RESTAURANT OWNERS ‘HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO RAISE PRICES’
Food shortage, price hikes for raw materials and manpower issues forcing businesses to make hard decisions
AS prices of raw materials and ingredients skyrocket, restaurant owners say they have no choice but to increase food prices to stay afloat.
Devi’s Corner restaurant manager Dev Ananth said they had increased their roti canai price by 10 sen, from RM1.70 to RM1.80 per piece.
“If possible, we don’t want to increase prices because this may cause dissatisfaction among customers.”
Ananth, who is also a chef at the 30-year-old family business, said his restaurant had also increased the prices of other items on their menu.
“We don’t want to lose our customers but at the same time, we need to recover from losses that we faced during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There are also owners who are in debt with their suppliers, so the only choice we have is to increase our food prices to cover the costs.”
Ananth said the restaurant was still able to serve food at reasonable prices, but was unclear of what the future held if this issue was not resolved.
Nasi Kandar Rasmeena Bangsar restaurant director Mohamed Najumudin Ibrahim said they had to raise the price of each item of food and beverages by 20 to 30 sen.
“At the beginning of the year, we sold roti canai at RM1.20, but now it has been increased to RM1.50 per piece. The price of beverages such as teh tarik and other drinks have also been raised from RM1.50 to RM1.70 per glass.
“It’s due to the higher cost of raw materials and ingredients such as Milo, Nescafe, tea powder, coffee, sugar and milk. However, we still set reasonable prices within the standard range.”
Apart from roti canai, Najumudin said, the price of nasi campur and nasi kandar had also increased because of the rising prices of chicken, fish, vegetables and eggs. However, he said, the prices were still affordable for their customers, adding that they only charged RM6 for rice and fried chicken with mixed gravy at their restaurant.
Other than food shortage, price hikes for raw materials are a major concern facing businesses. These, combined with the shortage of manpower, have forced businesses to make tough decisions.