Inflation hits New York: $15 fries and $18 sandwich

This is supposed to be a summer of long-awaited celebrations in New York City, the return of a calendar filled with birthday dinners and happy hour. But New Yorkers are facing sticker shock everywhere they look, whether they’re shopping for baked goods at the grocery store, ordering a beer after work, or eating a slice of pizza at night. late.

While rent and the cost of Uber rides have been staggering, rising food prices are one of the most painful results of inflation. In May, food prices in the New York City area rose at their fastest annual rate since 1981, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The effects were especially evident across the city – everyone had to eat.

The most recent inflation report showed gains slowed in June, but food prices were still 9.1% higher than a year earlier in New York and 10.4% higher nationally.

Rising prices have come to New York favorites like ice cream cones at Mister Softee Truck and bacon, eggs and cheese bread in bodegas. And they have exacerbated the city’s hunger crisis; number of children visiting food warehouse 55% higher earlier this year than it was before the pandemic, according to City Harvest, the largest food rescue organization in New York City.

Many restaurants and bars that survived the pandemic resisted raising prices last year, fearing they would scare off customers during a fragile recovery. Now, as businesses raise wages to attract workers in a competitive labor market in the face of soaring food and energy costs, higher prices are appearing on menus across the city. city.

We followed five New Yorkers last month in their weekly eating habits to document where they are seeing the effects of inflation.

$3.50 for a bagel

On a recent Monday morning, shortly after arriving at work, Mamadu Jalloh paid $3.50 for an everything bagel with simple cream cheese and $1.50 for a coffee. Hot coffee at a street cart near his job in Queens, where he works at a nonprofit that has previously helped homeless adults.

The owner of the cart, Ali Apdelwyhap, has just raised the price of coffee by 50 cents. Almost every item in his shopping cart became more expensive, even the ice packs he used to store his drinks. He was hesitant to go over 50 cents, worried that his regulars – including a large number of construction workers – would stop coming. “It is too much for everyone,” he said.

Before the pandemic, Mr. Apdelwyhap’s breakfast cart was parked in Midtown, serving lawyers and bankers who appeared less sensitive to price increases. Now, with most office workers no longer going to work 5 days a week, he says he can’t sustain his business there. He settled in this new corner along the northeastern waterfront in Queens after noticing nearby construction sites, hoping that would be where workers were required to be physically present.

Jalloh, 28, is one of them, driving five days a week from his home in the South Bronx. Because soaring food and gas prices put a strain on his budget, he’ll sometimes skip breakfast or lunch to earn $700 in his monthly rent or shop at 99-cent stores.

His hourly wage recently increased by 5.4%, from $24.62 to $25.95, as part of a citywide cost-of-living adjustment for some workers. non-profit action. However, Mr Jalloh said, it has not done much to cushion the impact of inflation. “It helps, but it doesn’t really help,” he said.

$3.75 for Ice Cream

Patrick Dunne, a sophomore medical student, stopped by Veniero’s Pasticceria & Caffe in Manhattan’s East Village for a midday snack. It costs him $3.75 for a scoop of strawberry ice cream, an order that has increased by 25 cents this summer. He also bought a box of pastries, which included a $7 portion of tiramisù, an extra 50 cents.

Mr. Dunne, 25, brought home pastries to his family in the Bronx. He moved in with them after leaving his Manhattan apartment early during the pandemic, and now, with rising rents, he can’t afford his own place.

Mr. Dunne is excited about a summer of eating out with friends, but on days when he has to change hospitals, he often brings granola bars from home or eats the dollar menu at McDonald’s.

“You almost don’t want to get mad because you know restaurant owners are paying a hefty price too,” he says. “So you feel sympathetic, but you’re upset about the price increase.”

At Veniero’s, employees are facing an onslaught of pandemic disruption. A new refrigerator takes more than a year to hit the market. Avocado prices have risen, in part due to the high cost of fodder, as drought in parts of the United States has been exacerbated. A service worker who left because he was unvaccinated has not yet been replaced.

