Economic Impact on Restaurants

Results of a recent look at changing industry trends due to the economy:

http://www.rimag.com/web-exclusives/articles/sluggish-economy-restaurants.asp?nid=3458

Are those in the industry seeing any difference? How about customers- are you changing your eating out habits??

Deb

The battle against food costs has certainly become more feverish of late, sadly no news there. I have noticed a sort of "plateauing" effect with business not growing as steadily as it was even a year ago. It seems like there is more treading water going on. In an attempt to buck the trend, the wife and I are actually trying to eat out a little more often to help bolster the industry (our tiny part, I guess)

It is refreshing to see that food quality is more important that convenience (and yet somehow the chains are packed night in and night out...)

[Robin Garr]

In an attempt to buck the trend, the wife and I are actually trying to eat out a little more often to help bolster the industry (our tiny part, I guess)

Three cheers each for the two of you - that's six cheers! We're doing the same, and I can't say that a concerted effort along these lines by all the "foodies" who care about Louisville's local independent restaurant community would do any harm, particularly if times get harder out there.

I am a man of moderate means and have curtailed my driving escapades as well as the amount of times I dine out a month. It's not something I want to do but rather something I have to do. Such is a sign of the times for the lower middle class. And I DO care about the local businesses, just to be clear on that fact. I have only so much cash left over each month after paying the bills. The rest has to be judiciously apportioned.

When my wife Dawn was living we would go out about 3 times a week. Of couse you know the type places we went to....It was mostly casual dining. On the average we would spend about 8 to 15 dollars each per meal.

My wife and I alot one lunch out and one combined dinner out per week, down a lot from maybe 6-9 months ago. I limit my lunches out to once a week (hard when travelling alot), and where we go for dinner heavily depends on cost to eat at wherever. We've been going to Hungry Pelican, Pizza King, Come Back Inn, but haven't been to favorites August Moon (1), Melillos (2) , or Del Friscos (3) in a long time. The upshot is I have been cooking at home more and more, using more sauces than ever to put a new spin on dishes. I never thought the stuff Chef Rhea taught me at Sullivan 18 years ago would be remembered so well.

on this point
the cost of flour has gone up by 4 times the amount we paid one year ago.........

margarine went up $6 a case in two weeks! (luckily, it came down about 2.5 over the past week...)

Some things are coming down(cheese and dairy), but a lot of other things most in the bizz don't even consider like fryolater oil and disposables for carry out have gone up quite a bit just in the past few weeks.

Everything is up and it is not going to get much better. Our Major vendors are all trying to charge fuel usage fees (ouch) and they are warning that in the summer months we will see even larger increases. What is a person to do? Do we raise prices or cut portions. Thanks to all who keep dinning out. It is much appreciated.

Everything is up and it is not going to get much better. Our Major vendors are all trying to charge fuel usage fees (ouch) and they are warning that in the summer months we will see even larger increases. What is a person to do? Do we raise prices or cut portions. Thanks to all who keep dinning out. It is much appreciated.

Hang in there Willie!!

We eat out as a family or a couple at least once, sometimes twice a week and invaribly it's at a local eatery. We just had Oak St. pizza last night and we plan to go to Varanese this weekend. Keep up the good work you guys Since we consider dining out our hobby, we will probaly not change this unless prices really get out of hand.