I have worked awhile in a restaurant, so Iâm a little familiar with food costs, but I didnât really look at it that closely. Iâ d say that between 2003-2008 there was a large increase in many food costs, especially milk, cheese, and wheat. This has stabalized over the past year, but donât expect prices to go down. I think some restaurants have been absorbing the food costs and now they are trying to maximize profits with the lower commodity costs to make up for it. I guess as long as people are willing to pay a certain price, they know they can keep their prices high. Labor costs are going down so in the end the owners still make more money and the customer still pays higher prices and a bunch of employees are getting their hours cut. It does seem however that places are offerring more deals. Most places have $5 medium pizzaâs now. Sub places all have $5 deals now. I guess theyâre hoping you buy a drink with 95% profit margin to make up for it.