Chefs worry rising food prices could be recipe for disaster for metro Atlanta restaurant industry
If you feel like you're paying more for food at the grocery store, you are, and those higher prices are causing some sticker shock at restaurants around metro Atlanta.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics say the food index, which tracks changes in food prices around metro Atlanta, is up 3.5% compared to last year. From June to August alone, it rose 1.2%.
Meat, poultry, fish, and eggs saw the biggest price spikes, up 7% over the last 12 months.
Local chefs tell CBS News Atlanta that they're dealing with the unappetizing costs and have had to make some big changes in response.
Making the most of what's on the menu
When it comes to buying food, chefs are just like everyone else, paying the going rate for essentials that make up their menus. The rising food prices have been a recipe for disaster.
"I'm changing the menu at any given time. You know where we were doing a quarterly list change with the seasons, now we change with necessity," said chef Deborah VanTrece, the James Beard-nominated owner of Twisted Soul Cookhouse & Pours and Oreatha's at the Point in Cascade Heights.
That means portions are smaller a substitutions are a daily occurrence.
"The price of beef, it's just going up to the point where our purveyors were letting us know, 'You might need to start looking at something else, because the price of beef is about to skyrocket,' and it definitely has," VanTrece said.
Tariffs tightening up diner's belts
It's not price alone, Loraine Lane, VanTrece's wife and business partner, says tariffs aren't helping the flow of customers or wine.
"The biggest challenge that we're seeing, is the out of stock," Lane said. "If a customer comes in and they've enjoyed a drink, they want it when they come back. And you have to say, you know, 'I don't have it right now.'"
With weekly meals served down 20%, VanTrece says Atlantans are dining in, but at home. That's bad not only for her restaurants, but for Atlanta's entire restaurant community and the staff who make up the heart of the industry.
"There's a general consensus among, you know, the small restaurant owners throughout the city — something's happening and it's very wrong, and we don't know how we're gonna survive it," she said. "You know, we just come in every day and hope for a miracle."