I distinctly remember the first time I paid $15 for a cocktail. I lived in New York City, and the tiny bar had a reputation that convinced me it would be worth the splurge. It was. But I only had one Sharpie Mustache before leaving Amor y Amargo for a dive around the corner. It was 2016, and I was pretty broke. Ten years later, $15 is standard for a booze-forward cocktail in Burlington. The most interesting drink I’ve had this year was $22 — though I only had one of those, too. And cost creep at restaurants isn’t confined to cocktails: $15 burgers are now $19, and dollar oysters are nearly extinct. Operating restaurants has gotten more expensive, and that means higher menu prices. But just how much higher? Is it all inflation, or do food businesses need to charge even more than society-wide cost increases to stay afloat? Thankfully, my food-team colleague, Melissa Pasanen, is a meticulous record keeper. As a former freelancer, she’s held on to a big stack of restaurant receipts. (Maybe too big, she admitted, handing me stuffed folders marked “Dining 2006” and “2016 Melissa Expenses.”) The tax overlords might not be interested in her itemized deductions from a decade ago — and they’re definitely not interested in where she ate two decades ago. But the faded slips and hand-scrawled guest checks are a time capsule of Vermont restaurant history. They stirred up memories of gravy fries at Nectar’s and a 400 Burger at ArtsRiot in Burlington, smoked wings at Antidote in Vergennes, venison cigar rolls at the Bearded Frog in Shelburne, and rabbit-bacon pie at Piecemeal Pies in White River Junction, all of which have closed since 2016. The 2006 folder is full of long-gone establishments such as L’Amante, Smokejacks and the Oasis Diner in Burlington. (Back then, my college-student restaurant meals were limited to half-price burger night at the Scuffer. Memory says I paid $6, but I didn’t keep the receipt.) I dug into the archive in an attempt to figure out just how much prices have gone up, destroying any sort of organization system Melissa may have had. At the restaurants that persist, menu items have gotten more expensive across the board — and most price increases outpace inflation. While portion sizes may have gone up — and this isn’t a scientifically controlled experiment — the trend for years has been toward smaller plates. For comparison’s sake, we’ll assume portion sizes have remained the same. At Tiny Thai Restaurant in Winooski, nam tok salad — also known as waterfall beef — jumped from $7.95 in 2006 to $18 on today’s online menu. A dozen bagels at Myer’s Bagels in Burlington cost $7.20 20 years ago. Now, in the business’ new home as Myer’s Wood Fired in South Burlington, half a dozen cost $7.50. (For more examples, see receipts on page 38.) I’m not surprised. That global pandemic in 2020 really did a number on restaurant wages, insurance premiums and ingredient prices — most of which haven’t declined since. According to the James Beard Foundation’s 2026 Independent Restaurant Industry Report, released in late February, “rising costs [remain] the top issue reported by chefs.” Restaurant wages have plateaued — a sign that “operators have reached the limit of their abilities to absorb continued cost,” the report said. Wholesale food and packaging prices “remain elevated from pre-pandemic levels, and key ingredients such as beef … reached historically high levels.” In 2025, many of those costs fluctuated with uncertainty around tariffs. The most straightforward way for restaurant owners to keep up is to charge more for what they serve. At a certain point — and with the cost of living rising, from gas prices to health insurance — diners start to notice. In a 2025 YouGov consumer poll, 37 percent of U.S. respondents reported going out for meals less frequently than the previous year. More than two-thirds of those diners cited price increases as the reason for changing their habits. When they do go out, roughly half said they’re looking for deals. At Barkeaters in Shelburne, a timely new deal has proved popular. In February, owners Julie Finestone and David Zeidler launched Teeny Tuesday, a weekly special that offers “smaller portions for smaller prices for smaller appetites.” They’re right on trend. A mid-March Associated Press story cited growing nationwide demand for “petite, less expensive portions,” whether at corporate chains