How to Price Your Restaurant Menu During Inflation

Inflation hits restaurants harder than almost any other business, because your raw materials — meat, dairy, oil, flour — move in price constantly. The instinct is to raise every price by 10%. That's usually a mistake. It punishes your best-sellers, annoys regulars, and still leaves some dishes losing money.

Step 1: Re-cost your recipes first

You can't price what you can't measure. Before changing a single number on the menu, update what each dish actually costs today. A dish that was 28% food cost last quarter might be 39% now — and that's where the real bleeding is.

Step 2: Adjust by item, not across the board

• High-margin best-sellers (Stars): leave them — they're carrying you.
• Popular but thin-margin dishes (Plowhorses): raise carefully, or shrink cost (portion, supplier, recipe).
• Money-losers: re-price firmly or remove them.

Step 3: Use smart price points

Round to psychologically comfortable numbers (95, 99) and avoid jumping a flagship dish over a "mental barrier" (like 199 → 210) all at once.

Step 4: Add value, don't just add price

A small upgrade — a sauce, a side, better plating — lets you raise a price while the customer feels they got more, not less.

Step 5: Re-check monthly

In a high-inflation market, an annual price review is far too slow. Update costs monthly so a quiet price creep never turns into a silent loss.

Wizzora re-costs every dish the moment an ingredient price changes and shows you which items slipped into the red — so each price decision is based on today's reality, not last season's.

See your true food costs free.