MACON, Ga. — The same high prices you hit at the grocery store are creating problems for your favorite restaurants. People are eating out more and more, but the restaurants are struggling to create dishes at an affordable price.
They're still seeing supply chain problems and now inflation is hitting too. Some places are even changing their menus because the favorites are just too expensive to make.
John McCord and Emmitt Sherling opened Satterfield's barbecue restaurant in 1983. Ben Hampton and his wife Marla Kaplan bought it in 2018 to carry on the legacy.
"We approached them, 'Hey, we want to keep this thing going and take it for the next 40 years,'" recalled Hampton.
He didn't expect a pandemic in 2020 and now the restaurant is dealing with rising food prices from peanuts to meat.
"I'd have to literally charge my customers $35-40 a rack to make any money. I can't pass that on, so I just took that off the menu. Same with chicken wings, I took them off," said Hampton.
The nation is experiencing higher trucking costs, fuel costs, and labor costs. It's all adding up.
"Everything is up double, triple, quadruple what it used to cost. Costs are rising and the supplies are limited. It's been real," said Hampton.
While he took some items off the menu because they were too expensive, he's had to increase prices on others. He says customers remain supportive.
"I think everyone is feeling it, so customers have been really cool about it. I have had to increase my prices or I'm going out of business," explained Hampton.
He expects prices will come back down, but if they don't, the mom and pop local businesses will suffer more than the corporations.
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