General

[SHAG]

Hi,

My father has two pizzerias for customers. Both are fairly successful places and the one I have eaten at for over 15 years. I remember when the current owner was the dough boy! So they were telling my dad about how they want to do some work but they don't know if they can afford it.

Pizza Shop #1 (this is one who has been around the longest and helped PS#2 off the ground.) Price of materials to make a pizza have gone through the roof in which the owner decided not to expand the shop. He stopped his 2 pie specials. The cost of a pie increased by 4 fold.

Pizza Shop #2 is talking about closing 2 days a week now due to the high cost of wheat and other food products. He use to buy flour by the skid but is now down to 1/2 a skid. He told my dad that flour went 3 fold in the last few months. The cheese is another story. Cheese is now 2 times the price in the same period. He stopped his two pie promotion.

Unfortunately, to go to shop it is quite the ride to get there since I do not live in that area anymore. So I go to a descent local pizzeria in my area. They offer delivery. I got a pie from the place the other day delivered. The price increased by 4 bucks! I asked the kid why and he said the parlor now charges $1.50 for delivery to help cover the cost of fuel for the drivers if a only a pie is ordered plus the ingredients have gone up big time. I was shocked it cost 16.00 to have a pie delivered before tip.

Now what makes pizza taste better with? Beer of course. I don't care about mixing the two myself since it does not sit right in my stomach. The cost of beer is going up as well. Hoppes are at an all time high along with grains needed to make the beer. So I was cruising around the net about all the pricing increases. Found this.

MSN article

Very interesting about what is going here. Things you didn't think about before like pizza are now being thought about. Seeing the successful small business owner being hurt is another thing. The next domino to fall would on to my dad's business. These guys provide a lot of business to people such as my father. This is just one local business too.

What I do find interesting is the lack of discussing the real cause and effect of the root of the problem. Market and price manipulation? Think about it. Oil for example, the Saudis have said they do not know why the cost per barrel is so high. The flip side do they really care?

Now you have basic staples such as grain now climbing. Grain is becoming just as valuable as oil. We make much of what the world needs. Unfortunately, it is not the smaller farmer who is truly benefiting from it. Just the big Agra corps. Grains are used everywhere from feeding cattle (higher cost of beef, milk and cheese production) to Cereal production to bread making to Beer to soda and even pizzas. One must wonder what is going on here and how did it get this way.

Just some food for thought,
shaggy

[Schmitti]

Yup saw that in the Times Union this weekend:

Rising costs slice pizzerias' profits -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY

E

[shadawg]

I am in the bread business. Exports of wheat are at an all time high. The cost of wheat has gone up something like 109% in the last 90 days. This is all based on wheat futures and what is said to be a very poor forecast for the harvest this year, plus increased fuel cost to harvest and bring the wheat to market.

[Walking_Target]

problem is China... they're sucking up every natural resouce they can get their hands on.

[CrazyBoy78]

I blame zombies.

[Azzy]

Originally Posted by Walking_Target

problem is China... they're sucking up every natural resouce they can get their hands on.

Doesn't help that the US has a government created market for ethanol, making corn so much more profitable than other crops.

I even hear that we now import wheat into the US. Thats a sad, sad thing when we import to what used to be the world's breadbasket.

Lets hope all of you have your bills paid off if some sort of recession (or god forbid depression) does hit, so you wont end up neck deep in debt.

My wife and I have been saving seeds from our produce, and are planning on a decent garden and canning this year to make sure our grocery bill wont go nuts. We've also talked about growing some sort of grain, and I've though about renting a slice of the land that sits unused behind my house for an even larger garden. (As in renting by asking the owner who does not use it if it can be used as long as it is taken care of properly)

[RealtorTommy]

Eat less....Like I was told to play a third less, when I complained about the paint prices KEE was charging in this forum .The paint prices are going though the roof here in Florida with $20.00 increase per case...ok I vented..thanks for listening

Market and price manipulation? ...yep in everything....The mega rich are ready to make some more money...too bad the trickle down proably won't happen for the middle and lower classes...The class gap will widen even further with some of the middle class falling into the lower class as wage earnings will not substantiate the level of living as before...

We are in for a big hit....just hang on and tighten your budgets....

[MadCat]

Who is John Galt?

[Mr. Furious]

Originally Posted by Walking_Target

problem is China... they're sucking up every natural resouce they can get their hands on.

Not only that but the US Dollar is so weak right now that every other country wants to import from the US. Their currency buys more of our product right now. Remember all of our Canadian members squeeling with glee once the Canadian dollar surpassed the US dollar and they could buy guns and gear from the US cheaper than ever? It's the same thing only with every product and on a global scale.

We are screwed.

[Contour]

Sounds like it's time to plant a garden.