Canton businesses react to price of produce skyrocketing
"I'm shocked," said Tori Robinson.
"It's hard to get," said Adrian Njoku.
These customers are reacting to the recent uptick in the price of produce, specifically romaine lettuce and other leaf lettuces.
"There is nothing like a crisp salad," Robinson explained.
Salads have become more expensive and some restaurants are being forced to avoid serving salads altogether.
"In the 30 years I've been in the hotel and restaurant business, I've never seen produce go this high," said Scott Killingbeck, the manager of Antonio's Cucina in Canton.
Killingbeck said supply-chain shortages caused by a drought in California are causing prices to skyrocket and it's affecting the menu at his restaurant.
"We're not serving salads at this restaurant, for right now until we get the price down," Killingbeck added.
Just 6 months ago, Killingbeck said the price of a case of romaine lettuce was roughly $20, but now it's roughly $120 per case.
"There's just no way we can afford to give out complimentary salads, we have to charge, at least right now," Killingbeck said.
While the price of lettuce is inflated, Antonio's is offering complimentary soup to try and make it up to customers, but customers remained worried about the high costs of inflation.
"I'm going to start bringing meals in again, because it's just not affordable," said Robinson.
That said, Killingbeck hopes the supply-chain shortages will be resolved in the next few weeks.
