This Valentine’s Day is set to look different after a year of record UK food inflation that has sent up the prices of everything from flowers to chocolates and dining in restaurants.
COVID-19-era supply chain logjams and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have meant that Britons paid a record 16.7 percent more for food in the four weeks to Jan. 22 compared with the same period last year, according to research firm Kantar.
As a result, romantic Valentine dinners out would cost more and restaurants are modifying their offerings to attract cash-conscious customers.
Photo: Reuters
British restaurant chain PizzaExpress last year offered a three-course set menu complete with “a prosecco and raspberry mimosa, heart-shaped dough balls and a main, such as our Padana, with creamy goat’s cheese and sweet caramelised onion.”
Priced at ￡23.95 (US$28.89) per person, the ad for the meal asked: “Will the Triple Salted Caramel Cheesecake tickle your fancy?”
PizzaExpress this year is advertising a slightly less impressive “love bundle” of a starter and a “classic” pizza for ￡15.
According to the latest data from Britain’s Office of National Statistics, eating at restaurants in December last year cost 9.4 percent more than in December 2021.
Other expenses associated with date nights — from flowers and movie tickets to taxis and childcare — also rose. As companies such as Mondelez, Nestle and Lindt hiked prices, people paid 10.7 percent more for chocolates.
The nation’s supermarkets are seeking to cash in, keeping prices for their Valentine’s Day meal deals stable in the hope of wooing customers from restaurants.
Morrisons is selling a ￡15 package for a starter, main, two sides, drink and dessert. Its members also get a ￡1 discount on a dozen fresh red roses, the retailer said.
The price of flowers rose 6.2 percent in December last year.
Tesco, whose chief executive has said that consumers are shifting away from eating out, has reduced the price of its Valentine’s Day dinner-for-two to ￡12 — down from ￡15 last year — for a main, side dish, dessert and drink.
Sainsbury’s has tied up with Uber Eats to offer ￡15 “emergency bundles” of a three-course meal, drinks and gifts with free delivery in parts of east London.
Even diners with deeper pockets would have to dish out more this year.
London’s Michelin-starred Ritz Restaurant, whose ad boasts “breathtaking” interiors “with spectacular garland chandeliers and romantic twinkling candlelight all reflected in the mirrored panels,” this year has priced its four-course set Valentine’s menu at ￡395 per person, up from ￡325 last year.
Both years, the deal includes a glass of Barons de Rothschild “Ritz Reserve” Rose NV Champagne and a menu created by the Ritz’s executive chef John Williams OBE.
Elsewhere in Europe, a similar trend has taken hold.
Luxury hotel Le Bristol in Paris is this year charging upward of 2,190 euros (US$2,339) for its “seductive offer” that includes a room for one night, late checkout, a “gastronomic dinner for two,” chocolate and a bottle of champagne.
Last year, a similar experience cost 1,090 euros.
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