[Closed] Have we done the curry house price increases?

Fewer customers covering the same overhead, it will be the same everywhere. Will prices reduce when social distancing is over?

Everyone post covid wants more expansive curries. Paratha for the pandemic perhaps.

I simply won't go. Took my wife for a nice lunch locally, £96! I like the place but not that much, they might need extra income but so do I to pay bills like that.

(For the locals - Dunblane Chip Inn has been taken over by the ex-chef from India Gate at Four Ways. Teh awesome curry.)

Prices have been too low across the dining out sector for years. They need to increase as 1% profit margin isn't sustainable. Expect to see fewer places but charging more money and people not going to eat out as often.

1% profit margin? Real world evidence for that?

It's daalight ruby-ry

Since discovering Al's Kitchen on You Tube I have not ordered a curry, can make some fantastic ones at home now. If prices/ or capacity put you off going for a meal in the near future, his tutorials are easy to follow and worth the time spent in the kitchen

It’s daalight ruby-ry

7/10 Points lost for the obvious straining, which shouldn't be required on a curry thread.

I really hope that after all thus, the service sector is able to charge enough to pay their staff a decent wage. How that then balances with people's willingness and ability to pay is another can of worms

Chefs and other staff are in short supply this year. I hope they’re using that to their advantage to get paid more for making us nice meals.

Ingredients costs thanks to Brexit are on the rise. So inevitable that prices to the customer will rise too.

I went out for a quick light lunch with my wife on Friday - one cocktail, one mocktail and two very small meals (ie, fish sandwiches etc) and it was £45. It pissed me off even more when they slapped a 10% service charge on.

I really worry that people aren’t ready for the post Brexit price rises, due to Covid hitting as the transition period ended. Not just curry related, of course. The “rip off Britain” stories will start soon, once we’ve been out of the EU long enough for the Express, Telegraph etc to be able to run the stories without their readers’ irony meters being set off.

Can’t see any our have gone up and if they have it’s only a small margin. One has been shut the whole time, they’ve took the opportunity to revamp the restaurant and change the style to a street food style.

Expect to see fewer places but charging more money and people not going to eat out as often.

Thing is in the UK we don't eat out much anyway, which is why many restaurants make money on only two or three nights a week. My main points of reference are Spain, France ,German and Hong Kong. German is a bit more like the UK but still seem busier.

Ingredients costs thanks to Brexit are on the rise.

Really, What ingredients in a typical curry comes from the EU? Ginger? Tumeric? Cumin? Cinnamon? Chicken? Lamb? Coconut?

Think the global logistics supply problems might have more to do with any supply issues or cost rises with container ships stuck outside ports for months around the world before they can unload their goods.

a mate supplies a lot of the curry houses with the raw ingredients (whtever they might be) in a chat the other day he said the prices have gone up at least 20% on the base stocks.

What ingredients in a typical curry comes from the EU? Ginger? Tumeric? Cumin? Cinnamon? Chicken? Lamb? Coconut?

All those extra customs checks due to Brexit affect goods from everywhere not just EU. Time is money!

The “rip off Britain” stories will start soon, once we’ve been out of the EU long enough for the Express, Telegraph etc to be able to run the stories without their readers’ irony meters being set off.

Q: How will they blame ‘foreigners’ for that?

A: By blaming foreigners

Pubs & Resteraunts are probably going to have a hard time of it - a year of no income and presumably mounting debts, they will have to raise their prices.

But we've all had a year at home and many of us have upped their game on their own cooking. I know we regularly make Resteraunt quality food, can make some pretty good cocktails and brewed some good beer.

Will the consumer be willing to pay more for food worse than they can and have been making at home? That'll be a hard sell.

Really, What ingredients in a typical curry comes from the EU? Ginger? Tumeric? Cumin? Cinnamon? Chicken? Lamb? Coconut?

Some of the meats but it’s not about the source it’s because thanks to Brexit import costs have gone up. You may have missed that bit of news.

