It’s not just that. Restaurants are turning away patrons and leaving tables empty because they’re too short staffed. I ordered Thai food last week from a local place and they told me there was a 90 minute backup on getting the order because they didn’t have enough workers. I’m seeing small business close early and for extra days because they can’t hire. Like it’s literally just the owner keeping the place open as long as they can and closing so they can take break. Even places like Starbucks and Costco, huge companies, have supply shortages on things like chickens or bagels, and staffing issues.
It’s wild. Yeah, sure these places should pay more. I’m not going out to Bertuccis if a plate of spaghetti for my kid is $20 instead of 10 because they need to pay their waiters more.
The economy is fucked up. A shitty house is half a million dollars around here, rent is $2k for a studio in a bad neighborhood, so of course you need earn a big paycheck just to survive. But, we’re all so strapped from rent/mortgage and bills we can’t afford to pay more for other shit, which means businesses can’t pay their staff more, which means more closures and everything rolling up more and more to Amazon and Walmart to fulfill our basic needs.
These are my anecdotal observations. There’s enough out there in the news and on the internet to make me think it’s happening in a lot of the country.
I feel that, but also I think dining prices have been artificially suppressed on the backs of the often-undocumented workers for decades and that a massive adjustment is needed.
I like paying less for food too, but if the sector can’t survive as-is because it can’t attract workers, well, that’s not what you call sustainable.
I realize that 20 dollars for a plate of spaghetti is way too much @Wallapuctus, but if an industry doesn’t work in a way that benefits its employees, then maybe it’s time to reconsider how we eat out and when we eat out.
I hear you but do we really want to see restaurants and shops and the like just disappear? Do we want to live in the world where there’s only 3 companies that supply everything? Where there’s no reason you leave your house because everything went out of business and the things that didn’t are too expensive to visit?
It’s $20 for a plate of spaghetti because of the cost issues going all the way back up the labor and supply chain. You gotta pay the guy that cooks the spaghetti and the waiter that serves enough to afford to live near your restaurant. Which means you need to charge $20 for food that probably cost 40 cents to buy. And you’re asking the patron to tip another 20% on top of that.
Meanwhile, the person coming in to buy that spaghetti is probably also strapped and one paycheck away from foreclosure or eviction. They’re a step up on the economic ladder from the person making and serving the food, but it’s all relative.
Maybe taxing rental properties and extra homes would help. Maybe this is the effects of inflation. I’m too young to have been alive during the inflation period leading up to the 80s. But, 35% of all US dollars ever made were printed in the last year (according to a post I saw). That can’t be normal, right? It has to have an effect.
Society changes. Our recent love affair with restaurants as fast and cheap has really only been around for the last 60 or so years. Heck, the concept of restaurants as a whole started in the western world only in the 1700’s.
If restaurants will pass, like the movie theater, then so be it. I’m sure some other activity will fill in the void left behind.
But I doubt that will be the case.
Instead, I think we’ll see the end of some fast casual dinning experiences, which is a shame, but hardly the end of the road. We’ll probably see an end of mom-and-pop restaurants… which is less of a shame since most of them really aren’t that good. Honestly, my own cooking is far superior to what you can get in those places.
What will we see replace them? Hopefully more housing? We could really use more housing in the US.
Restaurants won’t pass, but they might get more expensive (in relative terms) and thus fast food might scale down considerably.
Alstein
3844
I suspect folks who lost jobs during pandemic and had assistance used that assistance to train/get better jobs, so the shit jobs lost their supply of workers.
Folks didn’t quit to stop working so much as got better jobs. For once welfare actually give folks a helping hand up, not just stopped the brink.
The fast casual places were dodoing before COVID, as young folks who could afford wanted more authentic experiences. The only thing those places were good for was a baseline when you had no better option.
What I see here:
Places are struggling to get workers, the 2-3 places I go to, I see a lot of new faces, and the quality of service has gone down since they’re scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Prices have gone up, but only 10% or so. It’s a bit of a sticker shock, but still affordable for me (I’m spending a lot more money on something else these days)
I can’t really judge how folks are treating, as I tend to go to places when they’re empty, because while I was unafraid to dine in during COVID, I did want to dine in during the times of lowest volume.
KevinC
3845
Not at all, but if the only way to operate a restaurant is to exploit undocumented workers and have their employees live in poverty then so be it.
I don’t think that will be the case, though. I believe I remember good ol’ Papa John freaking out about Obamacare because it meant having to raise the cost of pizzas by 25 cents in order to provide healthcare to his employees.
Is it actually $20 for a plate of kid’s spaghetti anywhere?
Labor cost in a restaurant is going to run anywhere between 25% and 35%, with the lower range being typical for fast food and the higher range for fine dining. So an increase of even something like 30% in labor cost is going to amount to about a 7.5% increase in costs at the low end, 10% at the high end.
Edited to reflect no kids menu pricing, since that’s derailing the point:
If the plate of kid’s spaghetti was $15 before, it’s going to be $16.50.
JoshL
3847
This is from a not-fancy restaurant near my house (rated $$ on google maps):
So, not $20, but not far off. With tax and tip, it’s over $20. I live in a very high cost of living area.
We don’t go there.
Is that the kid’s menu?
I’m not saying you can’t already be charged $20 for pasta. I’m sure that’s normal. I’m saying that it takes a huge increase in labor cost to move the price appreciably, because labor cost is a relatively small part of the whole.
KevinC
3849
This is not true. I’ve been told by reliable sources throughout my life that we can’t raise the minimum wage to something like $15/hr because a cheeseburger is going to cost twenty bucks if we do.
People lie. They’re bad. Shocking, I know, but true.
JoshL
3851
Not the kid’s menu. My kids are too old to order off the kid’s menu these days. I dunno about Wallapuctus’s kids.
Sure, okay, but this is my point:
At least around here (SF Bay Area) restaurant prices seem to be increasing based on more than just increased labor costs. I’m pretty sure there’s a “we’ve been fucked for nearly two years, have a bunch of debt, and need to try and get out of it” surcharge in there somewhere.
The $20 hypothetical price is probably hyperbole for Bertucci’s. The kids spaghetti is $6.50 there. If they double their costs it’ll be $13.
Panera, on the other hand, can suck it. I go in there and get everyone a lunch and drink and the bill is like $40. If they want a cookie now it’s $50. It’s crazy. I could get actual good food for that price.
I also question the labor costs for restaurants. They pay their wait staff $2.13 and hour, and expect them to earn a living off tips. It’s madness. If they kick that up to $15, which is barely a living wage, that’s about a 7x increase in pay. And they’d still need tips!
Anyway the rent is too damn high. Tax landlords. Tax investment properties.
If they double their labor cost, it will be $8.
I know we’re talking labor but it’s not just labor. Rents are up, delivery costs are up (if you can get consistent deliveries due to labor issues), energy costs are up, etc. It’s across the board.
