Lettuce costs another hurdle for hospitality industry

The hospitality industry is trying to “romaine” calm in the face of rising lettuce costs.

The Salinas Valley in California produces lettuce that’s consumed all over North America, but the area has been hit with extreme weather since the beginning of this year, including severe rainstorms which have led to flooding. That’s expected to drive up lettuce prices significantly in the coming months.

The effects are being felt at local businesses like Winston’s English Pub in Saskatoon. General manager Chris Beavis said it’s another hit small businesses will have to take, along with tax hikes and increases to the costs of both meat and produce.

“It’s all about overhead in costs, in everybody’s lives personally and in business,” he said. “Everything is exponentially eating away at small businesses.”

With the anticipated price rise, Beavis said customers can expect to see more market pricing at restaurants for menu items that include lettuce.

He said he hopes the farming industry will help fill the demand through new growing technology.

“There’s a lot of vertical farms coming, different farming techniques to deal with the adverse weather,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the restaurant got a taste of rising lettuce prices. Last November, Beavis said the pub took a different approach to the spike in lettuce costs by creating salads using other vegetables instead of lettuce.

That might be the case again this time around, he said, but he noted the bar will keep popular menu items like the caesar salad in place.

“It’s just going to be, unfortunately, a little more price-orientated,” he explained. “You really don’t have a choice if you want to be around in the long haul.”

Beavis said his business aims to be price conscious, and will continue to be “kinder” to the customer when considering price changes.

Greg Clark, the operating partner with Hudsons Pub, said he’s been watching prices on everything from beer to food very closely.

Produce and lettuce prices can be cyclical, he said, but if the company sees two or three months of an extended increase, then it will adjust its menu. He said the restaurant will eat the cost of short-term changes in product prices, and will still keep its salads with lettuce on the menu.

“We want to make sure that we still offer it, because it’s very important to some people,” Clark said.

The lettuce price increase also led to some changes to Hudsons’ pricing last November, but Clark said the company waited three weeks before making any changes. During that time, he said the price of small salads went up by a dollar, and larger salads went up by $3.

Clark said the pub currently pays around $75 for a case of lettuce, but last November it was up to $170 for the same case.

“We anticipate that fluctuation,” he said. “When it gets up that high, and you’re getting to the point where you’re losing money on a salad, then of course you need to start making some choices.”

Clark said the restaurant tries to control costs as much as possible to keep pricing the same while remaining a profitable business.

–With files from The Canadian Press