There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Cost-Plus Lunch

A group of friends had just finished a meal at Romano's Macaroni Grill in Honolulu when one of them noticed something odd about the check. As a local television news station reported in April, a Temporary Inflation Fee" of $2 was nestled inconspicuously between the $4.50 Flavored Tea and the $14.00 Spinach & Artichoke Dip.

The restaurant chain's website explained that the charge was added to partially offset... operational cost increases" due to unusual economic conditions including global supply chain shortages and ever-growing pressure from inflation."

In media coverage of today's rising prices in general, this has become a prevailing narrative: businesses are passing their rising costs onto consumers."

While superficially plausible, this gets the economics of prices the wrong way round.