Food costs take bigger bite of budgets

… General Mills later this month is reducing the sizes of boxes of many types of cereal, such as Cheerios, Wheaties and Cocoa Puffs. Although the company will sell the boxes for less than it’s been charging for the bigger sizes, the change will increase the price per ounce.

“This will help offset rising input costs,” including higher energy and grain prices, General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe says.


Joe Hall, owner of J.W. Hall’s Steak and Seafood Inn in Aliquippa, Pa., recently raised prices for a number of items on his menu, including the prime rib dinner, which went from $19.50 to $21.50. He said his costs for beef, seafood, butter, coffee, even condiments such as ketchup, have risen substantially in recent months.

“I just had no choice,” says Hall, who says he has rarely seen prices go up this much, this fast, in his 26 years of business. “Prices are going up across the board. I waited a long time to react. I was hoping they would level off a little bit. But it doesn’t seem like that’s happening.”

USA Today