Restaurants may change menus, hike prices in 2009

[bicker]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-13-restaurant-prices_N.htm?csp=34

This is a trend predicted to affect restaurants nationwide, but I thought it still would be applicable and relevant to folks with interest in Disney's restaurants.

 

[Lynn5700]

Oh well I get the DP so I never care how much the entrees are lol.

 

[bicker]

Something that Dining Plan patrons should be aware of, though, is that, following the national trend, we can expect Disney to reduce the portions of expensive cuts of meat, and or switch to lower priced cuts of meat. As you pointed out, given the Dining Plan, it isn't as easy for Disney to "raise prices" as other restaurants can, since, effectively, the price many patrons will pay is set in the summer of the year before (i.e., when MYW with Dining package prices are set), so they'll therefore be driven to reflect this national trend in the only other means available.

 

[PatsMom]

And I would expect beef to become progressively more expensive. Between rising transportation costs and the diversion of animal feed (corn) to fuel (ethanol) I don't believe restaurants, including Disney, will have any choice but to raise prices or alter menus. And Disney's having the dining plan is likely to affect us all. As was pointed out, those prices have already been set. So if Disney's price for the raw material rises, I would expect that the better cuts of beef will be either non-existent or smaller in size.