Restaurateurs explain why food won’t get cheaper

Food at restaurants and hawker stalls will not be cheaper despite the price cut of consumer goods by hypermarkets.

“It does not make sense for us to reduce the price of food at restaurants unless the petrol price is reverted to RM1.92,” said Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Associa­tion president Jamarulkhan Kadir.

“All this while, we have been absorbing higher costs as we haven’t been increasing our food prices even after the price hikes. So I don’t see why we should lower our prices now,” he told The Star yesterday.

Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association president Datuk Ramalingam Pillai also felt that the petrol price reduction did not justify restaurants charging their customers less.

“The question of us cutting our prices does not arise as we have always maintained our prices,” he said, adding that it was only fair that restaurants made up for their reduced profits now.

Taiping Hawkers Association chair­man Tan Thian Kooi said it was un­­likely that hawkers would lower their prices because suppliers were reluctant to reduce the price of ingre­dients.

“It is difficult for hawker food prices to change according to petrol prices as they are also dependent on the cost of supplies,” he said.

Tan added that the high electricity tariff would deter factories producing the ingredients to lower prices.

COMMENTS : ITS NOW THE CONSUMERS' POWER - Its your money, its your decision.