Soaring costs prompt Sudbury restaurant to remove salads from menu

With soaring grocery prices, and the cost of lettuce at an all-time high, one restaurant in Sudbury has decided to remove salads from its menu for the time being.

Officials with JD Southern Smokehouse on Paris Street in Sudbury said they are losing money on salad sales because of inflation.

"It’s literally triple just in the purchase price and case sizes have gotten smaller," said Jason Heaton, owner of JD Southern Smokehouse.

Heaton said the price has gone up significantly just in the past few months.

"You’re losing money on every salad you send out these days," he said.

"Now you get 36 heads for $102 a case. When I priced this menu out in the summer it was 42 heads for $37.99 a case. So, that’s a huge difference, and the heads of lettuce have gotten smaller. One head of lettuce doesn’t even make one salad."

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Restaurants Canada said spiking inflation means restaurants are going to have to adjust quickly.

"Proteins have jumped about 11 per cent so you’re going to see some different proteins being used," said Kelly Higginson, chief operating officer with Restaurants Canada.

"We’re going to see a slimming down of menu items. One thing you’re going to see is the same menu item used throughout … so let’s use a beet for example ... you might have some beet hummus and then you might have some roasted beets to try and bring down the amount of items that kitchens are having to bring in."

Higginson said the menu development process has become much more demanding since the pandemic hit and even more so now with inflation.

"In the inflation market we are in right now, the costs are going to be a significant part of that process, taking that into consideration," she said.

"When we look at something like a salad or a blueberry muffin, there is only so much you can charge in a restaurant for that item until it becomes something the guest just isn’t going to pay for at that point."

As for Heaton, he told CTV News he has a new menu coming out next week that will include soups instead of salads.

He said that come spring, he will consider adding salads back on the menu if the price of lettuce comes down.