PrintDo Fancy-Pants Restaurants Raise Prices After a Great Review?
In the New York Times today restaurant critic Frank Bruni rightfully calls out Fiamma for precipitously raising its prices after Bruni's 3-star review. In commenting on Bruni's post, our friends at Eater suggest that this kind of review-driven price-gouging is standard operating procedure for New York restaurants.
I have to say I'm mystified by Eater's assertion. I can't think of another restaurant in recent memory that excessively and instantly raised its prices after being reviewed favorably, other than Country, the other example Bruni himself cited. I emailed Eater for a comment, and I've yet to hear back from them.
I've gotten comments from Joe Bastianich, Drew Nieporent, and Danny Meyer about Eater's assertion, and they are as mystified as I am about it. Meyer said, "Restaurant food pantry staples—like flour, olive oil, bread, and eggs—have all gone up in price dramatically over the past year. And that says nothing of fuel surcharges or the cost of health insurance. Restaurants need to raise prices in a responsible way. The fair question to ask is whether a restaurant has raised prices because it needs to—or whether it's an opportunistic gouge. My sense is that consumers are pretty savvy when it comes to discerning between the two."
Of course it should be noted that their responses are to be expected. No restaurateur would cop to such an obviously objectionable practice. But, serious eaters, if you can think of a restaurant that excessively and instantly raised its prices after being reviewed, please let us know.
This just in: Fiamma's PR firm just sent out a media advisory announcing a reduction in the restaurant's prices. One small step for serious eater-kind.
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1 Comment:
I think consumers *are* savvy, but it does not come right away. If Fiamma raise their prices right after the review comes out, it takes some time for the public to really get a grip on what has happened. It is not like Bruni can take his stars back unless he does a full re-review. Of course now they look like idiots for trying to scam us.
foodinmouth at 9:02PM on 03/12/08