TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — At Vivace Restaurant in the Foothills, owner Daniel Scordato greeted customers and talked to them about their day. Asking them about their meals, he takes pride in the quality of his food.
“I use very very high quality ingredients compared to my prices,” Scordato said.
Many of the prices for the ingredients he uses has gone up in the past year. He said 2021 wasn’t bad, but 2022 was really tough.
He said prices have gone up for a lot of items, especially for filets, veal and fish. He said the filets have gone up from about 18 dollars to about 24 dollars per pound and even though things are stabilizing, some prices are still going up.
“Profits in 22 were the lowest they ever were since I’ve been going for 30 years,” he said.
In order to keep up with the rise in prices, Scordato had to make a tough decision, raising some prices about six percent.
“I was afraid to raise prices. I don’t want to scare people away but then you have to make a profit somehow, but we got through,” he said.
An analysis from USA today of a U.S. Census Bureau study shows in Arizona in November, on average, people spent about 97 dollars in a two week period at restaurants. They said in June spending went up about 119 dollars. The study said that is due to inflation’s impact on restaurants.
The analysis said Arizona is the second highest in the nation when it comes to spending because of inflation, only beat by Colorado.
For some people in the Foothills, rising restaurant prices aren’t really a problem.
“I still want to go out. You get a little stir crazy, you want to get out of the house,” Dan Graybill said while Jessica Alvarez said, “I went out last year and I’m going out this year and enjoy going out to eat.”
While Scordato is hoping he doesn’t have to raise his prices on customers again, he’s glad he has customers that come back.
“As long as I’m doing the volume, I want to do volume, and that’s what keeps us in business,” he said.
