If you're a fan of Uno's pizza, O'Charley's, White Castle, or, god forbid, P.F. Chang's, you have only our government's stubborn love of ethanol subsidies to blame for the increasing cost of your favorite meals, report the gumshoes at Nation's Restaurant News.
If you’re not a fan, though, don’t go celebrating with a delicious home-cooked meal just yet. It's actually even worse if you're buying your food at the grocery store and cooking at home.
But even though the diversion of corn for ethanol use is contributing to higher food costs throughout the country, the restaurant industry is not passing the increases along to the consumer at as steep a rate as grocery stores, the [National Restaurant Association] said.
For the year ended in September, grocery stores raised their prices an aggregate 6.3 percent, marking the strongest 12-month gain in nearly three years. By comparison, restaurants increased menu prices only 2.6 percent over the same 12-month period, more than a full percentage point below the overall inflation rate of 3.9 percent, the NRA said.
