Here's what you're paying more for at Charlotte restaurants now

If you’ve stared at a Charlotte menu lately and thought, “Wait, when did the burger hit $20?” — you’re not imagining things. And no, your dining-out budget hasn’t shrunk overnight. The wholesale prices behind your favorite plates have been doing some serious gymnastics.

Food-away-from-home costs jumped 39.3% between January 2019 and January 2026, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Overall inflation? Not even close to that pace. So yes, the sticker shock is real — and Charlotte chefs are happy to explain exactly which ingredients are punching them (and your wallet) in the gut.

Why your lobster roll has a $10 surcharge

Let’s start with the headline-grabber. Chef Sam Diminich, who runs multiple Charlotte concepts, told CharlotteFive that the lobster roll on his menu carries a $10 supplement charge — and it’s not greed.

“We have a lobster roll right now with a $10 supplement charge, but that’s because lobster is $47 a pound,” Diminich said.

Grouper isn’t far behind at $35 a pound. “Before I put any salt, pepper or olive oil in the pan, that piece of fish is already costing me about $10 to $12,” he added.

Scallops, that brunch-menu darling? Andres Kaifer, executive chef and owner of Customshop and Emmy Lou’s, said the math has changed there too: “We used to pay around $35-$38 per pound, and now we pay $40-$44 per pound.”

The wholesale numbers behind your menu

Wondering what’s really driving the hikes? It’s not your favorite restaurant being shady — it’s the wholesale market doing the wave.

Wholesale beef prices dropped 0.8% from March to April 2026 but stayed 14.2% higher than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the USDA projects another 8.0% bump in 2026.

Here’s a look at how wildly ingredient prices swung in just one year. According to the National Restaurant Association, many common restaurant ingredients saw sharp price swings from May 2025 to May 2026, with some categories rising dramatically while others declined:

Largest increases:

• Fresh vegetables: +123.2%
• Fats and oils: +25.8%
• Beef and veal: +15.9%
• Coffee: +8.8%
• Milk: +4.2%
• Fresh fruit: +3.9%

Largest decreases:

• Eggs: -86.5%
• Butter: -30%
• Pork: -12.3%
• Refined sugar: -11%
• Processed poultry: -4.6%
• Cheese: -2.9%

Translation for your next dinner out? That tomato-heavy salad or vegetable-forward entrée probably climbed in price. The omelet special, on the other hand, finally caught a break. Your latte habit, meanwhile, is doing you no favors.

Imported goodies are getting hammered too

It’s not just proteins. Kaifer said the European specialty stuff — the white chocolate, the imported butters, the fancy oils — has roughly doubled. White chocolate that once cost roughly $100 per case now costs nearly $200 per case, he said. Tariffs and fuel costs are doing the heavy lifting there.

Diminich pointed to a different culprit on his shelves: “Something like yuzu juice used to cost one price, and now it’s about three times what it was pre-tariffs.”

If your favorite cocktail or dessert quietly disappeared from the menu? This is probably why.

Even the diner breakfast isn’t safe

You might think eggs and toast would be your budget lifeline. Diminich said he hears the same complaint on the regular.

“It’s almost something I hear in diners, of all places,” he said. “People ask how a diner can charge $12 for breakfast, but the eggs alone cost me $2 before I even add bacon or anything else.”

And the plant-based crowd isn’t immune. Flen Purvis, operations manager at Romeo’s Vegan Burgers, said the cost of Impossible Foods products keeps creeping up despite careful supplier negotiations and forecasting. Beyond Meat and the ingredients for the shop’s house-made black bean burgers have gotten pricier too — because they share the same supply chains as your grocery store.

What this means for your dining habits

You’re not the only one rethinking. S&P Global reported that roughly four in 10 consumers cut back on restaurant visits in 2025, and more than 60% of restaurant operators said customer traffic dropped year-over-year.

“Over the last six months, and even more over the last two months, it has been harder to get customers to keep coming back to the store because of the economy, rising gas prices, rising grocery costs and childcare,” Purvis said.

📖 For the full breakdown of how Charlotte chefs are wrestling with these costs, check out Evan’s complete story on CharlotteFive.

📬 Want this kind of Charlotte food and culture news in your inbox every day? Sign up for the free CharlotteFive newsletter.

This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.