2021 — The Year of Raising Prices By Joel Feigenheimer
20
in the Mix Magazine
Prices are rising on every front. Food prices have lunged to their highest monthly jump in years. Fuel seems to be going up weekly. (Remember the days of “fuel surcharges” on your invoices?) Labor prices are not far behind as some response to the “fight for $15” is taking hold nationwide. Why work when you can stay home and make nearly as much as you would have made on the job? Operators nationwide are at a critical point in their ability to generate sustainable profits after the repercussions of the COVID pandemic. Many operators renegotiated their leases (those who could stay in business) for extended payment options. Those payments that were pushed off are now starting to be added to present monthly lease payments. This perfect storm of expense inflation is producing the only result that it can — the reality that for an operator to stay profitable, prices must rise.
