The cost to produce everything from entrees to side salads is cutting into already thin-profit margins at restaurants feeling the squeeze of soaring food prices.
Upscale steak and burger restaurants are among the hardest hit, such as Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger, which implemented this year its third price hike since 2008. Beef prices have gone up nearly 11 percent year over year while fruits and vegetables soared 4.3 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“It’s literally coming at us from seven to eight areas,” said Joe Manzella, owner of TAPS Fish House & Brewery in Brea and The Catch in Anaheim. “We get hit on everything from bell peppers to asparagus. Our beef prices have gone up 8 percent.”