TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — At Feast in Midtown, owner Doug Levy said he’s expecting to turn a profit for the first year since the pandemic. His business has been having a tough time in recent years and has been impacted by employments issues and inflation.
Lately he said inflation has not impacted his business as much as in the past.
“It’s still slowing but it’s definitely still there,” Levy said.
However, two years ago he said it was having a bigger effect on him. It especially hit him hard with costs on seafood, produce, and meat.
“Everything’s more expensive right now and that means restaurants are going to be as well,” he said two years ago.
Two years ago he was also raising his prices, but now he isn’t raising them as quickly. He said while people were still coming in years past, people would substitute more expensive items like the usual steak they get for a sandwich.
“If we raise our prices any more, people will stop coming,” he said.
President Donald Trump promised during his 2024 campaign to lower inflation and grow jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national inflation rate went down from 3.2 % last February to 2.8% this February.
However, they said the national unemployment rate went up from 3.9% last February to 4.1% this February.
Two years ago Levy was struggling to find staff so much so that he had to put a sign on their door announcing that they were limiting their hours.
“Better in terms of finding new staff,” Levy commented about his situation now.
As for whether he feels like President Trump can help with the inflation and unemployment rates, he said it’s mostly still up in the air, especially with possible tariffs.
“There’s still a storm and I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out,” Levy said.
Specific to just food away from home, the BLS said inflation went down from 4.5% to 3.7% from last February to this February.
Matthew Cable is the chef and owner of Fresco and Zio Peppe and said he’s noticed inflation trends can trickle down to him from big companies he buys ingredients from. During high inflation, they’ll increase their prices on him, but right now he said inflation isn’t having as much of an impact on the products he buys.
“Prices are definitely down, not significantly, and for me, I’ve really noticed a lot of savings in like paper goods,” Cable said.
In 2022 he said employment issues were the worst when he struggled to find people or they would quit quickly and often without notice. Now he said the employment issue has gotten better and turnover is down.
“I’m definitely getting the candidates that I want and we’re building a good team,” he said.
However, Cable said both political parties are trending in the wrong direction. He’s just hoping whoever is in office does what’s best for the country.
“You’ve got to at least hope that they make some changes that help you,” Cable said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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