Burger for EUR 9, lángos for EUR 5: the Hungarian reality this summer

This year, street food at festivals and beach buffets is likely to increase in price by 8-10%. While this increase might not sound too severe, a hamburger will still cost around HUF 3,500 (EUR 8.8) in the summer, and a lángos with cheese and cream toppings can be close to HUF 2,000 (EUR 5) in many places.

Burger, lángos and other beach foods to increase in price

Photo: depositphotos.com

The holiday and festival season has begun in Hungary. Due to the record-high inflation of the last two years, people continue to spend cautiously at beach bars and even at the larger festival venues, Portfolio writes.

“It can be scary to buy a burger at a street food cart for HUF 3,500 (EUR 8.8), but the truth is that our costs have risen so much in recent years that even a price of HUF 5,000 (EUR 12.56) would not be too much,” Zoltán Horváth, president of the Hungarian Street Food Association, told Portfolio.

He pointed out that the price of raw materials has doubled in recent years, and that labour costs have risen, while energy prices and festival rents have increased. Prices will not increase significantly this year, he stressed. While people used to buy 2 or 3 things at the festival buffets, now they buy only one.

“Even a 20% increase would be justified”

“They try to persuade people to consume by offering better prices on a product. For example, many caterers have a HUF 2500 (EUR 6.3) product, which can be cheaper if it contains less meat, or if it doesn’t contain duck, but chicken. And if the customer is already standing in front of the street food trolley, it’s easier to consume more,” said Horváth.

“A 20% price increase would be justified at events or beach buffets, but this year there will probably only be an 8-10% increase, and entrepreneurs are afraid to raise prices more than that for fear of losing guests,” said László Kovács, president of the Hungarian Caterers’ Association.

Regardless of this, it is likely that a cheese and cream lángos will cost HUF 1800 or a hamburger HUF 3500, he added.

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