Robert Zerilli, a fourth-generation owner, said he “had no choice but to raise the price last month. “We have to make a profit,” he said.

$18 for a Sandwich

During the lunch break of a working day from home, Mychal Lopez, 32, walked to Win Son Bakery, a Taiwanese cafe near his apartment in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He spent $30.48 – a cold brew for $4, a shrimp scallion pancake for $18 and a berry rice cake for $6.

Win Son’s owners said they raised prices to cope with rising food and labor costs, but declined to say how much. The price of eggs, an ingredient in several Win Son products, is expected to rise 78 percent this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after a major bird flu outbreak killed chickens, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. and reduced egg production.

Mr. Lopez said coffee in Win Son is still cheaper than usual in Midtown, where he works four days a week to work for a fashion retailer. The average price of a 16-ounce cup of cold coffee is about $4.88, according to the list prices at 13 coffee shops.

Mr. Lopez said he brought his lunch to the office more after he recently paid $6 for a matcha latte in Midtown. “It’s the symptom of New York,” he said, sighing. “You’re like, this is what I need to do to live in the city and get through the day.”

$8 for blueberries

For years, Margaret Rodgers, a retiree living in Astoria, Queens, bought fruit and vegetables at the Union Square farmers market in Manhattan. She keeps track of her food budget by filling her pocket with $80 cash. But recently, the bag was empty after only two visits to the market. She was shocked to discover that a quart of strawberries now costs as little as $8.

Ms. Rodgers, 79, said: “For the first time in my life, I really felt the effects of rising food costs.

Ken Migliorelli, who sells produce at the market from his family farm in Dutchess County, said he had to raise prices across the board. Because the war in Ukraine has limited oil supplies, high gas prices make Migliorelli’s truck more expensive to drive 100 kilometers from the Hudson Valley to the city. Fertilizer prices have been soaring, exacerbated by post-war export and supply chain disruptions.

This year, Mr. Migliorelli raised the price of blueberries from $2 to $3; they are now 8 dollars a pint. A pound of peaches has grown to $5, from $3.50 last year.

Zaid Kurdieh of Norwich Meadow Farms, another supplier at the Union Square market, said he is trying to minimize price increases on staples like zucchini and carrots, but plans to raise prices by up to 30 % for items that are in high demand – the ultimate restaurant, like mini squash. A pound of cherry tomatoes at his counter is now $12, up from $10 last year.

“I can’t keep up with the cost at the moment,” Mr. “I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

$15 for Fries

After a day of work, Kathy Li made an appointment with a colleague at Skylark, a cocktail bar near Times Square. She ordered a neon green gin and vodka for $20, then split $15 chips and $19 with guacamole — a price she described as “ridiculous.”

Ms. Li, 30, said the finance company where she works provides free breakfast, lunch and snacks, which frees up her budget to regularly go out for drinks or dinner.

This summer, Skylark raised the price of chips and guacamole by $1.25 after the price of avocado skyrocketed. (The United States has suspended avocado imports from the Mexican state of Michoacan after a U.S. inspector there faced a safety threat.)

According to David Rabin, a Skylark co-owner, because of the pandemic, the bar closed until October 2021, and then the Omicron variant caused holiday parties to be canceled on a large scale in December, usually was the bar’s most profitable month.

Mr. Rabin has managed to recover from those losses while also facing high staff turnover. He raised the salaries of some managers and spent more on training new employees for positions like security guards.

Mr. Rabin and the bar’s managers had a months-long debate over whether to raise the price of alcohol by $1 and charge $20 per cocktail, a threshold Mr. resisted for a long time.

“We’re not trying to make anyone feel like we’re trying to wax them,” Mr Rabin said. But after noticing similar bars in the area that charge at least $20, the bar owner decided to make the move. “Unfortunately, it has become the norm,” he said.