Biodegradable Takeout Containers

I was excited to discover today that the wholesale food service warehouse where I shop is now carrying bio-degradable and compostable takeout containers for a price that's in the same ballpark as styrofoam. They already carry one variety of unbleached, biodegradable takeout containers, but those are almost twice the price of these new ones. (And for some reason, the ones with compartments are significantly cheaper than the ones without.)

Washington state is trying to outlaw all styrofoam. I've been hearing restauranteurs complaining on the radio. Some say that they're going to have to instate a takeout surcharge now to pay for the extra expense.

I think that's a terrible idea. Many years ago Washington state passed a minimum wage law that required employers to pay waiters and waitresses the same wage as everyone else. (Before that they had their own, lower minimum wage, with the assumption that they'd make up the difference in tips.) One of my favorite restaurants raised all their prices by a percentage, and had a note on the menu explaining why. They ending up with prices like $6.34, the kinds of odd numbers that you never see on menus.

I stopped eating there. I felt that if they really needed to raise prices they should have done so on selected items that could bear it, and not even mentioned the wage increase. The awkwardness of the new prices and the note on the menu made me feel like they were whining about something that really wasn't a bad idea.

As restauranteurs, we're always finding ways to save money, at the same time that we're dealing with ongoing price increases. We don't lower our prices every time we figure out a more efficient way to do something, so why should we raise them when we're faced with a new expense, especially one that's in everyone's best interests? Of course it's inevitable that we have to raise prices at some point, but it's much more constructive to look for some graceful way to offset the expense, rather than complaining about a new, enlightened law.