DAILYMAIL.COM
A perfect storm of rising oil costs, supply chain issues and labor shortages is driving some restaurants to put prices up
Alan Natkiel, owner of New Hampshire restaurant Georgia’s Northside, said costs had spiked in the last 3 months, forcing him to put up prices
He said the cost of brisket has gone up 185%, chicken breast is up 70%, and fryer oil costs have doubled in the past three months
National chains such as IHOP and Applebee’s say their costs have also shot up, and may be forced to pass that on to consumers
Inflation rose 4.2% in the last 12 months, its highest rate since 2008
A New Hampshire restaurateur has apologized to customers for putting prices up after the cost of basic items like oil, meat and gloves rose by as much as 300%. Alan Natkiel, the owner of Georgia’s Northside in Concord, says the price of brisket has gone up 185%, chicken breast is up 70%, and fryer oil costs have doubled in the past three months, while plastic gloves were three times as expensive as pre-pandemic prices. The price of disposable gloves have soared by 300%. Natkiel says the surge in prices has even forced him to stop serving chicken wings as a national shortage has made them so pricey they were no longer commercially viable. He shared his frustration in a Facebook post at having to put meal prices up, as inflation reaches its highest level since 2008. ‘You don’t want to be like, ‘Hey customers, I just raised the price of your food because I have a glove issue,’ he told WMUR.com. ‘They don’t really want to hear that.’ The latest Consumer Price Index summary released this month by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics showed overall prices rose by 4.2% in the 12 months to May. Gas prices across the US have now hit a seven-year high of $3.04 a gallon, according to the AAA, increasing the price of shipping. Continuing supply chain disruptions from the pandemic are causing shortages in key fresh food and produce areas.