Huge shortage of staff, increased cost of ingredients, little or no trade for a year. Seems like an almost perfect recipe for price increases, and rightly so.

... in a chat the other day...

A Chaat surely!

I paid £36 pounds for 2 x burger & chips via deliveroo at the weekend, we live in the sticks so never usually use it - is this normal?

A Chaat surely!

A round of applause required for that one.

Food is one of those things where people think that by posting less they are getting better value

It's often the opposite

Pay £3 for a sausage roll in a good bakery, you'll be getting something made on site, sold fresh, better ingredients (such as good quality meat, actual butter, etc) and made by a real person earning a proper wage

Pay £1.50 in Gregg's and you're getting something made of meat slurry, pastry containing palm oil, made in a factory, frozen and shipped around the country

The business selling the latter will have a bigger profit margin

I paid £36 pounds for 2 x burger & chips

£8.50 from our local chippy. That includes too many chips to manage (enough for three or four) and the burgers are very good.

They’ll deliver locally with a minimum £14 order and £2.50 delivery charge.

So you could feed a feast to four people, delivered, all for about £20. It seems too inexpensive really.

Better still, I cook my own and feed us two and neighbouring friends for about £6.50

(Greggs) you’re getting something made of meat slurry, pastry containing palm oil, made in a factory, frozen and shipped around the country

Champion British scran. **** the orang-utans and rainy forests, who the hell can afford/would pay £3 for a ‘local’ sausage roll? I’ve had enough of champagne liberal global elites making Britain into Rip Off Britain. There’s nothing more local or tasty then Greggs. They’re local to everyone. Best coffee. Best pies. Best sandwiches. And best sausage rolls. They don’t get to be Britain’s favourite by being posh. They get to be Britain’s favourite by delivering tasty food at tasty prices. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

/properbritish

I paid £36 pounds for 2 x burger & chips via deliveroo at the weekend, we live in the sticks so never usually use it – is this normal?

£18 per head including delivery if it was from somewhere half decent sounds OK to me. Not cheap, but not extortionate.

I've noticed costs have increased across all grocery items.

Running a village shop, our stock costs have increased by around 5% since Jan. When you make a 20<25% margin that's a jump for the consumer to swallow. No idea why, but exactly the same thing happened in 2016 post referendum & pandemic wont have helped. But the price increases do seem to be the wholesalers that deal directly with chattering trades.

Possibly related, trade has also dropped to back down to prepandemic levels so people are prob going back to supermarkets etc. Where they are still providing goods with reduced costs due to buying power.

I paid £36 pounds for 2 x burger & chips via deliveroo at the weekend, we live in the sticks so never usually use it – is this normal?

Pretty much. I used Deliveroo once - 2x lukewarm pizzas for about £30 once I'd tipped the cyclist. You'd pay less than that to eat in at the local sourdough artisan pizza and craft beer gaff.

Will the consumer be willing to pay more for food worse than they can and have been making at home? That’ll be a hard sell.

This is a calculation people have been making for years. I was chatting to my dad about eating out in the 70's and he said you went out in spite of the food, not FOR it. Even now I'd say a fair percentage of the time I eat out, I come away thinking I could have done a better job myself. But you go out to restaurants for a lot more than just the quality of the cooking.

The value for money of your £36 burgers depends entirely on what you've bought. Did the burgers come from a box from Booker (20 burgers for £1) or has the restaurant made their own burgers from fresh steak and developed their own seasoning. Have they made their own relishes/ dressings or bought 5L of burger dressing for £1. Did they make their own bread or buy 20 Chorleywood burger buns for a £1. Use Kraft singles plastic cheese or a quality proper cheese.

Only you can tell if you got value for money based on what you received and whether you're able to appreciate the difference between the different quality levels.

But you go out to restaurants for a lot more than just the quality of the cooking.

Absolutely this. Some places the food is the star, many others that's not the case, it's the atmosphere, the company or simply knowing you've not go to cook or wash-up!

