How to Gauge Rising Supply Costs

In an industry hard hit by the pandemic, restaurants are facing yet another challenge: rising inflation. Inflation is at its highest in decades, with food and energy costs rising faster than the average, not to mention labor cost increases across all industries. Likely, if labor costs aren’t impacting your restaurant right now, it’s because you’re not fully staffed.

Restaurateurs and operators need to act now to cover costs by increasing menu prices —even if you have adjusted prices recently — and looking for opportunities to save on food costs.

Let’s start with what’s happening and why. Inflation occurs when too many dollars are chasing too few goods and services. In addition to a surge in demand, supply chain bottlenecks continue to impact supply for a variety of products. A perfect storm developed over the past 19 months and looks likely to continue well into the future given previous and current monetary policies and decisions.

Through the payment platform used by my…