NEW DELHI: Eating out at your favourite restaurant or cafe is set to get costlier as inflation-hit restaurants and cafes are implementing price hikes. A number of restaurants that TNIE talked to have either hiked prices in the range of 5-15%, or are contemplating hikes to offset cost pressures.
The founder of Biryani Blues Raymond Andrews said the total food and packaging cost is up by 10% and they will increase the prices to manage a 50% hit to the business. Biryani Blues will go for a 3.5% price hike and 1.5% discount reduction by the end of the month.
“It’s happening across brands as we speak, but this may be temporary as much of this inflation is speculative and rest on account of fuel prices going up. We see things should come back to normal in a couple of months,” Andrews said.
Rashmi Daga, founder of FreshMenu also said food inflation across staples, dairy and poultry impacts the company’s menu. “Hence, we have taken a 7-12% price hike across product categories in April.”Jubilant FoodWorks has taken a price increase of nearly 5% in April 2022, according to a recent report by ICICI Securities. The franchisees of Yum! Brands have also taken up to 10% price hike with lower increase in Pizza Hut, it noted.
Farman Beig, co-founder & CEO of Wat-a-Burger, says, they might revisit the price bracket as it is not just impacting one ingredient but the entire supply chain. He says while there is no immediate timeline to enforce any increase, it will not be more than 10-15%. Profit margins are leaner for the industry that is still recovering from the impact of Covid-19.
In addition to it, as raw material prices are climbing up, fuel prices are hitting record highs, and supply chain is disrupted, the industry has started passing on the cost to customers. Gaurav Kanwar, founder, Harajuku Tokyo cafe says, “We’re taking a severe hit on our margins as of now hoping it to be a temporary phase.” They are likely to increase prices by around 7-10% if the situation doesn’t stabilise.