Pubs across the UK are being forced to adapt, as they are hit by a financial triple whammy of soaring food prices, rising energy costs and the impact of the cost of living crisis.
One step being taken by the Young’s pub chain, which runs around 200 venues in the UK, has been forced to drop salmon from its menu, picking the cheaper option of trout to serve to its customers due to the sky high cost of the fish.
With inflation having shot up to a 40-year high of nine percent in the UK, Young’s CEO, Patrick Dardis, stated that the company was making changes to its menu to help the chain remain profitable in the post-pandemic situation.
Despite claiming the company is “holding firm on our margins,” Dardis admitted that “we’re switching salmon for trout,” as they seek to be flexible with menus, so they don’t have to increase their prices for customers. “We are a versatile business and responsive to market prices in the menu suggestions we make to the managers of our pubs. We are switching salmon for trout because it is better value currently,” Dardis told SalmonBusiness.
The pub chain boss confessed that “in terms of food at the moment, the likes of oil and salmon are a big concern,” so they moved to swap the fish, as that can be done “on a minute’s notice.” Despite the popularity of salmon among customers, it soaring price meant that it has become a smarter business move for the chain to turn to trout.
Read also: Salmon price turns around after two weeks fall
The salmon price was climbing again at the end of last week after a fall from its price peak in April. Over the past year, the price of raw salmon has risen by 84 percent, with it thought that prices won’t start to ease until around the second half of the summer.
