Joon Lee / Edge columnist
With the COVID-19 outbreak, food is not the only thing that has gone up in price, every good has gone in price. Price increases were further accelerated by the outbreak of the Ukrainian War. Gleneagle’s cafeteria had no choice but to raise the price of dishes in its cafeteria in response to the price increase.
Food prices in the cafeteria were viewed negatively by students. “I cannot believe it,” said Daniel Sue, grade 11. “Who loves the food prices increasing?”
Chef Frank said, “Please remember the economics of what COVID, natural disasters [flooding], lack of people in the workforce, oil prices and now the war inflicted by Russia has done to the economy. This is the largest inflation hike we have seen. It is a trickle-down effect with all of the above mentioned and the consumer absorbs the brunt of it.”
According to Abbinante, the highest price increase for cafeteria food was $0.50. “Our prices from our suppliers have increased from 7-40%, and individual packaging has hurt the bottom line even more. We do not get any subsidy from the school. We are running on an extremely tight budget and our goal is just to break even,” said Abbinante “We will not compromise our ingredients to deliver a sub-par product.” As Abbinante noted the price increase was an unavoidable choice.
Not only did the price of food in the cafeteria go up, but the price of food in all the surrounding restaurants also rose. “Keep in mind that every restaurant has had to increase their prices and we are still by far the lowest in terms of prices around,” said Abbinante. “Even though we do not have the buying power of saying 7 eleven or other facilities and their prices our more costly, we strive to offer our school community an excellent product for the best prices we can.”
One of the reasons for the biggest inflation was the war in Ukraine. With the outbreak of the Ukraine war, international oil prices soared. According to “Ukraine conflict: Petrol at fresh record as oil and gas prices soar” BBC news, the Oil jumped to $139 a barrel at one point, the highest level for almost 14 years, while wholesale gas prices for next-day delivery were more than doubled.
“It’s not that mean I don’t understand the rise in cafeteria food prices.” Said Henry Kim, grade 11. “It is understandable that cafeterias must raise prices accordingly as the prices of ingredients have risen, but it is an important point that the target audience for food sales is students. Even a small amount of $0.50 increasing can feel big to students.”
Sources: “Ukraine conflict: Petrol at fresh record as oil and gas prices soar”