Restaurant prices are rising across the U.S. as inflation edges up
CBSN
Eating out is taking a bigger bite out of American wallets, with small restaurants and national chains alike passing along the rising costs of basic commodities and labor.
Chipotle Mexican Grill recently boosted prices of as much as 4% across its menu to help offset higher labor and other costs, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS MoneyWatch. The chain last month hiked its average hourly pay to $15 for its 100,000 workers in 2,800 restaurants. "There are some inflation pressures that we're all feeling, the whole industry is feeling, even outside our industry is feeling — right now it's on labor," Chipotle Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung told participants in a conference call this month hosted by investment Baird. "If you lose the staffing game in this business, it's not going to end well."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.