Just anecdotally, we went out to eat at a place we hadn't been to since before the pandemic. Their prices have doubled. We spent $50 on lunch.
As in, the economy keeps rolling along with "shrinkflation"-like phenomena absorbing as much of the increase in inputs as possible, until it passes a tipping point (in this case propelled by Covid-related adjustments) and all of a sudden prices shoot up.
It would be interesting to see if there's any literature on this phenomenon.
Anecdotally, I've basically opted out of any sort of food that I don't prepare myself. Although not immune, Costco has avoided the same level of inflation as other grocery stores and especially restaurants, so I just shop there and save money because the prices for prepared food has just gone through the roof.
Grocery stores are beginning to level-up their "price optimization" strategies (car insurance companies have been doing it for much longer [0]): people who work for it pay less. A box of cereal is $3.99 on the shelf; with club card and digital coupon it's $1.99. That's one item down 50%. You scale that methodology to your entire shopping trip, and your dollars go way further.
[0]: https://www.npr.org/2015/05/08/403598235/being-a-loyal-auto-...
I've noticed that potatoes are really cheap, relatively, like under 50 cents a lb. It has assuaged my unhappiness at pasta being over $1/lb which is my mental anchor.
I do use the loyalty card and look for the things that are on sale by the largest amount, but I don't bother with coupons, because all I see are for things I don't want.
Of course nutrition is a different matter, making potatoes or brown rice better choices than in a simple weight calculation.
We’ve had a glut of restaurants all up and down the “star level” here in Madison, WI. I think that is true in many cities.
When you account for real wages and costs, many of those places shouldn’t and wont survive over the next few years. We don’t need 6 dollar burritos delivered for 15, and we don’t need five places found farm to table for 30 bucks a plate. If that means service and cooks and dishwashers have to work three jobs in that world, to hell with it.
Has Madison seen an increase in restaurants compared to a couple years ago? I've only been here a year but in the last place I lived, almost everything seemed to shut down during COVID but as things eased up new places opened up to about 120% of the old capacity - the end result being everything seemed to have reduced hours because they couldn't get enough business to get enough staff. From what I've heard from friends it hasn't gotten any better. Plenty of restaurants but a lot of them are only open 2-3 days a week so you end up with servers et. al. having 2-3 part time jobs.
The same reason everything is more expensive in the US; overhead and wages. The economics of running a family restaurant in a building you've owned for generations is completely different than that of a corporate fast casual place that pays wages and rent.
McDonalds is still going to exist and be cheap enough to eat at a lot.
Hole in the walls, with relatively cheap rents and family owned with takeout and streamlined overhead will also still exist.
Are you saying there is a lower cost ice cream store across the street?
I feel like this is sarcasm, but I guess that my inability to know proves the point
But if you want to lose weight, perhaps it's better not to know.