Restaurateurs and cooks combat rising food prices by shopping around for deals, even milking cows

Hugo is head chef and food kitchen manager at Shelburne Farms. In the off-season, he has been pitching in with milking duties at the farm. This saves on labor costs and thus the price of the farm-produced cheddar cheese Hugo will use when the inn opens in early May.

He also expects more and earlier farm produce to be available to the inn’s kitchen at the start of the season, Hugo said. This is an important piece of his menu planning, a priority of Shelburne Farms, and a cost savings.

“I increased using local produce to 82 percent,” Hugo said, noting his predecessor’s use of local ingredients was 56 percent. The local ingredients — which Hugo hopes to get up to 85 percent or more — encompass Shelburne Farm produced food, and other local food. Hugo thinks this helps control costs. As he plans the spring menu, he does not anticipate raising prices.

“My food cost last season was 23 percent of total costs,” Hugo said. “It’s not just food going up, it’s everything — labor and overhead.”

Wholesale food prices increased 3.9 percent in February, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Extreme weather patterns around the globe and the cost of fuel are among the factors contributing to the spike.

Local chefs are employing whatever means necessary to contain costs, they say. The size and type of restaurant help determine what measures management will take.

“Portion sizes are so big in restaurants,” Hugo said. “ he said. “You can cut down a little bit here and there. You shop around a lot. One good thing about buying local, those prices don’t go up. Mostly because they’re already high.”

Chefs say wheat, fish, meat, milk, chocolate, coffee and dairy products — in other words, many staples of the kitchen — are among the products going up in price. Tweaking the menu is one solution, chefs say. For example, if leaf lettuce is high one week, Hugo will buy head lettuce. If carrots are expensive and broccoli is relatively less, he’ll buy the broccoli.