Why eating out is set to cost you more than ever

Going out for a meal or just a coffee is about to get more expensive for Queenslanders, as restaurants and cafes are forced to pass on price hikes to customers or risk going broke.

$100 for a single piece of fish at a restaurant – that’s the shocking price some hospitality experts are predicting we’ll have to pay as food and staffing costs skyrocket.

Restaurant and cafe owners are warning Queenslanders will soon be paying more for a meal out than ever before as venues struggle to deal with surging food prices as a result of Covid-related shortages, a mandated increase in staff wages, the rising costs of oil and freight, and soaring expenses associated with food packaging.

Brisbane restaurateur Simon Gloftis said he was currently losing money on two of his most popular dishes at his Greek restaurant Hellenika in Fortitude Valley as the price of seafood escalated.

“When I look at my margins, for me to make money on a serve of calamari I would have to charge $80 a portion, so octopus and calamari I’m already losing money on,” he said, with each dish currently priced at $38 and $36 respectively.

Brisbane restaurateur Simon Gloftis is losing money on certain dishes at his Greek eatery Hellenika. Picture: Brad Fleet

He said the soaring costs of select vegetables also turned some of his most profitable dishes into loss-making meals, as margins simply vanished; while he revealed some of his meat prices were now increasing at least monthly.

“In some cases (with some ingredients) it’s literally 100 per cent price increases,” he said.

Combining this with higher wages than ever and freight costs through the roof, Mr Gloftis said customers would see a significant increase in menu prices at eateries across the state.

“We have to pass it on and you’ll see some venues are capable of passing it on, but if they can’t, what you’ll see is the food quality at those venues drop or the portion sizes drop,” he said.

“I can see the days where we’re paying $100 for a piece of fish in a restaurant.”

Woolloongabba cafe Kould Be Anywhere owner Scott Webster has been forced to increase his food prices and coffee prices to cope with the rising cost of everything from milk and meat to coffee cups, lids and takeaway containers.

“When you’re running at 30 per cent gross profit and all those prices go up $1 or $2 that really starts to hurt,” said Mr Webster.

“The customer has to pay for that, unfortunately, otherwise everyone is going to go bankrupt and we’ll end up with all these closed restaurants and bars.”

Mr Webster said he also had to introduce surcharges for electronic payments as a way of clawing back some fees, charging customers a 2.2 per cent surcharge per transaction – still less than the 2.6 per cent he pays to the bank.

Chef/owner Scott Webster at his cafe Kould Be Anywhere in Woolloongabba, which has had to increase the price of coffee and food to help cover rising costs. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“You’re talking 10 to 12 cents per transaction and that adds up throughout the year, but putting some of that back on the customer does help,” he said, especially when the bulk of his food offering consisted of toasties and wraps that could only have their prices raised so far.

With seafood and meat costs particularly hefty at the moment, some venues like Leonard’s Bar & Dining in Brisbane’s CBD were buying in whole animals, such as lamb, as a way to save money and keep costs lower for customers.

“The cost of meat and protein has skyrocketed at the moment (but) we’d rather do bigger numbers and get that sort of trust and belief in the brand then make a couple of extra bucks,” Leonard’s chef Jimmy Richardson said.