Rolls are a few pennies cheaper in the store, but a slice of bread in the dining room costs a few crowns, at the stalls you can buy it for at least five crowns.
From soup to “karboš”
In an attempt to eat cheaply and as well as possible, we came across an underground restaurant in Pilsen, where only the soup cost 75 crowns. “They must have fallen,” states Mr. Jaroslav, who is passing by dryly. “Garlic is actually potato and garlic water. A few sprigs of cumin and that’s it.” The wondering man is largely right, if the garlic is not “enhanced” by a piece of cheese, which is the cheapest, at most twenty-five percent “papundekl”, as the good man jokingly put it.
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Even the much-vaunted Globus has already raised the price of most soups above forty crowns – and they were below this limit. Although an increase of about four crowns, it can be seen. One whole hard-boiled egg costs 14 crowns! A warm fried meatball the size of a child’s palm costs 77 crowns.
All in all, happiness is buying food for 150 crowns. The Oseck soup factory in Rokycansk, which cooks hundreds of dishes, had to raise prices by roughly 10 percent before Christmas. In a small ticket for clients, he states that it was no longer possible to maintain costs in this way, and due to energy costs, prices must rise. The canteen delivers dozens of meals even to one Plzeň housing estate, and it is mainly elderly people who come for lunch from Monday to Friday. Another option is catering in some schools, which also have a large capacity. However, they are still keeping a close eye on costs, which, according to managers, are rising disproportionately almost week after week.
The post-Christmas and especially the post-Christmas week was not so typical yet. A number of people were on vacation and cooked at home – or the so-called leftovers of what the “refrigerator gave” were consumed. The sharp start will take place next week, and with it there will be a surprise for diners.
Buffet or pub?
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“Even if we should reduce the price by a few pennies or even a crown for raw materials, energy and payments for employees are slowly killing us,” states one of the owners of a canteen in Pilsen. Even the lure of organic quality or vegetarian food is no longer attractive. What will happen is said to be a big unknown. “Furthermore, there are food stamps and we have a lot of officials from the municipality who don’t care about a penny,” states another of the operators. The more you save on food, the more a drink will cost. Soft drinks and beer. No matter – drinks are a significant item on any bill. Even a Vietnamese bistro allows a free Coke with the main meal, where, however, you can also find well over a hundred.
There are no two hundred anything in the restaurant for a long time. It’s easily double with a drink. And you don’t give yourself specialties. For interest. Since St. Martin’s, the Globus canteen has been offering goose quarters with dumplings and cabbage for well over 300 kroner with iron regularity. Interest has decreased rapidly since the holiday. A slice of pike perch with mashed potatoes costs two hundred. But the fish is really thin slice…
“What am I supposed to do, I have to find somewhere,” says driver Pavel, in his late thirties. “If I have a meatloaf with a salad and three rolls, it’s the same as a smaller lunch. And I’d rather have that one.”
Photogallery: – Klaus against the Euro
A small excursion to France and Belgium
At a time when prices are being reduced abroad or there is a strong fight against unbridled price increases, we are still unable to stop the creeping increase in the prices of food and meals. The news reached the media that the French chain Carrefour, which by the way was also in the Czech Republic many years ago, but left rather than sell inferior quality, removed Pepsi Cola products and others from the same manufacturer, for example Lays, precisely because of the price increase of the products. In Belgium, food prices fell by at least 7 percent. Really.
“Food is the most expensive here,” says a good-looking woman, watching the deli counter. “In Turkey, Egypt, Spain, everywhere I’ve been, you can find yourself for a few bucks. Of course, it’s even cheaper outside the resorts, for example in Thailand, where you can find a whole week for what we consider a ridiculous amount of money.”
Not a swing, but an elevator
Do you remember the change of 89 or 95 crowns? That’s in the past. Irreversible. Today, even 150 crowns is not enough. It will be two hundred and no end in sight.
“If you are not an official or an employee of a foreign company, then you are free to eat,” says one young man at one of the assembly plants in Pilsen. “Slowly, there’s no time for that. In half an hour, you can throw something together and move on. Then, excuse me, you cluck for the next two hours. And so you’d better buy a baguette, but it’s not cheap either, and you can’t just live off this Amaroun crap.”
“He who has a warm place has a warm meal,” compares the pre-retired Josef. “The more you fly, the fewer options you have. Maybe you’ll even get a meal voucher, but you don’t have time to sit down somewhere. They didn’t say to eat lunch slowly like in Germany or even to spend an hour or more in France. Here, you shovel it into the room like a digger…”
Photo gallery: – Looking back at the year 2023
Innovative ideas
Some even say that school canteens should be abolished, because today it is no longer important to have a hot meal around noon, and many children just “nip” at it. It is, of course, clear that this is a burden on the budget. It is clear that chefs and cooks are undervalued. But disturb? Or leave it only for smaller children and the older ones would use public commercial canteens? The question is whether these canteens will even last a year from now.
The lobby for delivery services – food to home, food to work – is very strong and growing. But it is probably not a comprehensive solution.
(PHOTO: Václav Fiala)
View black, not pink
“The truth is that if you cook in a larger one, you can still make a different price than if you prepare minutes,” states another representative of another canteen. “Perhaps the buffets at individual butchers will still survive, but if the shops will still be around in a few years. The two or three tables and the food on the stand are possible, but it is not a complete solution. You swallow the soup, the pastry and drive on. And takeout? Into the box and straight to the office… The level of dining is terrible, but there’s no point.” Again, he compares himself to other countries, but that’s not the purpose of today’s report.
We wrote:
Photogallery: – Czech and German food prices
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author: Václav Fiala
2024-01-05 18:01:00
#Visitors #canteens #unpleasant #surprise #year
