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 went to a place for a friend’s birthday a few weeks ago.
£3.50 for a diet coke- I was expecting a big glass as with most places- nope it was a price marked 85p can.

Went to a pizza café (not part of a chain) the other day.

We wanted to share a pizza as one of us wasn't feeling terribly hungry.

1 pizza - £21.50
1 bowl of garden salad (in a bowl similar to cereal bowl size) - £8.95
2 half ciders - £7.20

They added a service charge too and it came to £41.30!

Proportionally it’s the same, but it’s not that straightforward.

I’m using hypothetical figures as I don’t know exactly how much the costs of running a restaurant have increased by.

Let’s assume that last year a meal was £100 before VAT. The VAT the customer has to pay was £20. Let’s assume that this year overheads and tax have meant that prices have increased 15%. The cost of that meal will now be £115. The VAT on that will now be £23.

The VAT has increased by £3. The customer is paying 15% more VAT than they were last year.

For me, I would understand the prices if the food was amazing and service good. But most times we eat out now, it’s a massive disappointment and we will stop unless it’s unavoidable.

recent examples:
-restaurant forgot kids food, then brought wrong order
-sunday roast: beef was overcooked, veg so hard I could hardly chew it, vegetarian pie was tiny
-courgette halloumi salad had 3 tiny pieces of courgette and 1 piece of black halloumi that was hard in the middle (salad was £18.50)
-kids menu for a small pizza, drink and ice cream was £12.50
-wrong order for me and 1 child

I just don’t have the energy to put up with this shit anymore. When we are on holidays abroad, we have better and fresher meals for cheaper plus decent service.

Recent work lunch in London (so can expense it but still) in average restaurant.
2 coffees
2 soft drinks
tab water
2 main courses

£70!

It’s not the increase in prices that gets me as much as the decrease in things I actually want to eat.

Round here we basically have the choice of chains (which means microwaved Brakes food etc) or fancy restaurants with cheffy-type food, which I hate.

I just want freshly cooked, flavoursome food, I don’t want ready meals or stuff that shows how clever the chef thinks they are.

For this reason I don’t really go to chains anymore. They’re comparably price to really good country pubs and so I’d go to a pub instead!

Apart from Nandos which I love and is my guilty pleasure 😂 it’s cheaper though!

Nope. Good restaurants will survive, crap ones will fail. People who can afford restaurants will go to the good ones, and people who can't afford it will go without.

It is not an essential service, and that is the normal rule of supply and demand. It is literally economics 101

Our mindset to eating out changed post kids. Used to be a couple of times a week now we eat out probably once every other month- if that. We could afford to do it much more but due to the cost it now is in the ‘luxury’ bit of my brain rather than ‘regular’ as the value for money is much lower. I tend to spend a load on good quality meat/fish etc at the supermarket instead.

Agree.

I'd generally want to either pay less, usually food court type options, or pay more for something better. That being said, I think people using such chains are often going through vouchers or discount schemes anyway? It's similar to zoos and aquariums, the door price isn't necessarily what people are paying.

To be fair to Prezzo they do a lot of decent deals, I have never known anyone pay full price in there. A sit down meal there with much nicer food and atmosphere isnt far off fast food now.

Its just the next phase of an ever changing high street, retail shops were slowly replaced by coffee shoes and eateries- some towns here have the same chain with multiple units within walking distance which is unnecessary and was never going to be sustainable. Going out for a meal as a 'treat'/social event might make consumers expect better quality and service and increase standards.

also - when in UK no matter how good the service, i always ask for the service charge to be removed. I always tip, and because DH is a chef we tend to tip more - it seems to be the way with people who work in the biz. I check what happens to the tip, and how good the service has been and tip accordingly but usually never less than 10%.

I don't care if the waiter, owner or other patrons think i'm a twat for doing that.

Yup. We don’t do anthing any more. I paid nearly £40 a couple of months bavk for three coffees a toaster and a muffin.

It’s staying in or picnics

Thats all we do. Can't afford anything else

That sounds about standard price. Yes it is a bit expensive. But worth it for nicer food but not worth it if its not that great.

Then there will be a lot fewer restaurants, as there were decades ago, as higher earners cannot support all of them.

