USA TODAY: Thanks to the recession, 2010 was a year of $5.99 lunchtime specials, dollar-menu bargains and 2-for-1 meal deals; 2011 is turning out to be quite different.
Rising commodity prices and the high cost of gasoline have finally broken the budget-minded approach that restaurants embraced to keep their cash-strapped customers coming.
Across the country, in chain after chain, menu prices are climbing — or portions are shrinking — as restaurants contend with across-the-board increases in the cost of everything from pork to plastic cups… (more)
