Exclusivity or Exclusionary - Why Restaurants Can't Continue to Raise Prices and Remain in Business

A recent dining experience in the Hamptons reveals a troubling trend—restaurant prices are becoming so prohibitive that they're not just exclusive, but exclusionary. As operating costs rise and prices increase across the board, the restaurant industry risks pricing out the majority of diners and losing its essential role as an accessible community gathering place. We need to rethink our operating models before affordability concerns create an existential threat to the industry.

If you happen to find yourself on the eastern end of Long Island, make sure you have your own stash of food. Because if you don't, you will either not be able to afford to eat while you're there, or you will run up a huge credit card bill.

My disclaimer: I don't monitor my food budget. I'm lucky that way, or stupid that way. I eat what I want, often regardless of the cost, mostly because I enjoy good food, and I love eating out. I misuse my credit cards, sometimes spending money I don't have. It's a privilege I am completely aware of. So with that in mind, read on.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I drove out to Southampton to join my chef-husband, who was cooking meals for a wealthy family over the long weekend. I wanted to grab a light lunch, so I found a cute bistro where I ordered a glass of Sancerre and a chicken salad.

The check, with tip, came to $70.

I walked over to the grocery store. I love grocery stores — like window shopping for food — strolling the aisles and finding new products. I struggle like most Americans these days with affordability, and if I were actually shopping for my household groceries, I wouldn't go to this place.

The prices were prohibitive. Not like, "I don't see value it that" kind of prohibitive, but more like, "if I buy that, I won't be able to pay my rent" prohibitive. Eggs, milk, cheese, bread. Out of control.

As I walked back to my hotel, I passed several other restaurants and checked out the menus. It was not so demoralizing as it was obscene. I can't even…Where do regular people shop here? Is there a Stop & Shop nearby?

At the end of the weekend, on Sunday night, after my husband finished an incredibly grueling week of work, we decided to go out for dinner. I was cautious, knowing that it wouldn't be easy to have a meal that wouldn't break the bank, or cost nearly an entire day's wages.

We settled for a nice, full-service Mexican restaurant. I normally would look at a menu like that and try to order intelligently — no entrees perhaps, a couple of appetizers to keep the cost down. I like to eat well, but I know if I only order one dish, I can keep the tab low.

The first item on the menu of starters was guacamole. $25. And it was downhill — or uphill- from there.

First, I should say that the meal was excellent. Michelin star good? No. But better than most meals I've had in a while. And the service was also good, but no better than what one should expect.

The check came. With tip, the meal set us back $300.

What the hell were we paying for? Two Modelos — $24. My cocktail was $18. I had a chile relleno, we had ceviche, an octopus appetizer, the guacamole and coconut cake for dessert. This price was what I would expect at a super fine dining restaurant; I don't think we've ever spent that much for an anniversary dinner.

Could I have anticipated this and said, no, we can't dine here? Sure. But I had been scouting restaurants all day, and this one — it was no different than any of the others that were open that evening. I felt trapped. If we wanted to eat a meal that night, a full meal, this was what we were going to spend.

I had a frightening thought. Is this the ultimate direction that restaurants will be taking? Increasing prices because they can, or because they believe that is the only way to make a profit? and in the process, leaving out entire populations of diners?

Who can afford to go out to eat once a week and spend $300?

This restaurant environment isn't just exclusive — it's exclusionary. There is a place and time for fine dining, expensive restaurants. But there is a disconnect here. Because if we keep going down this road, there will be no places for the rest of us to go.

When my husband and I opened our first restaurant in 1998, we aimed to be a place people could come to dine once a week, because the prices and the menu (French)were accessible. The atmosphere was friendly. It was a neighborhood bistro. Inclusive. We served families with small children and couples on a first date. Could we have charged more for our menu? Of course. But the purpose wasn't that. We determined what our purpose was and we embodied that.

This is what I'm afraid of: As the cost of doing business rises, restaurant owners will feel emboldened to raise prices and feel justified in doing it. When everyone in the community is doing it and the customer's income isn't rising at the same rate, the community that can support it will shrink. And the purpose that restaurants serve in society will dissolve along with it.

Restaurants will no longer be accessible to the majority, but to an exclusive minority. The delight of eating out will be confined only to the very rich.

Fine dining is certainly exclusive. A slice of pizza and a coke is inclusive. But making everything in between exclusionary will kill the industry. We can't just keep raising prices because it will create an existential threat — yes, I said it — to the restaurant industry. An existential threat.

We must rethink the operating models we use to run our businesses. Pivoting is our superpower. We've done this before.