or “farm-to-fork dining rooms” such as Barkeaters’ cozy, Adirondack-inspired one, which featured prominently in the story. For Finestone and Zeidler, the special brings much-needed traffic through the door on a historically sleepy day of the week. In winters past, “we’ve had to drop a server on Tuesday nights or cut someone’s hours in the kitchen,” Finestone said. “Nobody wants to do that.” Their clientele skews older, the couple said, and they’ve often been asked if they serve a small version of Barkeaters’ roasted beet salad or a smash burger with one patty instead of two. With the new deal, younger customers appreciate that they can try more things, Zeidler said. “And it gets at everyone’s frustration that things are just so expensive,” Finestone added. “It’s a deal that is good for the customer and doesn’t hurt us.” Teeny Tuesdays aren’t about sneaky shrinkflation: Three Reuben sliders are $12, instead of a full-size sandwich with fries for $17. The fish and chips is exactly half of the regular entrée and exactly half price, at $12. The full-size regular menu is also available, as are weekly martini specials — for a different kind of ’tini. “Our philosophy doesn’t include tricking our guests,” Zeidler said. It’s harder to make money on a $12 entrée, Finestone admitted. But the volume of customers now showing up on Tuesday nights balances the books. By the second week of Teeny Tuesday, sales had doubled. The owners had initially planned to run the special just through winter, but now it’ll stick around all year. Barkeaters’ long-standing Wednesday burger night deal predates Finestone and Zeidler’s purchase of the biz in fall 2023. In January, after lots of deliberation, they raised the price from $12 to $13. That still includes a burger with local beef and a pint of local beer — and it’s still a steal. Repairs to the restaurant and necessary equipment upgrades added up over the past year, Finestone said. LaPlatte River Angus Farm in Milton, which provides the beef, raised its prices slightly. Zeidler and head chef Peter Koenig get creative with affordable ingredients from their distributors to compensate. You have to pass some of that cost onto the guest.David Zeidler But as the costs of taxes, insurance, payroll and the electricity it takes to run the restaurant’s seven coolers continue to rise, “you have to pass some of that cost on to the guest,” Zeidler said. There’s a local culture around Barkeaters’ burger night, he continued, and it packs the restaurant at an important part of the week for cash flow — much like Teeny Tuesday now does, too. “I hate raising prices and was really resistant to doing it,” Finestone said. The owners advertised the change well ahead of time and made sure regulars saw the new price on the menu. “Everyone was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine,’” she said with a laugh. “I thought people would be mad, but it was totally in my head.” A deal, it turns out, is still a deal.  Curious how much menu prices have changed in the past 20 years? Here are examples from Vermont restaurants straight out of an archive of receipts. Highlighting a single dish that’s still offered at each spot, we compared the original price — from 2006 or 2016 — with what’s listed on the menu in 2026. We also calculated what the original price would be if adjusted for inflation. Receipts from 2006 Restaurant: dishPrice in 2006Inflation-adjustedPrice in 2026Tiny Thai Restaurant: nam tok salad$7.95$12.87$18.00Koto Japanese Steak House: beef teriyaki lunchbox$9.50$15.66$16.50Myer’s Bagels: dozen bagels$7.20$11.66$13.00*Wayside Restaurant, Bakery Creamery: dozen doughnuts$4.50$7.36$5.95Sarducci’s: polenta al forno$7.99$12.96$11.75 *Baker’s dozen. Receipts from 2016 Restaurant: dishPrice in 2016Inflation-adjustedPrice in 2026El Cortijo Taqueria: Two-taco plate with carnitas and pescado$13.95$18.93$18.00Hen of the Wood: mushroom toast$14.00$18.95$18.00Leunig’s Bistro Café: salade Niçoise$21.00$28.57$28.00Guild Tavern: Goddess of the Underworld cocktail$10.00$13.66$14.00Rustic Roots: Shirred Eggs$11.00$14.89$15.50 The original print version of this article was headlined “We’ve Got Receipts | Dining out has gotten more expensive. Two decades of restaurant tabs prove it.” The post Dining Out in Vermont Has Gotten More Expensive. We’ve Got Receipts. appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less