. £40 is madness for a basic cut for them.

We can't afford therapists.

We don't buy iced coffees or any other £7 coffees. I'm always amazed people can afford that treat as frequently as they do!

So, not, I'm not going to spend £25 on a burger. It is too expensive for a burger.

Definitely agree, it’s the price of soft drinks now as well. Last time I ate out I got a glass of blackcurrant cordial with water and that was still £3.20! Along with the service charges that a few years ago where never on the bill. We used to go out for something to eat as a a family at least once a fortnight sometimes every week a couple of years ago. Now we only go out for special occasions like birthdays/family visits and holidays etc so around on every 6/7 weeks maximum and we are on a comfortable(ish) income but just can’t afford it anymore if we still want to go on holidays (which take priority for us)

Where was this, the moon?

It's nothing to do with the prices restaurant have to charge. It's because the wealth of the working and middle classes in the UK for those below the age of 50 doesn't exist anymore in the way it did back in the 80's and early 90's. Most families can't afford to consume anything beyond the absolute necessities, they've not been able to build up assets and equity in the way people of my generation were able to do. Instead they have huge monthly payments they have to meet for mortgages, rent, utilities, student loans. I've been looking back at the cost of items in mid 80's, rents were 7 times cheaper in relative terms, I bought my first house in south London 15 minutes from a main line station on a 3.5 times salary multiple (4 years after leaving uni as most people did of my generation). Utilities and rates back then weren't really much of a concern. It's not the price of restaurants that's the issue but wealth inequality which suppresses consumption, dampens economic growth resulting in poor job opportunities, low wages and low productivity. So yes.. to your suggestion of tax.

Four adults, three courses each, a round of drinks at the bar (beer and wine, no cocktails or anything), two bottles of £40 wine (plonked on the table unopened), £41 service charge.

Starters were about £16 each, main course £35 average, puddings about £12.

Obviously the prices were on the menu so I could have kept a mental note, but I didn’t think to. And as I say, if it had been amazing I wouldn’t have minded but it just didn’t feel like value for money.

This is in Devon by the way, not London or Home Counties!

I went to a local restaurant recently that I had not been to since Covid. A starter was just under what I used to pay for a 2 course. Prices go up but not by that much.

Good grief. I’d have taken one look at the prices and walked back out.

Except, they are raising the price by £5 and reducing quality so they are making more profit.

I paid a shade under a grand for a meal for four - champagne to start, wine, the full works. Excellent service and ambiance (ohm-bee-ahnce). Celebration of DDs graduation. Worth every penny.

spent £120 dinner for two. One beer each, pizza, pudding. Felt ripped off.

spent £4.50 on a fried egg bap from local burger van. Bargain

its horses for courses imo

It’s just more of wages not keeping up with inflation isn’t it?

It's always worth the money when you get good ohm-bee-ahnce.,