Niroj Shrestha, manager of The Bakery Café, said they were holding internal discussions to increase the prices of popular dishes that they serve. "We will raise our menu prices by up to 15 percent within two months. This will help us meet our operations cost," he added. Shrestha said the eatery was operating in loss for the last couple of years as they have not raise menu prices since last year. [break]
The Bakery Café has nine branches across the country.
The trend of frequenting restaurants for gathering or having lunch or dinner is gaining popularity among people. There are restaurants of different standards of restaurants across the country that offer a wide range of food items at different prices. People always go for restaurants offering hygienic food and best service. But menu price is also a determining factor for them.
"The restaurant business in the country is very competitive. We are operating in loss as we haven´t raised our menu prices for the last nine weeks," Kedar Nidhi Pandey, manager of Hot Breads (Bakers and Confectioners) told myrepublica.com. He further informed that Hot Breads was preparing to raise its menu prices by seven percent.
Rameshwar Karki, manager of Alina´s Bakery Café, also said that his eatery was preparing to raise menu prices. "We are operating in loss for quite a long time, as the prices of major commodities that we consume have skyrocketed in the market in recent months," Karki said. He further added that the management committee of the restaurant was preparing to raise its menu prices by around 5 to 10 percent within three months.
According to Nepal Rastra Bank´s inflation report, price of restaurant meals have gone up by 14.8 percent this year, compared to last year. Price of meat, fish and eggs has gone up by around 21.9 percent over the period, according to the report.
Tejendra Nath Shrestha, president of Restaurant and Bar Association of Nepal (REBAN), said restaurants were free to fix their menu prices. "Prices have popular food commodities have almost doubled this year as compared to last year. It´s natural for restaurants to raise their menu prices," Shrestha added.
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