Landlord justification:

Wages continue to drive up restaurant prices

Drinks in restaurants: profitable for landlords, often too expensive for guests

(Bild: Shilling Bier)

Inflation in the catering industry is apparently continuing unabated, even though energy and purchase prices are falling. This is causing incomprehension and outrage among more and more guests. The "Krone" asked around to find out whether Upper Austrians still want to be able to afford regular restaurant visits.

The complaint comes up again and again: Eating out is too expensive, prices have been rising continuously since corona, even though energy and purchasing costs are falling again. What is this all about?

"For a long time, we were portrayed as the big price drivers, but the bottom line is that the balance sheet situation has fallen," says Thomas Mayr-Stockinger, Chairman of the Gastronomy Section of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, in defense of restaurateurs. "Starting salaries have risen massively since the pandemic: While it was 1500 euros gross in 2019, it will be 2000 next year. On top of that, non-wage labor costs are higher here than almost anywhere else." Bureaucracy and a flood of regulations would also harm local restaurateurs.

Eating out has become unaffordable for us as a family. That's why we rarely go out to eat. We can no longer afford to go out for a drink in the evening either.

Alexander Gabriel, 26, Linz

Nevertheless, the restaurateur is not dissatisfied with the situation: "People like to go out to eat with the restaurateurs. It's still worthwhile for young and old to enjoy culinary delights. So you can say that business is going well," says Mayr-Stockinger.

Upper Austrian restaurant spokesman Thomas Mayr-Stockinger

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Postscript: "It's only with drinks that we notice that savings are being made. As we know, night-time catering has also had a particularly hard time since the pandemic. Nevertheless, we are an industry that hires employees instead of letting them go. The next generation also paints a good picture: There will be an additional class at the Bad Leonfelden tourism school next year, and in Bad Ischl there will soon be 47 percent more students than before, and we could always do with more."

Eating out is a luxury. I like to look at the restaurant prices and compare them with others. It's important to me that you get enough to eat and that the quality and value for money are right.

Sonja Hauer, 58, Linz

Nevertheless, a lot is happening: pubs are closing and being replaced by fast food restaurants. "The gastronomic landscape is becoming more colorful. There used to be a church inn everywhere, but today there are often all kinds of places. The guest decides which restaurant survives," says Mayr-Stockinger. "In an international comparison and in view of our high costs, we are still one of the cheapest countries," the innkeeper spokesperson is convinced.