I still do it to have quality time with friends -but even that's been affected, as in our city you book slots and they all want to close at 10! In my youth that's when we landed at a restaurant 😂 The quality of food is nothing like it used to be - a few weeks ago my friend and I paid £100 for 2 starters, one bottle of wine, 2 mains (1 was veggie pasta ) and 1 dessert. Might seem fine but both service and food were very poor. North East prices. I presume you now have to pay a lot more for nice food.
As a family of 3 we no longer eat out - I'd rather spend the money on other activities.

I wonder if it's to do with the cost of property in the UK?

Living in rural France where housing/premises are far cheaper, but food costs much the same,or more than the UK, I paid 28 euros for the following meal:
Caesar salad starter
Steak tartare and chips
Cafe gourmand (coffee and three little puddings)
2 glasses of wine

It was delicious - we could be lucky but our local does a little salad plus steak and chips for 19 euros.

There was a piece on the local TV about our nearest touristy town having a pretty bad season with a lot less (or is it it fewer) people in the restaurants. People over here are keeping hold of their money and not going out as much.

We rarely go out for a meal as a family - but even take aways are shocking.

For 3 of us having an Indian take away - 3 mains, 2 rices, peshwari and a side = £47.00

On busy evenings when we have music lessons in the evenings, sometimes go to Tortilla, but with the loyalty app, every 5 mains are free which makes a difference or at least makes me feel that way

I don't mind paying a premium price if the whole package is decent /clean / tasty. Went to a cafe carvery the other day that was £15/head. £20/head with drinks. Prob shouldn't expect much for that price (but we are in the deprived north!) but it was all mass produced, basic, down to a cost stuff, tables were not cleaned. Staff where unhelpful/disengaged. I begrudged paying that money over as there was no value/littles added value. If I'm having a carvery/Sunday lunch somewhere I want it to feel a bit nice, rather than thinking I'm being ripped off with a tiny slice of dried out beef and aunt Bessy roast potatoes.

The following week paid a visit to a fairly newly opened local team room (small chain of 4) and the experience was totally different, fairly typical tea room menu (and as we'd eaten in there other team rooms in the same chain we knew what it should be like) . Paid £18 /head for lunch. But food was as we expected, staff where lovely, ambience was great, tables cleared, carpark was well kept, there was a water bowl for dogs, (plus biscuits for them on the counter) electric vehicle charging and a place to pump up your bike tyres and refill your water bottle. The toilets were the best I have ever been in to. So although it was just a couple of sandwiches and a hot drink each I didn't mind paying the nearly £40 cost.

Going to a local cafe next week which is a couple of quid /head more expensive than the average cost of tea and cake in the local area. But it's so nice, the food, the owners, the chairs and tables are lovely. I don't mind handing over my cash

I think what I'm saying is that I don't mind paying if the whole piece is in my eyes value for money.

It definitely makes me balk a bit at going to MacDonalds and spending nearly £40 for four meals. Which are generally cold and disappointing.

I feel that some food establishments haven't changed (or rather have changed downwards in quality/quantity) and are still living off the good times and havent rethought their business model , and what 'extras' they can include to make the experience nicer for the patrons.

Oh, and I get the bit about NI, utilities etc being much more expensive.

Apols for the ramble.

YANBU. We rarely eat out now as we just don't enjoy it for what we are paying. Previously we ate out 2 - 3 times a week.

Even Indian restaurants, much loved for their food and affordability have jumped on the bandwagon and increased their prices by about 50%. They are taking the piss.

The price of a bottle of wine in a restaurant is completely OTT.

I know some increase was necessary but since covid it seems everything has increased by about 50%

I wonder if it's to do with the cost of property in the UK?

Yes, we are used to cheap food to cook at home & eating out. Housing costs don't leave much room in most people's budget.

Thing is OP, all the good places to eat near me, are always busy.

The chaff gets separated and never lasts long.

In 2021 the UK minimum wage for those over 23 was £8.91 per hour.

Today, for everyone over 21 it is £12.21 per hour.

That's a 50% increase. As well as that increase, NI contributions have gone up. And as the national wage goes up, pension contributions paid by employers have to go up.

Utilities have also gone up. Food prices have gone up. And that goes for every company that is in the supply chain servicing hospitality venues, such as restaurants. But they have only one way to pass those costs - to the public.

So, no, it's not sustainable. Those "nice basic restaurants that serve locally cooked food" just can't afford to do it any more.

They also contribute to the restaurant’s fixed prices, they need to pay for their premises either through rent or ownership.

Used to own a restaurant. The overheads are crippling, especially since Covid. Profit margins were always super small (especially for independent restaurants) but now they’re minute.