Pubs chicken out of soaring food prices

ONE of Britain’s largest pub chains is swapping out chicken for pork and salmon for trout, as it wrangles with spiralling prices for ingredients.

Patrick Dardis, chief executive of Young’s, said the pub group was monitoring which items were costing more on a daily basis, and telling managers not to order any more of certain products when their prices looked particularly steep.

He said: “So at the moment, salmon is going up, so we’re switching salmon for trout, and we tell managers, don’t buy any more of it.”

Young’s operates more than 200 pubs across the UK, with food becoming an increasingly significant part of its business. Sales of food are up 20pc on pre-pandemic levels.

The company said it was also swapping out chicken for pork, which is cheaper, although it was unlikely it would take chicken off its menus entirely. Ingredients can be switched back in when the prices move again.

Chicken prices have risen by 7pc this year, amid warnings that the meat could soon become more expensive than beef. Salmon prices are 16pc higher.

Mr Dardis said Young’s was also seeing price rises elsewhere, with utilities costing about £5m more than last year.

Young’s raised its prices in March by between 2pc and 3pc, and said it hoped it would not have to lift them again, although it could not rule it out.

It came as Young’s unveiled a 251pc spike in revenues for the year to March 28, helping it swing back into the black, with an operating profit of £52m against a loss of £34.5m a year earlier. Revenues were up 17pc on pre-pandemic levels.