‘Crisis prices’: Inflation pushes Alberta restaurants to raise their menu prices

Just like you, restaurants are being hit by inflation and it’s pushing menu prices to what one restaurant in Beaumont, Alta., describes as ‘crisis’ pricing.

Since August 3rd, the owners of French-Canadian restaurant Chartier rolled out “crisis prices” that have been adjusted for all their menu items due to inflation brought on by COVID-19 and war.

“Five years ago when we first opened the restaurant, a jib of canola oil was around $15-18 mark – it’s gone as high as $80 for the exact same amount of canola oil,” said Sylvia Cheverie, one of the founders & co-owner of Chartier.

Canola oil bottles (Photo Credit: Sarah Chew)

She says they use a pricing software program that alerts them when prices of the ingredients they buy start creeping up and so far more than 50 per cent of their ingredients’ prices have risen.

“So we crunched the numbers, did a little bit of math, and tried to average it out between each item so there wasn’t one that was incredibly high and one that stayed the same,” said Cheverie, “So it worked out to about a 15 per cent increase across the board.”

A business and marketing expert says there’s another way to adjust prices to match consumers’ incomes.

Chartier restaurant in Beaumont, Alberta.
(Photo Credit: Sarah Chew)

“One way to think about [it] is, how much on average the salary of my target market has been adjusted based on inflation. Let’s say if there is 1 per cent, 1.5 per cent, 2 per cent, so then increase that in your price,” said Fernando Angulo, an associate professor in the department of international business, marketing, strategy & law at MacEwan University’s School of Business.

CityNews asked customers dining at Chartier how they felt about the rising menu prices.

“It’s something that’s really out of their control,” said one customer. “I mean, I still want to support businesses when I can, so I don’t think it would stop me from coming.”

Another commented, “prices all over have increased, and I like the fact that I can know where I’m getting my food from – everything’s local.”

Chartier restaurant in Beaumont, Alberta. (Photo Credit: Sarah Chew)

While another diner, who’s also a server at the restaurant said, “times have changed, and everything has changed, so we go outside and see even the price of gas has changed from what it was months ago.”

The business expert acknowledges that while inflation costs are challenging and perhaps unsustainable for business owners right now, it won’t be a permanent situation.

“I don’t think inflation is going to last forever,” said Angulo. “This is happening as a result of COVID-19 specifically and it is going to stop but the question is when.”

The business expert couldn’t guarantee a date inflation will be over, so until then, it might be best to note the higher menu prices but continue to support local anyway.