The Associated Press reports that restaurants are dealing with high food prices by moving to less expensive ingredients and dishes:
Food commodities prices have mostly come down
from record highs reached earlier this year, but wholesale flour prices
have still doubled in the last year, while egg prices have shot up 70
percent and cheese 25 percent.
"This
is definitely an unprecedented period of wholesale food inflation.
Operators must focus on cost, and one way is using different
ingredients," said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at
the 380,000-member National Restaurant Association.
The
organization recently surveyed restaurant operators and found surging
food costs ranked as their No. 2 concern after the economy. A year ago,
labor was their second biggest worry.
At
Ben Benson's Steakhouse in midtown Manhattan, wholesale costs of prime
beef have shot up 50 percent in the last year, forcing the 36-year-old
establishment to raise the price of its signature 18-ounce sirloin
steak from $40 to $46.
