Rising prices eat into Czech lunch budgets: Which popular meals cost more?

New data shows that the average price of a main meal at lunchtime has increased by CZK 52 nationwide since 2019, reaching CZK 158 this year. This rise in prices is due to the increasing costs of energy and labor, as well as inflation in the services sector (and general inflation).

Data from from payment-services application Dotykačka shows that prices for the most commonly eaten lunchtime meals in Czechia – including schnitzel (řízek), goulash, and pizza – have become expensive by tens of percent, with some even increasing in price by more than half in the last five years.

In 2019, an average lunch at a Czech restaurant would have cost CZK 109. In 2022, this increased to CZK 132, and today it stands at CZK 169. The average is about CK 15 lower for pubs. 

According to Dotykačka analysts, Praguers will pay the most for lunch at the pub. On average, a plate of goulash costs over CZK 182, a schnitzel costs CZK 178, and fried cheese costs CZK 167. 

Deloitte chief economist David Marek tells Czech media outlet Seznam Zprávy: “The last flares of [previously large] inflation are burning in the services sector. Restaurant prices rose 7.4 percent year on year last month.” Average inflation in 2023 was over 10 percent in Czechia.

The cost of pizza has increased by 9 percent at Czech eateries rising from CZK 162 to CZK 177. The burger, being the most expensive of the five popular dishes that were surveyed, now costs over CZK 200.

The most affordable dish, goulash, currently costs CZK 170, while before the Covid-19 pandemic it was only CZK 111 on average in Czech pubs. It is worth noting that goulash and steak have seen the most significant increase in price, with both dishes rising by more than 50 percent in the last five years.

Other products are also seeing substantial rises in cost. Since the start of this year, a kilogram of consumer potatoes – a base for many lunchtime meals – rose by 16 percent to CZK 33 in June. A small tub of white yoghurt, a popular summertime food, has increased 9 percent year on year to CZK 11.5.

It’s not all bad news, though. While some lunch meals have eaten into budgets, other key foods and ingredients have actually gone down in price. Take flour, for example, which according to the latest Czech Statistical Office data shrank by 21 percent year on year in June. 

Eggs similarly dropped in price by 20 percent – the same rate of decline as sugar – semi-skilled milk went down by around one-sixth, and poultry meat by 12 percent.

Headline inflation is not the only reason for the knock-on effects on pub and restaurant prices. Other main factors driving the increase in prices are expensive energy and high personnel costs, Seznam explains. 

While gas and electricity have decreased since the start of the war in Ukraine, they are still significantly more expensive than before the war began – by about half. This has put a strain on businesses due to heightened operating costs, leading to the rise in lunch prices.

Wage inflation in Czechia – increasing by 7 percent gross in the first three months of this year alone – has also caused eateries to spend more money, thereby needing to increase menu costs.