When the cheapest hot dog in town is raising prices, you know there's inflation:

"Gray’s Papaya, for “When You’re Hungry, or Broke, or Just in a Hurry!”

For those who are broke, however, paying for a meal at Gray’s will soon be a tiny bit more of a challenge, according to a third sign. “Bummer!!” it says. “We fight the good fight but our costs keep going up and we will soon be forced to raise our prices.” Smaller signs at the store make the same point.

On Thursday, a counterman served up a dog with onions, for the usual 95 cents (5 cents less than the “Polite New Yorker” buttons that are also on sale). The “recession special,” two dogs and a drink, was still $2.75 including tax, as it has been for several years.

But Nicholas A. B. Gray, who founded the three-store chain in 1973, said on Friday that the prices would go up within the next few weeks, although he has not yet decided by how much. Increases in rents, taxes and the costs of dealing with government agencies, he said, are the reasons.

And, he added, he is not taking the change lightly. “It’s very traumatic to me,” he said, “and it’s very traumatic for my customers, I think, because they feel a sense of betrayal.”

Source:
Lamentation at Gray’s Papaya
JAKE MOONEY
NYT, October 8, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/nyregion/thecity/08hotd.html

Posted at 06:30 PM in Food and Drink | Permalink

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