[Bobcuse]

We all have noticed a gradual increase in prices at the restaurants in TV, usually shrouded with a new menu supposedly printed to introduce new entrees while actually done to jack the prices while distracting you with the new menu. Hey, it's a business and they have a right to make all the money they want. I get that. It usually happens just before the snowbirds and seasonal renters arrive. But here's my beef: the CPI last year rose 1.6%. The published inflation rate for 2013 was 1.6%. My social security payment rose 1.5%. So why did at least a few popular restaurants here jack their prices 10-20% ? Simple....because they can. It's their business. They know we like to eat out. They know our population is skyrocketing. They know we will wait 45-90 minutes for the privilege to eat at their establishments so why not jack the price and make a killing? We ate at City Fire last evening, a place we usually enjoy a couple times a month, and I realized the prices for a couple of the popular entrees we order were higher....20% higher than late last year! Life goes on, and if I ate at home more I wouldn't get so frustrated. I get that too. It's just disappointing that you find a place you like and they take advantage of you by gouging you with the pricing after they have established their customer base. But it only happens once with me. I will never go back.

[aln]

This is why I don't understand why people get excited about Gators Dockside STATING they will charge 1% for the AHCA.

One way or another all businesses are going to raise prices to cover expenses and it does not matter what our COLA is!

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Bobcuse

I will never go back.

Never is a very long time.
Everything else you said was basically true.........City Fire is no different.

[graciegirl]

Prices for food are going up EVERYWHERE. At Walmart, this week I viewed but didn't purchase, two not large rib eye steaks marked eighteen dollars and change.

[justjim]

Cost of food has gone up---higher than CPI. However, your point is well taken. Retirees are "hurt" because of food costs and medical costs which are much higher than the cost of living increase you get with Social Security.

Perhaps employee health insurance has gone up for the employer. Only the business knows the truth about that.

Minimum wage HAS NOT increased in Florida.

I noticed the other day that McDonald's (Colony) charged 27 cents for an extra very small bit of syrup. I thought that was rather petty. Sometimes you sort of wonder if people think Villagers are part of the 2% rich in the Country.

[ilovetv]

Don't blame the local businesses for inflation. The grounds for inflation eventually shifting into overdrive have been ignored, as Washington keeps on spending us into (now) $16 Trillion in debt:

(2009) Rising national debt raises prospects of eventual inflation

6/30/2009

By John Waggoner, USA TODAY

Inflation is as dead as the Wicked Witch of the West in a waterfall. The consumer price index has actually fallen 1.3% in the past 12 months. So why is everyone so worried about soaring prices?

In a word: debt. The government owes the world $11.4 trillion � $37,000 for every person in the U.S. In the next fiscal year, the government will add $1.8 trillion to the deficit.

The government could simply print more dollars to pay off our debts with cheap currency � a tempting but inflationary solution. Politicians wouldn't have to ask citizens to pay for the government's services, and citizens wouldn't have to think about the actual cost of what they demand � until, of course, the currency collapses, interest rates soar and the economy craters.

Some on Wall Street are betting on just that scenario. Universa Investments � linked to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Wall Street's biggest book, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable� is adding strategies that will soar if inflation takes off.

Respected hedge fund adviser 36 South Investment Managers is raising $100 million for a fund that will bet on soaring price increases. And Marc Faber, editor of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, a newsletter, predicts that U.S. inflation will someday match Zimbabwe's � that would be 236 million percent a year.

If inflation does hit, it won't be this year, barring a major jump in oil prices or a drastic change in government philosophy. You don't get inflation in an economy that's as slack as this one. And, many economists say, the Federal Reserve has many tools to contain inflation once the economy turns around. But one thing the Fed doesn't have is the ability to control federal spending. And that, ultimately, could be the thing that pushes the inflation rate higher....."

Rising national debt raises prospects of eventual inflation - USATODAY.com

[Ooper]

Wait till you see what happens to prices if the minimum wage is raised to $15/hr.

[janmcn]

Originally Posted by Ooper

Wait till you see what happens to prices if the minimum wage is raised to $15/hr.

Who is proposing a minimum wage of $15 per hour, and when is this increase supposed to take place? Restaurant staff and other 'tip workers' are still only earning $2 per hour, a rate that hasn't increased since 1992 (22 years).

[Bogie Shooter]

For sure the hedge fund managers will get their huge cut!

[NotGolfer]

Factor into this the weather "up north"....the winter has been horrendous with travel (both air and land) being hard to get to their destinations. I think that we'll be seeing this for awhile along with the rise inflation etc.
I personally don't think the restaurant prices are all that bad here. Groceries are another matter and what Gracie said about meat is all too true. We moved here from the Midwest and saw a huge difference in dairy and meat for sure....and that was 5 years ago!

[TNLAKEPANDA]

Like all businesses restaurants have to maintain a certain profit margin to stay in business. If there food costs or labor costs or rent/utility cost goes up the prices on the menu will go up. If they don't maintain a level of service and quality they will loose business. As the years pass nothing will be getting cheaper so you will need to budget and choose.

[BarryRX]

I am always amazed that we live in a fairly conservative community among people that talk about capitalism and the benefits of a free market. Yet, when it comes to the most basic of economic principals, namely supply and demand, they don't understand. If you were in economics 101 and the professor said "if the demand for a product rises (the number of people trying to get into restaurants) and the supply says pretty much the same (the number of restaurants available), what will happen to the price for that product?" I'm sure everyone will answer that the price will rise. How far will it rise? Until supply and demand equalize. Supply and demand (among other factors) is what influences the CPI, not the other way around. Raising prices in a restaurant is not price gouging as the OP stated. It doesn't even fit the definition.

[Golfingnut]

Try these places.

Orlando Sentinel

[Ooper]

Originally Posted by janmcn

Who is proposing a minimum wage of $15 per hour, and when is this increase supposed to take place? Restaurant staff and other 'tip workers' are still only earning $2 per hour, a rate that hasn't increased since 1992 (22 years).

Walmart and McDonald's are big supporters of the $15 minimum as are many municipalities and government entities. The $15 minimum wage may never come into being, but with today's economy, one never knows. BTW, Florida minimum cash wage for tipped employees is currently just under $5 at $4.91 according to the DOL.

[Villages PL]

The OP stated, "It's a business and they have a right to make all the money they want, I get that." But later referred to it as "price gouging". I totally understand being able to see it both ways:

I too love our capitalistic free market economy, but I hate it when there's a big price increase on something I enjoy. This was my experience a few days ago: I have been buying "steel-cut oats" at the health food store for many years. I thought the price was good at $3.49 for a 2 pound bag. Actually, I thought it was a bargain and expected the price to go up sooner or later. But last week I went to buy more and found that the price had gone up from $3.49 to $5.49 for the same 2 pound bag. Ugh! That hurts.

It's not that I can't afford it, it's just that it's a shock when prices jump like that.