Some restaurant have taken roast chicken off the menu. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

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Mallorca’s restaurants are at breaking point. Rising prices are threatening the profitability of a very good summer season: some raw materials, such as oils or some meats, have tripled in price in recent months.

Fearful of losing customers by raising the prices of their menus, restaurateurs are making their way by varying what they offer depending on price.

Many restaurant or bar managers argue that they are aware that Mallorcans have less and less money to spend, with stagnant salaries and a skyrocketing cost of living: the cost of shopping has risen 34.7% so far this year on the island, according to Consubal.

“We have a menu of the day at 14.90 euros. We would need to raise prices to make it sustainable, but we are afraid of losing customers. Shopping in the supermarket is a necessity, but going to eat in a restaurant is not”, admits Ruth Vicente, manager of the GreenGo restaurant.

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So far this year, the electricity bill has risen from 500 to 1,000 euros a month and a box of 30 eggs has gone from 3 to 5.50 euros, reducing profits to a minimum.

In order to avoid price rises and the possible loss of customers, Mallorcan restaurateurs are changing what they offer, explains the president of Mallorca CAEB Restauración, Alfonso Robledo.

For example, they are reducing fried food, as it consumes a lot of electricity to cook and the oil is very expensive along with the price of quality merat and fish.

This is the case of the Italian restaurant La Bottega Di Michele.
Its owner and chef, Michele Caporale, has refused to raise prices in the middle of the high season: “In order not to increase the price of some dishes we have removed them from the menu, such as beef tenderloin”.

They have also stopped making roast chicken at the UMI restaurant-cafeteria: “It has gone up from two to eight euros since the war in Ukraine started and we have had to stop offering it. It didn’t make sense to have chicken al ast at 14 euros”, says Gabriel De la Cruz, a worker at the restaurant.