Street food eateries want government to raise the prices they can charge

AMMAN — The Jordanian Union of Restaurants and Confectionary Proprietors demanded the government raise the prices of street food that vendors of these popular foods are allowed to charge.اضافة اعلان

The prices street food restaurants are allowed to charge is set by the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply.

The union said that the sector has been experiencing tough times since the pandemic hit the Kingdom, which resulted in the deterioration of the economic situation. 

Omar Al-Awwad, the union president told Jordan News that restaurants suffer from high costs of production, the high price for rice, and oil, and different kinds of vegetables, as well as the high cost of raw materials and plastic packaging.

“We demand the government raise the prices of some foods at these restaurants from between 5 to 10 percent,” Awwad said, “The price rise will not significantly increase prices people pay at street food restaurant, but it will ease the severity of the crisis on restaurants.” 

He said that street food eateries have witnessed a drop in demand after the end of the summer. “We expect that it decreases even more with the approach of the winter season,” Awwad said.

He said that like most people in the Kingdom, street food eateries are also suffering economically. “There are about 2,000 (eateries) that pulled out from the market and closed down because they were unable to bear the burdens. There are thousand of workers who are at risk of losing their jobs if the situation remains as it is,” Awwad said.

He criticized a decision that allowed merchants to raise the price of raw materials they sell restaurants, but which did not allow restaurants to raise their prices in turn. 

“The majority of the sector is still committed to the old prices, but I wouldn’t bet on their ability to keep going in light of the current tough circumstances. The government must support us and find suitable solutions as soon as possible to allow this essential sector to once again stand on its own two feet,” Awwad said.

A source at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Supply, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Jordan News that “the ministry is currently studying, through specialized committees, the changes that have occurred in production costs.”

The source added that “the ministry, in coordination with the Jordanian Union of Restaurants, will soon determine the prices of street food restaurants in a way that ensures they have a reasonable profit margin, while at the same time, relieve the burdens on citizens.”

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