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Restaurant cuts dinner prices to attract customers
The Bahn Mai Thai Cafe at 725 Lyons Road in Washington Twp. on Monday cut prices by about 15 percent on its dinner menu and will keep the lower prices in effect for the foreseeable future in an effort to attract more customers.
“We’re doing our part to stimulate the economy,” said Bob Silva, who owns the restaurant with his wife Judy. “We want to bring people out to eat again. We want people to think not about the recession, but about the END of the recession.”
Silva said dinner portions will remain the same and will not shrink along with the price. Lunch prices will remain the same, he said.
The move comes at a time when food costs have been rising and are predicted to rise further, causing some restaurants to increase menu prices; most recently, the Miami Valley Restaurant Association announced a nearly 25 percent increase in Restaurant Week prices, to $25.11, for the promotion coming up in late January. Many restaurants have launched fixed-price daily specials and tweaked menu prices on some meals, but across-the-board price cuts are rare.
Silva estimated food costs have risen 10-15 percent for his restaurant in the last year. But the restaurant owner said he has resisted raising menu prices because of the depressed economy, figuring that higher prices would drive away customers. Silva believes there will be an increase in dinner traffic that will offset the lower profit margin that Bahn Mai Thai will make off each dinner meal.
“We’ve been thinking about doing this for the last several months,” Silva said. “We figured hey, let’s just try something different.”
Jarrod Clabaugh, director of communications for the Ohio Restaurant Association, said Bahn Mai Thai’s strategy is not one he’s seen in widespread use recently across the state.
“Restaurateurs are entrepreneurs, and they often think outside the box,” Clabaugh said. “Despite rising food costs, it appears that this restaurant is implementing a strategy to lure customers into their establishment and help fuel Dayton’s economic recovery. The restaurant industry appears to be emerging from the economic downturn and we’re supportive of members utilizing unique ideas to drive traffic into their operations.”
Bahn Mai Thai Cafe opened in 2005. Silva is a native of Bahn Mai, Thailand, and developed his love for cooking from his mother, who ran roadside food stands near the Korat and Utapao Air Force bases.
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