It seems always to be assumed that the punter is going to pony up and not the landlord. The 'pressure on margins' tends to reduce food quality so there'll be even less reason to go. Incline Plane went up 10p to 3.50 in my local, can't complain at that.

Meh, it is an open market and will balance itself out. There are so many take away places competing for business that there will always be competition and that keeps the prices in check.

From what I understand Deliveroo and similar places take a big chunk of the order in commission - about 35% from memory? That puts the smaller places in a corner, more business but less profit or risk not being on deliveroo and be left behind. The end result is the prices have to go up.

£8.50 from our local chippy. That includes too many chips to manage (enough for three or four) and the burgers are very good.

There's probably a degree of truth in restaurants / take-aways underpricing. The need to remain competitive when, certainly around here, you'll get half a dozen near-identical shops on the same block must surely drive down prices. Maybe now that will change, if nothing else I'd think that a lot of people might have more spare cash then normal when they've not been able to do anything for 18 months.

I've just grabbed at random a couple of take-away menus from downstairs. Exhibit a: Aladdin's Cave. The menu boasts "NEW MENU MAR 2012" on the front so this would apply that they haven't increased their prices in almost a decade. 9" garlic bread, £2.60; 12" meat feast, £8; cheese burger and chips, £3.50; donner kebab, £3.60.

Exhibit b: Double Dragon. Pretty much every meal, £4.60. Fillet steak an a choice of various sauces clocks in at £6.80, or £7.80 for the 'chef's special' whatever that is.

Exhibit c: Caledonia. This is trickier because their takeaway menu is a hot mess of meal deals. Chicken meal (two pieces of chicken, chips (which are huge portions), choice of second side or can of pop) £3.50; the "ringer burger" (chicken burger with onion rings, 'special' mayo and salad, chips and a can) £4.50; mega bucket (16 pcs chicken, six portions of fries, 1.5L bottle of pop) £18.

Those three are all within 100 yards of each other along with a bunch of other take-aways, restaurants and pubs. How is that sustainable? Are they all run by Gustav Fring?

No idea why, but exactly the same thing happened in 2016 post referendum

You've really no idea?

Incline Plane went up 10p to 3.50 in my local, can’t complain at that.

I dunno, sounds like a slippery slope to me.

Oh, and by way of comparison, a 12" pizza from the proper Italian pizzeria up the road that uses fresh dough hand-spun on premises (I've no idea where it's made but I'd assume the same), wood-fired and contains actual food rather than 'ham' which is turkey and pink food dye, that will set you back £8-£9.

I paid £36 pounds for 2 x burger & chips via deliveroo at the weekend, we live in the sticks so never usually use it – is this normal?

They would have to be a good quality burger at that price. I’ve no idea what additional cost Deliveroo adds because we don’t have it around, because we live in a rural area.

I don't bother anymore. My own beef madras(ish) that I have perfected during lockdown is way better than anything our local balti house offers. Not that they do beef. Plus, I know the source of the ingredients, the hygiene level of the kitchen and if the chef's hands are clean. The only thing I do miss and cannot recreate are the fabulous naans.

The only thing I do miss and cannot recreate are the fabulous naans.

You could watch reruns of The Golden Girls whilst cooking?

You could watch reruns of Last of the Summer Wine whilst cooking?

FTFY

I'd prefer the put the prices up a little rather and down spec the ingredients, I've noticed a full portion of curry from some of the locals takeaways now has about 1/3 of a chicken breast in it. Also if you can find away to order directly from you takeaway rather than Deliveroo then do I know they appreciate it and you often get a discount for doing so. Deliveroo’s commission is 35% plus VAT on every order for independents.

if you can find away to order directly from you takeaway rather than Deliveroo then do I know they appreciate it and you often get a discount for doing so.

OH's daughter ordered something from the local Chinese via Just Eat the other day (something something internet social media youth of today serial killers something) and I went to collect it. The woman behind the counter thrust a menu in my hand and practically begged me to ring them to order next time.

