Sep 4, 2008 6:16 pm US/Central
I-TEAM: Convention Costs Diners In St. Paul More
(WCCO)
Two months ago the I-TEAM started to collect menus from restaurants on two of the most popular streets in the Twin Cities: Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis and St. Peter Street in St. Paul.
We were curious if the prices would change the week of the convention. What the I-TEAM found is that you're paying more on one side of the river.
St. PaulIn St. Paul you'll pay exactly the same for lunch at
Kincaid's but you'll dish out more for dinner. Two dollars more for the Roasted Chicken Dijon.
Buffalo wings at the Great Water Brewing Company cost you $1 more.
Pazzaluna, the popular Italian restaurant, piled on the biggest price increases. The beef tenderloin jumped from $33.75 to $40 and the chicken risotto with asparagus costs $24, up from $19.25.
We asked the St. Paul restaurants why the price increased and they said they raised prices because food prices are up. And that's true. According to the
Consumer Price Index prices on meats like chicken rose 4.3 percent this year. However those chicken dishes we mentioned from Kincaid's and the Great Waters Brewing Company are up 11 percent.
"Did the food go up more on the other side of the river than it did in Minneapolis? I mean, I don't know," said Jack Reibel, chef at the
Dakota Jazz Club.
It's made conventioneers curious.
"Did they go up right before we got here? Yeah, that's ridiculous," said Jim Riemer from Illinois.
MinneapolisIn downtown Minneapolis prices at
The Local and
The Newsroom are exactly the same. At the Dakota, the chicken went up $1, but all the other menu items that were the same still cost the same or less.
The Caribbean Seasoned Prime Rib of Pork cost $26 two months ago, but today costs $24.
"It's easy to just say we're going to raise everything $1 or $1.50. But the reality is consumers are very conscious of their dollar right now from gas to everything we do. So you have to be creative in how you choose to do it," said Reibel.
Reibel said many of their wholesalers are charging a delivery charge to make up for the hike in gasoline prices. So restaurants have to decide how to make that up.
"We're very conscious of the money that we're charging because people are paying attention to it," said Reibel. "We actually lowered the prices of some of our items. We didn't want people to feel like they had to pick the cheapest item on there. We put three items all at the same price on the menu and said let's let the consumer choose which item they like the most. It's been really interesting to see how much that changed the flow of the menu."
Minneapolis restaurants say they've decided to deal with rising food prices in other ways. Many have cut back on portion sizes. The Local, which has had a $10.99 lunch menu for years, this summer added a $7.99 lunch menu with smaller portions. It also lowered salad prices this year. They said it's the best way to keep the locals happy.
"We didn't want to be scaring away any of our regular guests who come in here throughout the week, five, six days a week during the regular time. We wanted to make them feel welcomed as well," said Josh Petzel, general manager of The Local.
St. Paul restaurants said they don't see the regular traffic the Minneapolis restaurants do. But at a time when people are pinching pennies, some find the difference in pricing tough to swallow and wonder if it will stick.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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