Restaurants Cost More

Dining in Boston at restaurants has gotten more expensive lately, at a rate higher than the national average.

The Boston Herald had an interesting article today concerning statistics on restaurant costs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price of dining out has increased 4.5%, up from the 2.9% increase last year. The national average is only 3.6%. The increases are primarily due to higher costs for food and fuel.

But what is most interesting is the identity of the restaurants most prone to raising their prices. Who is it? Chain restaurants!

Independent restaurants more often absorb the increased costs to keep their prices at a certain level. Obviously they too have to raise prices at a point, but they do tend to be more consumer friendly in such regards. Chain restaurants tend to pass their increased costs directly onto the consumer.

I guess that is another reason why many chain restaurants are not good values. That is certainly not true of all chains, but one should be very particular of which chains you frequent.