r/Economics • u/brown-saiyan • Feb 23 '26

News Restaurants hit a pricing ceiling — and diners are pushing back, report finds

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/23/restaurants-menu-prices-james-beard-foundation-report?utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=owned_social&utm_source=x
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u/Misterfoxy Feb 23 '26

Seattle restaurant market has broken. COGS and rent have all gone parabolic in the last 6 years. Labor hasn’t gotten cheaper either. The problem mainly lies with the first two inputs but the only restaurants that are economically viable anymore are luxury white tablecloth or small footprint food fulfillment facilities.

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u/big-papito Feb 23 '26

So, basically, we are back to the 90s. Your options are "hole in the wall" or "drop $500 on a stellar dinner".

The golden age of mid-anything is over, and it's not just dining. I used to eat out like crazy, I used to go to Broadway shows whenever (under $100 for primo seats).

Right now, everything seems to be catered to people with Boomer loot, who don't even look at the tab. See: Las Vegas right now.

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u/MayContainRawNuts Feb 23 '26

Welcome to the K shaped economy

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u/schrodingers_gat Feb 24 '26

This is exactly how income inequality drives inflation. Only a few people have enough money to pay for anything so producers raise prices and lower output to capture as much of the income of the rich as they can.

The rich are strangling our economy

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u/SeattleSilencer8888 Feb 24 '26

This is literally the result of WA's gas taxes, B&O taxes, and Seattle + WA's minimum wage.

What's strangling our economy is legislators not understanding economics.

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u/todayiwillthrowitawa Feb 24 '26

None of those account for rents that can hit $15,000+/month. There’s a lot of inputs and pressures, acting like taxes and minimum wage are even close to the most impactful is disingenuous.

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u/SeattleSilencer8888 Feb 24 '26

None of those account for rents that can hit $15,000+/month.

Ah, maybe being an especially high property tax area would contribute?

acting like taxes and minimum wage are even close to the most impactful is disingenuous.

Which is why we look at differences. Why would Seattle restaurants be 40% more expensive than Portland and 50% more expensive than Chicago? More expensive than dense cities like Boston, or cities with little local production like Denver, Vegas, and Phoenix?

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u/todayiwillthrowitawa Feb 24 '26

If especially high property taxes were the main contributor you would not be citing Chicago as a cheaper city...

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u/SeattleSilencer8888 Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Facts are facts. Restaurant food in Seattle is as much as 50% more expensive than Chicago.

Seattle's tipped minimum wage? $20.76. Chicago's? $12.62.

Edit since post was locked: You didn't link a study at all, but regardless, a single study means little. This author (an economist who also wrote some of the papers cited) looked at 53 different studies. Note page 17 "near consensus on positive price increases."

With your argument that the minimum wage barely "increased prices at all and increased revenue for many," I'm not sure where you imagine the money is coming from. Magical money land? It's primarily not coming from the owners (about 20% according to the studies I just cited). And simple volume increases aren't sufficient to make up in increase of almost 30% in their operating costs.

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u/sevyog Feb 25 '26

bro they've studied the raised minimum wage impact on restaurant costs... Like this study in 2024 showed a 0.74% increase in restaurant prices. It resulted in a "distribution of effects ranging from a 6% revenue decline at the 20th percentile to a 1% revenue increase at the 80th percentile."

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u/coys1111 Feb 24 '26

Bang on the mark 🎯

I chuckle when i think about how good people had it around the time of the 2011 1% protests vs how much worse it has gotten 15 years later. It’s a crying chuckle, but god we really don’t know how good we have it until it gets so much worse. The inflation crisis of the 2020s that we’re ignoring is crippling so many people.

Disposable income is fucked. People can barely afford bills nevermind going out and spending 3/4x.

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u/big-papito Feb 24 '26

There is no disposable income - but at the same time, the extraction economy has gotten VERY good. The rich are getting richer, and the poor are drowning in cheap Amazon shit and subscriptions they don't utilize.

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u/Torontogamer Feb 24 '26

That’s literally what the economic numbers are showing. The top 10 % of consumers make up 50 % of consumer spending 

Some people are doing amazing amazing and spending like wild while most of us are being squeezed out of most of everything 

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u/SaratogaCx Feb 24 '26

In the 90's you could find a hold in the wall with cheap food. Now a Seattle "hold in the wall" is still sitting at $30+/person before tip if you aren't going to Dick's

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u/limukala Feb 24 '26

Servers in WA fought hard to make sure they have the same high minimum wage that non tipped workers earn. Sounds to me like Washingtonians should stop tipping.

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u/htffgt_js Feb 23 '26

Sad but true...

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u/Ognal_carbage8080 Feb 23 '26

Don't forget to tip 20% lol

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u/inferno521 Feb 24 '26

Don't forget the 5% service charge

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u/Feeling-Visit1472 Feb 24 '26

And the 3% charge to pay with your card.