Food and drink establishments adjust prices amid rising material costs

Restaurant chains in Taiwan are raising their prices, amid higher material and manpower costs. Earlier this month Sun Dongbao steakhouse announced a price hike of NT$20 on set meals. Meanwhile, restaurant group Wowprime has announced that menus of their chains could get 5% to 15% pricier in the future. The Ministry of Economic Affairs says it will soon announce measures to help the food and drink sector cope with an upcoming minimum wage hike.

Beef steak paired with teppanyaki noodles is a specialty dish at Sun Dongbao steakhouse. On Oct. 1, its signature set meals became NT$20 more expensive, an increase of 13.3%. Operators say the price hike is due to increased international shipping costs as well as pricier raw materials. But it''s not the only steakhouse chain to raise its prices.

Wowprime has also announced that starting Oct. 25, prices will go up by about 5% at 15 of its restaurant brands. Hi Lai Foods could be the next. The company says it''s expecting to increase prices on its Chinese menu by 10% to 15% before the Lunar New Year.

Member of public
It''s the same for all food. Snacks and stall items have all gone up by NT$5.

Member of public
Salaries haven''t gone up, but prices have. I eat out because it''s convenient.

Hou Yi-hsin
Wowprime PR
Recently, international raw material prices have gone up, and staff costs keep rising. On top of that, the food and drink sector took the brunt of the impact of the pandemic. All that has put a lot of pressure on our operations. It''s been getting harder and harder. So we''ll adjust prices by 5% at most.

Restaurant chains are raising their prices, amid higher overhead costs. Economics minister Wang Mei-hua says her ministry will continue communicating with food and drink operators to come up with policies before the basic wage hike in 2022.

Wang Mei-hua
Economics minister
Indeed, the food and drink sector has had quite a tough time. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will roll out measures to complement the basic wage hike. These measures, as I mentioned before, will be announced before the end of October.

Restaurants may not be the only ones raising their prices. Prices for imported butter and sugar have gone up, meaning bakeries may soon have to pass on the rise in their prices as well.

Baker
The price of flour and milk powder has gone up. But if we increase it too much, customers will complain. Mostly we will just absorb the costs ourselves.

Staples such as soy and corn have also gone up amid the pandemic. Soaring shipping rates and high fuel prices have had a knockon effect on everyday items.

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