RESTAURANT CHARGES Stabilization Difficulty

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 260, 1 August 1942, Page 8

RESTAURANT CHARGES Stabilization Difficulty

“How is it possible to stabilize prices of food in restaurants when the prices of foodstuffs fluctuate almost from day to day?” asked the manager of a Wellington city restaurant yesterday. “It may not be so difficult when there is a set meal provided at given hours, say, from noon to 2 pan. and 5 to 6 p.m., but when it comes to providing meals at all hours, from 8 a.m. till 11 p.m., and employing staffs in shifts, it is hardly possible. Some weeks eggs have been 3/6 a dozen, and now and again they go down to 2/6, and so it is with vegetables. Some are scarcely procurable at all,, and when they are the price is almost prohibitive. A month later similar vegetables might be half the price. Generally speaking, there has been a tendency toward higher prices for goods purchasable from the wholesale houses during the past year; yet whatever the price may be they have to be procured; and on top of the increased prices, there is the higher sales tax to be paid. “If everyone in business had to run to the Brice Fixation Tribunal each time the prices of foodstuffs increased to ask permission to charge a penny or twopence more for this or that dish, the officials of that department would be snowed right under. At the same time, I honestly believe that few, if any, in the trade wish to overcharge. They only wish to protect themselves, by balancing the charges to the public against the increased cost of the foodstuffs and labour employed to cook and serve it.”