A financial planner shares tips for Canadians looking to maintain a budget for dining out as inflation hikes restaurant prices across the country
Aaron Yen is paying more than ever for his Vancouver restaurant meals this summer. “You could probably get White Spot burger pre-COVID for around $10 to $12,” said the 27-year-old. “Now it’s around $15 to $16.”
To deal with soaring prices for everything from meat and produce to alcohol and restaurant supplies – inflation, hitting 8.1 per cent, though it settled back down to 7.6 per cent in July – businesses are hiking the amounts they charge for food and drinks. “There’s a term for this: It’s revenge spending,” Ms. Ly said. “You’re taking revenge, trying to get back the lost time. Everyone, myself and my friends, we’re trying to reap the most of summer and we’re going out more, often at a higher cost now.”
To help manage budgets for dining out, Cindy Marques, a Toronto-based certified financial planner with many millennial clients, recommends reviewing the menu before visiting a restaurant to get a sense of how much a meal will cost. “Before I go out, I already have an idea of what I’m going to order and roughly what I’m going to spend,” she explained. “I can go into that and not be shocked when I get the bill or feel guilty about it.