Beyond the $40 course: rising costs set to bite diners
Restaurateur Matteo Pignatelli has taken tomatoes and asparagus off the menu this month. They have just become too expensive. Mr Pignatelli, the owner of Matteo’s Restaurant in North Fitzroy, has felt the full impact of soaring food prices, which have risen well above inflation over the past five years - not only for milk, butter and flour, but also for vegetables and meat. And according to food industry experts, prices are set to rise further in 2008. As a consequence, Mr Pignatelli has regularly had to change the menu, which ranges from $35 to $40 for a main meal, in order to take off foods that soar in price. The menu is now one page, making it easier to reprint and change. “This has been the sharpest increase (in food) in the shortest span of time. Almost overnight it’s gone up 20%,” he said. The drought, water shortages, high grain prices and booming overseas demand for some Australian produce is putting pressure on food prices. And although the focus of the food issue in Melbourne has been on the rising price of groceries on supermarket shelves, menu prices in the city are also slowly creeping up. Todd Blake, the chief executive officer of Restaurant & Catering Victoria, said restaurant owners believed price rises were essential if they were to break even, as they grappled not only with the rising cost of food, but also with increased costs of labour and rent. The Age, April 19.
