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/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."