From the online comments

Restaurants struggle as bills soar

I have no sympathy for these restaurants. The prices in restaurants increased a long time ago. Try and justify €12 to €14 for a plate of 150 grams of pasta. Or €6 for four slices of bruschetta (yes, four slices of bread and some chopped tomatoes). Desserts have also gone up, before the pandemic, to a ridiculous level. I bought some fish from a fishmonger at €7.75 per kg. A restaurant wanted to charge me €60 per kg for the same fish (in Mġarr). Justify that! Not to mention the huge profit made on wine.

Lately, nearly every time we visit a restaurant we feel ripped off. We used to eat out once a week. Now, I’d rather invite my friends over and cook a decent meal instead. Visited a few different countries lately. They were all cheaper than Malta. We have become super overpriced and, to be honest, overrated. Stop blaming COVID and the current situation. Prices exploded a while ago. This just made it worse... I’m sure the restaurants can absorb it. – Joe Muscat

Eating should return to being just an occasional treat! Just as it was 50 years ago when I was a child. Even the ‘cheapest’ eateries charge an average of €10/€12 for a small salad or pasta (if no sort of meat is included), otherwise the charge is higher. The monthly food spend (for home cooking, all meals) for a single person would be approximately €100 (with no fancy items in the list). Anyone on an average monthly gross pay of €1,200 simply does not have the money to eat out for lunch or any other meal, for that matter, every day. Same goes for the normal senior citizens. The restaurant section is now bloated and unsustainable unless we again allow this island to be invaded on a regular basis by hordes of visitors (staying in our hotels). BnBs short-circuit this particular revenue stream.

So a return to that scenario will not be a help in this instance. Quite the contrary. in fact. We need a downscale and a total rethink of this business sector. Restarting the old model and going back to the status quo of pre-COVID is not on the cards. At least, not for the really business savvy. – A. Agius Muscat

Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The healthier the food, the steeper the price is. Then we read articles stating the obvious. Obesity, blood pressure, heart problems etc… People will either die with health problems or, as things are going, of hunger. – S. Schembri

Chick peas, beans, salads, sardines, mackerel, chicken, frozen vegetables, soups made from fresh vegetables, certain fruits… all still very cheap, very healthy and can feed lots of people for not much money. The problem is that too many want to buy red meat and want it with everything, which is detrimental to health and additionally many won’t or simply can’t be bothered to cook at home. Cutting down portion sizes by half will be a very good start as that will halve the cost of food instantly. – C. Cassar

Most people eat one plate for themselves and one for the doctor. – Richard Galea

Food prices are soaring, putting pressure on restaurants and grocery store shoppers alike. But, sadly, the cost of eating at home is climbing faster than the bills for dinner away from home. – Edward Falzon

COVID and the war in the Ukraine coupled with a local abundance of short-sightedness brought us here! – Stephen Borg

Simply raise the prices, it’s the market that dictates the price. If you do not understand this basic principle, how can you fry an egg? Don’t expect more vouchers now… election is over. – J. Cuschieri

I guess it will have to boil down to survival of the fittest. Good procurement and purchasing management come into the equation at this point. I wonder how some restaurants complain about a €2 increase in the price of rabbits or €1 increase in the price of 30 eggs when it costs between €35 and €50 per person to eat at those same restaurants. Hardly credible when they say the price of foreign wine has gone up by €3 when they make 400 per cent profit on foreign wine which they sell for €29 and €30 per bottle! – James Calleja

Yes, but we now have €700 million invested in tarmac over our fields. Price of corruption my dear! – Steve Pace