There are still those who, despite struggling to make ends meet month to month, still have money set aside to enjoy dining and drinking out. With the prices of raw materials rising and the energy crisis still causing tremendous issues when it comes to paying the bills for many establishments, it’s only natural that a few kuna extra will appear on bills and receipts issued for food and drink.
The post-pandemic period, accompanied by the dire situation in Ukraine and the inflationary pressures our bank accounts and pockets are all under, has seen those in the catering and hospitality sector try to earn money they lost back during pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020 and early 2021. How many are actually taking advantage here, though? Some believe that many are using the situation in an underhanded way.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, under the heading ”I think every comment on this is redundant” a photo of a Zagreb receipt has been doing the rounds on social media. According to that receipt, a mere cup of tea in that particular central city cafe costs more than 30 kuna, and a juice comes to more than 25 kuna.
For three cups of tea and two such juices, the clients paid 143.16 kuna, or, if we bother to convert into the currency we’re set to introduce officially as of January the 1st, 2023 – 19 euros. It somehow sounds even higher when expressed in the bloc’s single currency.
Could the justification for such high prices be the fact that the cafe is located in the very centre of Zagreb? According to the vast majority of comments – no, it cannot. As a central Zagreb resident myself, I can also say that there is very little justification for such high prices for very basic items and there are numerous cafes and pubs located in the very heart of the city where not even alcoholic beverages will come to such prices.
Are some establishment owners purely seeing an opportunity in this current climate of economic downturn and tighter belts? It’s very likely, and this Zagreb receipt is likely going to be just one of many published on social media over the coming months.
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