Menu margins: How restaurants price your favorite meals
Ben Smith, owner of Cooper-Young’s Tsunami, is one of the Memphis-area restauteurs facing fluctuating food costs. (Benjamin Naylor/The Daily Memphian)
Many chefs and restaurateurs will tell you that running a restaurant, especially lately, feels like being on a roller coaster.
The past few years have been some of the most volatile in history in terms of the cost of ingredients, with prices often fluctuating weekly — if not daily.
Despite industry challenges, some restaurants find path to success
Ben Smith, owner of Tsunami in Cooper-Young, said he is worried about the fate of small, independent restaurants.
“Restaurant operators have been through it the past four years – COVID, shutdowns, supply chain issues, labor issues,” he said. “When customers see a busy dining room, they think things have returned back to normal for us, but they haven’t.”
Smith said that one of the biggest issues has been inflation and ingredient costs fluctuating more rapidly than they ever have before.
“There is no predictability,” he said. “I have been open over 25 years and have never seen it like this.”
Topics
Tsunami Ben Smith The Bar-B-Q Shop Eric Vernon Jim's Place Grille James Taras Ben E. Keith Stephen Hassinger Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
Subscribers to The Daily Memphian help fund our not-for-profit newsroom of nearly 40 local journalists plus more than 20 freelancers, all of whom work around the clock to cover the issues impacting our community. Subscriptions - and donations - also help fund our community access programs which provide free access to K-12 schools, community organizations, and more. Thank you for making our work possible.
Jennifer Chandler
Jennifer Chandler has been a restaurateur, a cookbook author, a food stylist, a writer and a TV and radio personality.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.