I eat lunch almost daily at a local Greek restaurant and speak to the owner regularly. His restaurant is still packed, but tells me that his margins are almost zero, now. The price of his imported feta cheese rose 100% this past year and the cost of his imported olive oil went up 300%. I'll pay whatever the guy charges so I can eat his amazing Greek cuisine, but I know that most Americans will start to balk at these imported food price increases.
I have friends in the restaurant bizz in brooklyn ny they are getting killed. bizz is down prices are up on all products.
I come from a restaurant family. And yes, margins are disappearing. I know some local food distributors, some have been around for over 80 years. They say they are losing an account ( a restaurant) a week and many pizzerias are going under as well. Looks like one fo the few remaining true capitalists, the restaurant owners, are paying for Wall Street's sins. It's a crime.
My restaurant is doing fine, but we use all locally grown produce and meats⦠others arenât so lucky, my produce supplier who rounds up all the stuff and ships it to me has told me that orders are slowing, getting smaller, and some are even falling behind. Lots of new restaurants have opened up in the last few years though⦠I donât how they were financed, but the restaurant business scene definitely got over blown like housing. Some are sure to sink in this economy, oh well, more business for me I suppose.
According to this video they evidently call it Le Big Mac in France. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtwFugudZE