What is the charge for a meal? A succulent Chinese meal? Apparently, thanks to inflation, far more than the average Aussie can accept.
In the space of two years, one Chinese restaurant on the NSW South Coast has raised the prices of its family meal packages by up to 63 per cent, much to the shock of its customers.
Two photos of the takeaway menu – one from July 2021 and the other 2023 – were shared to Reddit this week showing the sharp jump in prices, sparking outrage among Aussies.
“This is just taking the piss. This kind of price increase is absurd,” one user replied.
The photos showed three family packages, the smallest – three dishes, plus spring rolls, fried rice, and a free soup or prawn chips – costing just $46 in 2021.
Today, that same meal costs customers $75. A 63 per cent price increase.
The four dish family package jumped from $60 to $89 (more than 48 per cent increase). And the five dish package jumped by almost 53 per cent, from $72 to $110.
And, the original poster wrote, the “price doesn’t include (the) 1.5 per cent EFTPOS fee”.
“That price rise is excessive. Rises like that will probably end up driving them out of business,” another commenter replied.
“(I) haven’t ordered Chinese takeaway in ages. Portions got small, prices got ridiculous,” someone else wrote.
Others conceded that although the prices were “crazy”, they understood that operating costs had to be “just as bad if not worse than tryna (sic.) live”.
But some took a silver lining from the post, writing that at least the restaurant did not reduce the number of dishes included in the meal.
The regional NSW restaurant is the latest business forced to hike prices due to relentless inflation pressures.
It follows many Aussie takeaway joints – including a Sydney family-owned fish and chip shop – and restaurants drawing mixed reactions from customers for raising their prices.
More and more Australians seem to be cracking under the relentless cost of living pressures and rising prices, as seen in the growing number airing their fury and frustrations to the public.
Customers have even complained about delivery apps getting more expensive to cover rising eatery costs.
Surging food and grocery prices have been a key contributor, as well as high costs of fuel, utilities, and properties, to the Consumer Price Index remaining above acceptable levels.
That Index rose (inflation) 5.4 per cent over the 12 months to September 2023, up 1.2 per cent in the quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
It is still well above the 2 to 3 per cent target that the Reserve Bank of Australia is aiming for – and has raised the cash rate to its highest level since 2012, in order to meet.
RBA governor Michele Bullock has warned more rate rises could be in order, because inflation was taking so long to push down.