Diners returning to their favorite restaurants after a pandemic-forced break will experience sticker shock upon receiving their check. The cost of dining out, like grocery shopping and fueling up a car, has increased.
The return to indoor dining hasn’t been the savior that restaurant owners expected. Sourcing basic supplies remains constrained by regional and global events, including a fire at the Darigold plant in Idaho, avian flu spreading throughout the United States, and a strain on the global supply of wheat, cooking oil and fuel caused by the war in Ukraine.
Hiring employees has been a challenge, due to an exodus of workers from the restaurant business, an increase in the state minimum wage and competition from well-financed businesses on the Vancouver waterfront. As a result, business owners are trying to figure out how much they can raise prices without alienating customers.
Bonnie Brasure, owner of Bleu Door Bakery at 2411 Main St. in Vancouver’s Uptown Village, is one of those small-business owners. She opened her Paris-inspired bakery in 2011. She closed indoor dining for two years as the pandemic hit Clark County. On April 15, 2020, Brasure expanded Bleu Door Bakery into the space next door. She opened the newly expanded cafe on March 1, but indoor dining hasn’t made up for the challenges she continues to face. She agreed to share her costs for this story.
“I need eggs, flour and sugar to bake,” Brasure said. “I pay more for eggs by the dozen than you do at the store.” The steep increase in the price of eggs is due to an avian flu outbreak first detected in the United States in January. Since then, the disease has spread to 40 million birds in 39 states. Death from the disease and the culling of infected birds have led to a strain on the supply of eggs and other poultry items.
In 2019, Brasure paid $19.94 for 15 dozen eggs; she now pays $56 for the same amount. The bakery goes through about 225 dozen eggs per week. Avian flu also affected Brasure’s ability to get turkey for sandwiches. Her distributor has nine cases of turkey for the entire Portland area. He estimates that production will catch up with demand by October or November. Brasure is seeking other sources, but she may have to temporarily remove turkey sandwiches from her menu.
A fire gutted Darigold’s factory in Caldwell, Idaho, on Oct. 12, 2021. This facility contains one of the largest butter churns in the country and produces most of Darigold’s butter and milk powder. Production resumed on Feb. 2, but the butter market remained strained while Darigold caught up. Butter prices soared from $1.74 to $4.09 per pound.
The war in Ukraine led to a global shortage of wheat, cooking oil and petroleum. Bread flour went from $19.94 for a 50-pound bag to $56, and all-purpose flour from $17.83 to $26.92 for the same amount. Bleu Door uses 300 pounds of bread flour and 400 pounds of all-purpose flour per week. Cooking oil has increased from $38.42 to $83.55. Brasure’s business uses 35 pounds of cooking oil per week.
Faced with these steep price increases, Brasure was forced to charge more for menu items. Bleu Door added 50 cents to $1 to the price of baked goods; sandwich prices went up by $2. Passing these increases on to customers doesn’t make up for the rising cost of ingredients. People will stop buying pastries and sandwiches if they think they’re too expensive. “If it’s a small to medium-size scone, I can’t charge $4 or more,” Brasure said.
As a result of higher prices, customers are splitting plates. For example, two customers might split a veggie hash for $15 instead of ordering two separate entrees, leading to half the income for the restaurant but all the same overhead expenses for that table. Brasure has added a $2 split-plate fee to make up for the loss in revenue.
“If two people order one dish, we still have to wash two plates, two glasses and two sets of silverware. We also pay for the AC, the busser and the server,” Brasure said.
Other businesses have added a charge for splitting bills. Brasure hasn’t done this yet but explained that every time a card is swiped, Bleu Door is charged around 3 percent. For each card swipe, restaurants pay assessment fees to one company and processing fees to another. The business is charged extra fees for things like manually entering the card information into the system or if the credit card offers points for things like air travel.
“Why did Washington do a minimum wage increase during a pandemic and then have it go into effect during the slowest time of the year for restaurants?” Brasure asked. The state raised the minimum wage to $14.49 beginning Jan. 1. January and February are always challenging months for the restaurant business.
Bleu Door launched a new nighttime menu called Bites and Flights on First Friday in August. Brasure would like to add evening hours for her business, but she can’t find staff for those shifts. The cafe was closed during Bleu Door’s popular brunch service for the weekend of May 21 because of staffing issues.
Brasure has 21 employees — bakers, cooks and servers. Her main problem isn’t paying workers but finding and retaining them.
“You can’t find people with experience the way you used to,” she said. “I don’t know where everybody went. Most people don’t show up for an interview. If they show up for the interview, you hope they show up for day one, then you hope they show up for day two.”
While Bleu Door was closed for indoor dining, one employee left to work at a mortgage company and another took an office job. They haven’t returned to the hospitality industry.
Brasure feels that many people left this job sector because they were able to spend more time with their families while restaurants were closed. There’s also a perception that customers have become ruder and more demanding. When employers called their staff to return to work, many hospitality workers didn’t want to sacrifice weekends and nights away from their loved ones and deal with difficult customers to earn a living. In addition, now Brasure is competing with well-funded businesses on the Vancouver waterfront.
Utility bills have skyrocketed: Natural gas went from $350 per month in 2019 to $529 per month in 2022; electricity increased from $670 per month to $1,008, due to the demands of new equipment and an enlarged space for customers. Maintenance costs also steeply increased and became unpredictable.
Brasure needs to replace the roof at her business. The project cost $30,000 in 2019. In 2022, petroleum cost increases pushed it to $53,000. Roofing material contains asphalt for waterproofing, and asphalt is made of petroleum. The materials haven’t arrived. According to her contract, she must pay whatever the cost is when the materials arrive. It could be $100,000.
Brasure planned on adding an outdoor patio in the back. A couple years ago, the cost would’ve been $2,000; now it’s closer to $15,000. She also had to fix an oven. The cost was more than it would’ve been a couple years ago. “Everything has doubled or tripled in cost,” she said.
One item that helps the bottom line for restaurants is alcohol. Brasure hasn’t seen an increase in cost for this popular money-maker.
“Alcohol hasn’t really increased in price,” she said. “I’ve noticed cocktail prices have increased at a lot of places. I think this is how some people are making money.”
Brasure hasn’t gone on vacation in years because she doesn’t have anyone to run the business. She planned a trip to Italy but has delayed it until she can hire employees to run the cafe. If that doesn’t happen, she’ll close the business to take a vacation and hire new staff when she gets back. Workers will leave if Bleu Door is closed for an extended time period.
Last month, Brasure wound up in the hospital for an extended stay when she contracted pneumonia and sepsis. This brush with death made her realize that life is short. She’s considering retiring in four years.
“I want to travel, I want to fall in love, and I want to take care of myself,” she said. “I can’t do those things and run this business right now.”
Note: This story has been edited to account for the fact that increased electric bills resulted from increased power use, not increased rates.
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