Delexan Navaratnam is no stranger to the restaurant industry's changing landscape.
The owner of Tony’s Family Diner says his business adapted to survive the worst of the pandemic and now he's being put to the test again as rising food costs force him and others in the industry to consider changes he never imagined would be necessary.
“We've been tested really hard the last two years where it's almost like drinking water out of a fire hose," says Navaratnam, who is considering cutting some items off the menu to offset the rising price of supplies at his Franklin Boulevard diner.
"It's just so much coming at you and it's a lot of adapting,” he says.
The family restaurant is known across Cambridge for its affordable breakfast and Navaratnam is reluctant to make any compromises that could affect that part of his business.
He says he'll continue offering Tony's staple menu items at current prices for as long as possible, even if it means dropping some less popular items.
“It's important to be more meticulous than ever in terms of trying to keep the menu in a way where it makes sense for us,” he says.
The diner has even looked into plant based options as certain meats skyrocket in price.
Meatless alternatives may be a way to bring in a different customer base while steering clear of over-priced animal products until prices return to normal, Navaratnam says.
He's not alone. Prices in nearly every sector are on the way up.
Das Parts is a German automotive parts and service company located just down the street from the diner.
"Automotive has gone up somewhere from 10 to 50 percent over the last year. Our cost for everything has gone up," Das Parts owner Oskar Kohanec says.
The company imports parts from Europe, the United States and all over Canada but tries to keep most of their business in Canada to curb rising import fees.
"We do our best to keep as much business in Canada as possible, because it's cheaper when you're in Canada," Kohanec says.
"We're not just talking shipping costs, we're talking add ons that companies are putting on to their freight, such as their own processing fees. It's $35 to process a $10 customs fee these days."
In response to inflationary pressures, the company has started consolidating their supplier list since ordering from too many companies comes with too much unwanted cost.
"We've started to narrow down and get items from only certain locations because the added shipping of buying from two suppliers doesn't make it worth it anymore. It's inflation, it's gone into hyper drive."
According to a January report from Statistics Canada, “the rate of inflation surpassed five per cent for the first time since September 1991, rising 5.1 per cent on a year-over-year basis and up from a 4.8 per cent gain in December 2021.”
Stats Can reported Wednesday that February's inflation rate topped 5.7 per cent, driven largely by the rising cost of fuel, which is pushing virtually every industry to pass those costs onto customers.
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