Steak off menu as restaurants fight to curb soaring bills for customers

Increases in the cost of food and deliveries, rising fuel prices, and firms clawing back the cost of previous discounts were all blamed for the rise.

These pushed up the average price of a three-course meal in restaurant, pub and hotel chains last winter by 40p to 16.93 compared with a year before - a rise of 2.4 per cent. The 115 brands covered included Pizza Hut, Wetherspoon, Beefeater Grill and Hard Rock Caf.

The twice-annual report by food service consultants Horizons also found the average price of some starters, such as soup, went up even faster, by 7.4 per cent to 4.64.

Scottish restaurateurs, who admitted being under similar cost pressures as the chains, said they had reacted with cheaper dishes, lower-price menus at quieter times and living with smaller profits.

The average price of a three-course meal in Scotland rose fastest in the restaurant sector, by 3.8 per cent to 20.55, with fast-food meals going up by 3.4 per cent to 9.02. Pub meals were up by 2.8 per cent to 14.57 and those in hotels by 0.7 per cent to 23.61.

However, the increases were below those across the UK, where average meal prices went up by 91p to 18.94.

Horizons said further increases were likely this year because of the 2.5 per cent VAT increase.

Services director Paul Backman said: "This hike in menu prices suggests that while food ingredients may be cheaper in the short term, taking the year as a whole the trend is that costs are still rising and operators are having to factor this in to prices.

"There will also be an element of raising menu prices to pay for the widening use of discounts and money-off vouchers.

"Operators are trying to maintain margins by using their buying power to keep cost pressures under control, and re-engineering menus to bring average costs down. This research doesn't take into account the rise in VAT in January, so menu prices are likely to have risen again."

Tim James, co-owner of the Creelers seafood restaurants in Edinburgh and Arran, said they had made innovations to avoid having to discount, but not changed portion sizes.

He said: "The cost of food and energy has gone up and we increased prices last year by about 5 per cent, but if you start to discount it is very difficult to stop.

"We have introduced an early-evening menu, which is 17.95 compared to 25 for two courses, and proving very popular."

Alan Tomkins, who owns several Glasgow bars and restaurants including Urban bar and brasserie, said: "There have been cost increases and our suppliers have been affected by fuel cost rises, but we decided to work with reduced margins rather than increase prices. We are aware of the financial pressures our customers are under."Mr Tomkins also opposed reducing portions sizes, which he said "deluded" diners. However, he said more expensive dishes such as fillet steak appeared on menus less often. Pollock and hake were taking the place of pricier fish such as sole, haddock and monkfish.

Mr Tomkins also reported a "dramatic shift" towards house wines from mid-priced bottles.

Whitbread Restaurants, which includes Beefeater Grill and Brewers Fayre, said it was cutting power costs to save money, while aiming to keep prices down to increase trade.

Managing director Paul Flaum said: "We are implementing a number of measures to reduce costs across the business, such as energy-saving initiatives.

"Over the next year we foresee value will remain high on the agenda for consumers and are aiming to improve our value offering across our food and drink ranges and driving more customers into our business."