Also the menu prices on JE were higher than in the shop and not by a small amount, so not only are they (presumably) charging the shop for the service but they're fleecing the customers too.

(something something internet social media youth of today serial killers something)

Could you shed some light on this please? Did you suffer a TIA?

Curry houses / current house prices - see what you did there, eventually. 😅

Could you shed some light on this please? Did you suffer a TIA?

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/teenage-stepdaughter-help/

Curry houses / current house prices – see what you did there, eventually. 😅

Took a while😀 it’s how I read the original thread title initially and though that’s got to be worth it’s own thread😅

I really want a curry now. Tomorrow…

Pay £3 for a sausage roll in a good bakery,

There's a butchers in Knaresborough that do their own sausage rolls & steak pies which are awesome. £1 each. Thomas the Baker round the corner & in a more prominent position do a copy of the sausage roll, £2.80.
Our local Indian's haven't raised their prices.

If you love a good curry check out https://www.thecurryclubhomecooking.com/?fbclid=IwAR2ktRigC4AzFHwEdavZAZQ-fXe_7_bYAnl7Hc6MnXe8D-KpawI12EvQ9f4 for some excellent recipes.

a mate supplies a lot of the curry houses with the raw ingredients (whtever they might be) in a chat the other day he said the prices have gone up at least 20% on the base stocks.

In a chaat the raw ingredient are cumin seeds, coriander seeds,fennel seed, dried mango powder, salt, pepper, ground ginger, carom seeds, dried mint and asafetida. 🙂

Also the menu prices on JE were higher than in the shop and not by a small amount, so not only are they (presumably) charging the shop for the service but they’re fleecing the customers too.

Just Eat pretty much doubled their a turnover over to £2.1 Billion  last year (although it also made a loss)

they’ve took the opportunity to revamp the restaurant and change the style to a street food style.

not a look I'm keen on to be honest

My local place put the takeaway prices up 15-20% over the last six months or so. I’ll still pay it.

The woman behind the counter thrust a menu in my hand and practically begged me to ring them to order next time.

This is really important. Support your local takeaway and not investment bankers.

Also the menu prices on JE were higher than in the shop and not by a small amount, so not only are they (presumably) charging the shop for the service but they’re fleecing the customers too.

I think that the shop gets to choose their price on the delivery platforms. This information is anecdotal and 2 years old though! So it may have changed.

Use Kraft singles plastic cheese or a quality proper cheese.

I was listening to the Kitchen Cabinet on R4 the other week and Tim Anderson, who considers himself to be a real burger expert says processed cheese every time. He reckons real cheese makes the burger greasy and the processed stuff doesn't because it is emulsified.

*doublepost

Tim Anderson, who considers himself to be a real burger expert says processed cheese every time. He reckons real cheese makes the burger greasy

Big Mac-style burger where the “cheese” has melted down into some kind of sticky goo

 

I was going to comment "Sticky Dicky Goo" in response to that picture, but it sounds far more wrong than I intended so I shall resist.

Although ‘processed’ vs ‘real’ can be a confusing and often false distinction.

"Processed" is one of those terms favoured by people with a tenuous grasp of science (and often, reality) and it makes my teeth itch. Processed cheese as opposed to what, do we think it gets squeezed out of the cow like that?

There was some woman on the radio the other day (I think on Woman's Hour, I was channel-hopping) papping on about "processed" food and "chemicals" and all the usual pseudo-scientific horseshit whilst the presenter sat there going "gosh, that's really interesting" instead of "that's the biggest load of bollocks I've heard in my life, get off my show you maniac". Probably had a book to sell, they always do.

He reckons real cheese makes the burger greasy

Aren't burgers supposed to be greasy? I thought that was the point?

(Cordially yours, someone who's never eaten a beef burger.)

From that link above,

"Natural cheese is made of products using only simple and natural ingredients including fresh high quality milk, salt, enzymes and natural colors."

Good job it doesn't contain C12H22O11, sodium chloride, chymosin, or bixa orellana seed extract. That sounds like it'd be really bad for you.