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What is 'lunchflation'?
Food prices, even for simple lunch items like a soup or sandwich, seem to have skyrocketed.
NEW YORK - Deborah Gregory is feeling the pain in her wallet, especially in her Upper East Side neighborhood.
"I noticed it's like not even a little — it's a lot of inflation and I get it," Gregory said.
She's noticed that food prices, even for simple lunch items like a soup or sandwich, seem to have skyrocketed.
"I bought more pasta, so I eat more pasta so I can eat at home," Gregory said. "So I go out less, I'm more careful about my outings, which were a lot before so I'm more careful."
Giuseppe Cinquemani has owned Mini Deli, a gourmet Italian shop on 2nd Avenue, for more than 40 years. He acknowledged that he's had to raise prices because his suppliers raised their prices.
"Most of the stuff went up 20% but some items went up 300%," Cinquemani said. "Like chicken, like cold cuts, cream cheese, which you can't find nowhere regardless of the price."
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Two years after the pandemic started, so many New Yorkers are just getting back to the office only to find that their favorite lunches have gone up in price. Economist Peter Borish, the president of Computer Trading Corporation, points to three reasons why he believes prices have increased.
"One, hopefully, you and everybody else are making more money. So you have to pay for the workers at the store a little bit more. Two, the price of energy has gone up," Borish said. "And three, the price of the ingredients have gone up."
Borish said it is hard to predict if prices have already peaked or not, since Russia and Ukraine play very large roles in agricultural exporting. A shortage of wheat could raise prices even more. Only time will tell.
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Inflation hits restaurants and bars
Inflation is affecting families and businesses nationwide. Owners of restaurants on Long Island say their costs have shot up but they can only raise prices so much before patrons decide they can't afford that burger and beer.