Reading and Responding to Questions:
- Read the assigned article thoroughly.
- Answer all the provided questions thoughtfully. Clearly identify each answer with the question number (e.g., Q1, Q2, etc.).
- Aim for a minimum of 300 words total in your responses.
Should Restaurants Be Worried About Elasticity?
- From the article: “Independent restaurants are…[being] squeezed between escalating payroll costs and diners’ dwindling tolerance for ever-higher checks. Wages…will grow more expensive for many eateries this year, with 22 states…raising the minimum wage for hourly workers.” (a) describe the impact of an increase in wages for restaurant workers; (b) explain how the increase in wages would result in “diners’ dwindling tolerance” for higher prices.
- Will an increase in restaurant workers’ wages cause a change in demand or a change in the quantity demanded of restaurant meals? In your answer briefly explain the difference between a change in demand and a change in quantity demanded.
- From the article: “Chef Zorba’s [restaurant] charges $15.75 for a bacon cheeseburger, $5 more than in 2018.” The price of a bacon cheeseburger in 2018 was $10.75. What was the percentage change in the price of a bacon cheeseburger at Chief Zorba’s restaurant? Show how you derived your answer.
- Holding everything else constant, if the quantity demanded of bacon cheeseburgers at Chef Zorba’s restaurant decreased by 50 percent due to the increase in price from 2018 to 2024, what would be the value of the price elasticity of demand for bacon cheeseburgers? Explain what the value of the price elasticity of demand (PED) for bacon cheeseburgers means and its affects on restaurant revenue.
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