Frozen schnitzels on the menu as pubs face cost of living crisis
As the cost-of-living skyrockets, Melbourne pubs are turning to frozen chicken to serve up affordably priced parmigianas.
The move comes as more people stay home for dinner, while hospitality venues deal with the rising cost of rent, interest rates, ingredients, energy, and chefs.
The average price of the popular chicken dish is now around $28, but there are fears prices could soar well above $30.
One South Yarra publican and hotel owner told news.com.au, “Everything’s gone up so at some point, venues have to put prices up across the board and parmas are just one of the things that goes up.
“A lot of hotels are buying frozen parmas, to be honest.”
Bulk frozen chicken suppliers are certainly on the menu for struggling pubs.
“Even some of the places that have big parma nights and are boutique hotels, they’re still just buying frozen parmas.”
The publican has yet to sacrifice fresh for frozen but understands why it is being done.
“We are actually buying in the chicken, the fresh chicken, we are tenderising them and crumbing them ourselves,” he said.
“Very few, almost no one does what we do.”
However, the acceleration of costs is making things difficult for venue owners, and prices will likely continue to rise.
“We are just trying to hold (the price) as long as we can and we use it as a loss leader to get people into the pub,” he said.
One wholesale chicken vendor who also wished to remain anonymous mirrored the sentiment.
“We have just noticed that the customers buy more now,” the spokesperson said.
The company charges $3.30 for frozen schnitzels, packaged in boxes of 30 and is fielding calls from more and more businesses looking to make the switch to wholesale chicken products.
Venue owners will also soon be battling new legislation in Victoria, to be introduced on January 1 as part of the Gas Substitution Roadmap.
Venues will be required to phase out gas connections for new dwellings, which will put further pressure on prices.
Australian Hotels Association South Australia president David Basheer fears that the SA community could be paying upwards of $40 if his state follows suit.
“In this cost-of-living environment, our operators have already absorbed rises in insurance, rents, energy, wages and the cost of fresh produce,” Basheer told news.com.au.
“The prospect of a big jump in popular products like schnitzels becomes an issue if mum and dad hotel operators are forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars each to retrofit their kitchen equipment from gas to electric appliances.
“That cost would be simply too great to absorb.”
Jonathan Jackson, 11th December 2023
