AMMAN
— Disruption in the supply and price hikes of raw materials has hit restaurants
in Jordan as owners are scrambling to make ends meet.
“When prices change, everything changes. Cooking
oil used to cost
us JD16 per container and now it stands at JD22, chicken used to be JD1 per kilo,
and now it is JD2.2,” said a worker at Al Mathaq (the taste) restaurant in
Downtown Amman.
اضافة اعلان
Local
media quoted Raed Hamada, the representative of food and beverage sector at the
Jordan Chamber of Commerce, as saying: "The increase in prices raised the
overhead costs of restaurants, which further impacts the already struggling
sector."
One
of Jordan's most popular and affordable meals,
falafel, was also affected by the price hikes.
“If
you raise your prices by 5 piasters or 10 piasters, people get stressed out and
will voice their frustration,” said Abdullah Taher, the co-owner of Abu Mahjoub
restaurant, a local falafel shop located in Jabal Luweibdeh.
“The cost of raw materials went up and the flow of imported
ingredients, such as chickpeas and beans went up exponentially over the last
few years, especially in the last two months. All of that affects the business
in so many different ways," added Taher.
According
to restaurant owners, the price of Turkish chickpeas, which earlier sat at JD15
for a 25 kg bag, has now been marked up by JD3 to JD4, noting that the hike
followed a cut off in supply.
“I
would be lucky to get it for anything around JD18 or 18.25 JDs per bag,” Taher said.
Restaurant owners now find themselves
between a rock and a hard place.
They
either compromise the quality of the product to turn a profit, or raise their
prices and risk losing their customers.
“The price of everything goes up. Even for a restaurant such as
mine, if I am buying Turkish chickpeas and suddenly the price goes up, I
am either stuck with Turkish chickpeas for quality-control purposes to make
sure our food taste and quality doesn’t change — I cannot sacrifice that. Or I can opt out for a
cheaper option and risk losing the quality and flavor that my customers are
used to,” said Taher.
Both Abu Mahjoub and Al Mathaq’s
prices have not increased despite the price hikes of raw materials. “We didn’t change
our prices for our.
customers,”
said a restaurant worker at Al Mathaq,, “Our customers that have been coming for six years, won’t come anymore.”
“How
do you explain that to your customers?” questioned Taher, “Customers do not see
what is going on behind the scenes.”
Also
adding to the woes of restauranteurs, Taher explained, are the arbitrary
pricing methods suppliers use.
“We are at the mercy of the suppliers. They do not have fixed prices if they know you they give you a
good price. If they see you are a restaurant in a specific neighbourhood, they
jack up the price, they do not care if they sell to you or not because they are
selling to someone anyway,” Taher explained.
The
rise in the cost of raw materials also increases the overhead costs of a
restaurant’s operations. The reasoning is twofold: The prices that are set by
raw-material suppliers and spikes in global shipping prices.
According
to Forbes, over the 12-month period from March 2020, global container rates
increased by approximately 195%.
“The cost of shipping world wide went up … I know for a fact that
a shipping crate from Egypt used to cost 600 dollars but now it’s
up to almost 3000 dollars. That’s a pretty
high jump, from what I understand talking to our supplies and the people who
installed the kitchen and restaurant equipment told us about how much they are
paying to get stainless steel and all the needed necessary equipment.”
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