In Italy, breakfast at the bar risks becoming a “case”, due to the patchy increases in the prices of coffee, cappuccino and croissants at the bars of the peninsula, reported by Assoutenti.
Expensive-breakfast: Assoutenti’s complaint
Assoutenti, an association that deals with protecting and promoting the fundamental rights of consumers, in particular of users of public services, denounced in a note reported by ‘Ansa’: “In recent days we have been receiving numerous reports from consumers who denounce increases of the prices of the espresso, but also cappuccinos and leavened desserts, consumed at the counter or at the tables of bars throughout Italy. Increases in the price lists of a few euro cents, but which are immediately warned by the citizens who every day go to one of the over 160 thousand bars in Italy “.
The increase in prices was confirmed by bothState, which in December recorded an average increase in price lists of + 2.8% for the bar sector, both from the same trade associations (the Fipe announced that 76% of bar managers would update their price lists between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022).
The president of Assoutenti Furio Truzzi he commented: “Every day 5.5 million Italians have breakfast in bars throughout the area, an unmissable event whether it is a quick coffee at the counter or a brioche consumed seated at the table. A habit that, unfortunately, is becoming more and more expensive “.
Expensive-breakfast: because the prices of coffee, cappuccino and croissants increase
According to Assoutenti’s analysis, the increase in the prices of coffee, cappuccino and croissants is due to expensive-bills and the significant rise in raw materials, with the prices of coffee increased by + 81% in 2021, those of milk by + 60%, those of sugar and cocoa by + 30%. According to Assoutenti, the “higher costs for retailers are passed on to final consumers, giving rise to the phenomenon of ‘expensive breakfast’ throughout Italy”.
Expensive-breakfast: how much the prices of coffee, cappuccino and croissants rise
The cost of an espresso coffee, in many bars, is going from 1 euro to 1.10 euro (with an increase of + 10%). That of a cappuccino, which in 2021 was on average equal to about 1.40 euros, has now been raised to 1.50 euros (+ 7.1%) in many years. Croissants, brioches and leavened products, on the other hand, recorded increases of + 20%, with prices rising from 1 euro to 1.20 euro.
Furio Truzzi’s alarm: “Unfortunately we are only at the beginning. If the bills emergency continues in 2022, and with the prices of raw materials still skyrocketing, the classic cup of coffee consumed at the bar could reach a record of 1.50 euros during the year, with an increase of +37, 6% compared to 2021, and a full breakfast could cost as much as 41.6% more, transforming a daily ritual into a luxury for the rich ”.
Assoutenti herself, analyzing the effects of the double alarm on prices and energy that is affecting Italy, also stated that the combined bill-inflation “could have a total cost for the Italian economy of about 100 billion euros in 2022 in terms of of lower consumption by Italian families “.
In this regard, President Truzzi said: “The loss of citizens’ purchasing power caused by increasingly high bills and higher retail prices will further impoverish a large slice of the population, forcing it to cut spending in non-primary sectors to be able to make it to the end of the month “.
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