Price hikes on menu as the cost of ingredients jumps due to inf lation
YOUR Sunday roast could soon cost you more – and that’s whether you like to dine in or out.
The wholesale price of chicken has risen by 64% since the war in Ukraine started, while a case of eggs has risen from €36 to €56, according to the head of the Restaurants Association of Ireland.
Diners are facing a flood of price increases as the cost of ingredients rises because of the Russian invasion while the restaurant industry is also under ‘severe pressure’ because of staff shortages.
In the past week, Irish households have been warned to brace themselves for the sharpest cost of living squeeze since the early 1980s, after another significant jump in the official inflation rate.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the annual rate of price growth in the Irish economy rose to 7% in April, thanks in the main to higher energy, fuel and grocery prices.
The last time inflation was higher in this country was as far back as in November 2000.
The cost of food and nonalcoholic beverages has increased by an average of 3.5% year-on-year due to higher prices across a range of products such as meat, bread and cereals, mineral waters, soft
‘The industry is suffering’
drinks, fruit and vegetable juices, and milk, cheese and eggs.
Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) chief executive Adrian Cummins told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘It (inflation) is not going to go away so we’re going to have to try and counteract it.
‘I don’t know what’s going to happen.’
He said restaurateurs want the 13.5% VAT rate – which is currently reduced to 9% until next February – extended ‘indefinitely’. He added: ‘The industry is suffering at the moment.
‘Prices are up because of the feed costs, it has a knock-on affect on everything.’
But farmers say despite the hikes, the extra cash is not reaching them and they want more paid to them.
The Irish Farmers’ Aassociation Poultry Committee chairman Nigel Sweetnam blamed wholesalers for the sharp rise in chicken prices. He claimed ‘farm-gate’ prices had not gone up and producers were fighting ‘tooth and nail to get price increases’.
‘Prices have gone up marginally, about half what they need to.
‘The cost of chicken has gone up 9c on a whole bird, we’re looking for 15c and we’re fighting over it,’ he said.
The hospitality industry is under severe pressure amid rising inflation and staff shortages. Recruitment experts are calling on the Government to increase overseas student visas by 20 hours to address staff shortages as Fáilte Ireland launches a €700,000 campaign to attract workers to the tourism industry.
The initiative, titled Works For Me, will seek everyone but focus on parents and retirees, who according to their own research, are seeking flexible work arrangements.
Pre-Covid tourism accounted for 260,000 jobs in Ireland and in some counties provided as many as one in five jobs.
Fáilte Ireland said this new initiative won’t solve the staff shortage crisis alone but it is part of the process. A spokesman said: ‘There is no silver bullet solution and the campaign launched today is just one element of Fáilte Ireland’s multi-faceted tourism careers strategy.
‘We’ve been working with businesses to access potential staff including students and those on the live register, and we are also helping them to identify potential staff overseas.’
The company Excel Recruitment said there is a lack of effort to address the situation. But Shane McLave, head of Excel Recruitment, said solving visa issues would be a start.
He remarked: ‘Ireland’s hospitality sector is struggling under the strain of staffing shortages. This country is currently home to thousands of students from abroad, many of whom are eager to work.
‘However, their Stamp 2 visa model only allows them to work for 20 hours for seven months of the year and for 40 hours for just five months.
‘These students could also contribute in a big way to solving our staff shortages – if only our visa system facilitated this.’
‘Strain of staff shortages’