Mouthing Off | Why food portions are getting smaller: ‘shrinkflation’ at restaurants means less on your plate for the same price
- Restaurants are reducing portion sizes, and retailers downsizing products, while charging the same price – a cheeky strategy known as ‘shrinkflation’
- Burgers suddenly feel smaller in the hand, bottled drinks are a few gulps short, and your favourite meal no longer fills you up
A new word has entered the lexicon this past few months. “Shrinkflation” is something financial analysts are discussing regularly on networks like Bloomberg and CNBC.
The term refers to the way companies try to hide inflation from consumers. Instead of raising prices, they’re reducing the size and quantity of their packaged goods.
This subtle shrinking effect is evident in everything from fewer sheets in a toilet roll and fewer chips in a bag of crisps to reducing the fluid ounces in bottled drinks.
Price rises risk alienating shoppers, so the strategy is a devious and discreet way to maintain a healthy margin, with customers often not realising they are being short-changed.
It’s the equivalent of your friends stealing fries from your plate when you go to the bathroom. You barely notice and no one is the wiser when they don’t contribute to the bill.