Originally Posted by
missydarlin
It could also be a factor of how large the menu is and how often it is updated. Restaurants with those one page menus that are updated often can adjust prices more easily to reflect surges in cost, whereas my local chinese place that has had the same 100 item menu and $6.95 lunch specials for years is more likely to just adjust quantity.
There's a seafood place in Travelers Rest, SC, that is generally very popular and where I've noticed over time that the portion sizes vary more than the price does. It's generally a good deal...in Atlanta you might get 20% more but for nearly twice the price.
My theory is that that market has a lot more price resistance. Incomes are generally lower and you have lots of people on fixed incomes. If you go even further out into the boondocks you find towns that have lost their major industry and are now just retirees and a low-paid service sector (likely heavy on immigrants). You can't raise prices in that scenario to hold the line on quality or portion size like you can in the big city.