Good food and an abundance of it are critical to the culture of the Teche Area where residents have an abundance of world-rebowned cuisine served in local restaurants to choose from.

However, some of these local restaurants are suffering, fighting a daily battle against rising food costs cutting deeply into their bottom line.

Randy Montegut, owner of Bon Creole, said he has been tracking food costs closely. Price increases over the past year have been the most drastic in the restaurant’s 13 years in business.

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“Flour has jumped 90 percent, rice more than doubled in price, oil doubled from $18 per gallon to $36 per gallon,” he said. “Mayonnaise prices rose 33 percent over the year and continue to climb. French fries are up 25 percent and eggs — 158 percent.”

Montegut said he has had no choice but to raise his prices slightly to afford the rising food costs.

“You kind of try to ease them (prices) up slowly because you certainly don’t want your business to slow down,” he said. “These food costs are just outrageous and so much higher than the current rate of inflation would indicate.”

Brooke Morrison, owner and manager of Billeaud’s Too in New Iberia said the increase in rice prices over the last year and a half is affecting his business.

“Rice is the staple of my menu,” he said. “When that goes up, everything increases. We are struggling with these price increases and it certainly affects our pricing, and that affects our customers. We have tried to absorb as much as we can.”

The menu at Landry’s in New Iberia has seen price changes as well, said general manager Elaine Buteaux.

“Prices on food are definitely much higher than last year at this time,” she said. “ We are still trying to serve high quality food and we don’t believe in lowering our standards so we did have to have price increases on our menu.

Adding to the food cost woes are suppliers dealing with high fuel costs that have passed on fuel surcharges to restaurants, making deliveries more expensive.

Morrison said he tries to limit his deliveries to two a week to deal with those increased costs and Buteaux has reduced the amount of food deliveries to Landry’s to one a week.

Montegut said the key for his restaurant, and his “squeezed” profits, is to find ways to be more efficient.

“You just have to do little things here and there,” he said. “Every little bit helps.”

Wendy Waren, director of communications for the Louisiana Restaurant Association, said local restaurants are implementing several strategies to combat out-of-control food costs.

“Many are taking a look at their menus to see which items have the largest profit margins and, based on what’s selling and what’s not, they might discontinue some menu items,” Waren said. “Portion control is also a big thing we are talking about right now. Restaurants are finding if there is less in each portion, they can feed more people with the same supplies. In the kitchens, they are really paying attention to food waste and spoilage and also ordering less frequently to deal with suppliers’ fuel surcharges.”

Morrison said his restaurant has a good system for waste and spoilage.

“We waste very little the way that we cook,” he said. “But as far as changing portions, I don’t feel like I should cut back on my customers plate. I can’t justify cheating them as a way to deal with increased costs.”

Montegut said some items have not gone up in price at the rate as others. One food item cost that has remained fairly stable is shrimp, but he added the prices are beginning to rise.

Although the tasty crustaceans might be more cost effective at the moment, they have been hard to come by lately, Montegut said.

“We buy our shrimp from suppliers along the Gulf and are very particular about who we buy them from,” he said. “Shrimpers aren’t fishing as often unless they can guarantee a catch, and I had to wait a while for one of my last orders.”

Montegut said the upcoming crawfish season probably will be tight on supply, as well. Hurricane Ike’s impact will not be clear until harvest time, he said.

Some local restaurants have had a tough time finding crabs to serve, and Montegut said the price of crab meat has risen as well.

“These rising prices are so out of control,” Montegut said. “We all need to be watching our businesses carefully and making changes if we need to. If you don’t, right now, you may not be here tomorrow.”