APPLETON Wis. — Miguel Aguirre moves fast on the grill at Cinder’s Charcoal Grill in Appleton.

It’s just about lunchtime and orders are starting to come in quickly.

What You Need To Know

  • From buns to meat to butter, restaurants are facing increases in costs
  • Costs are also up for things like electing, gas and wages
  • Those increases often equate to increases in menu prices​

As he cooks up bacon, hamburgers and other other meats, he can run down a list in his head of cost increases over the past year on just about everything they buy.

“50%, or 60% or 75%, prices have gone up,” he said. “It’s pretty much almost double.”

That includes essential products like buns and chicken.

Not to mention the cost of running the business itself.

“We have to make money too, to pay bills to pay us, to pay for electricity and to pay everybody else,” Aguirre said.

In its March report, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said food away from home is up about 7% from 2021. That’s the largest increase since 1981.

Costs are not only up for consumers, but also for businesses like Cinder’s. It’s a family-owned operation with two locations.

Cinder’s owner Kelly Matelski said those increased costs are reflected in higher menu prices.

“We’re a family-orientated business, we’re reasonably priced, and we want to stay the way. But with the costs of everything going up and inflation happening like it is, we have our hands tied behind our back,” she said. “We have to stay competitive and we have to charge what we change in order to make money.”

There’s no clear idea of when this inflationary period will ease. Her vendors say they simply don’t know.

“This is a ground beef. This is ground sirloin. Right now this is costing me almost two dollars, my cost, just for a patty,” she said, pointing at a patty. “Now I have to put the butter into that. I’ve got to put the homemade bun into that. I’ve got to put the onion, the ketchup and the mustard and everything that comes with that.”

Meats is one of the staple products at Cinders. They have seen some of the steepest increases.

That includes the packages of fresh, locally sourced, hamburger the restaurant uses.

“Before, it was $55, now it’s 80 bucks,” Aguirre said.

Cinder’s and other restaurants have had to work through challenges and change the way they do business the past two years — they’re now navigating one more hurdle.