A wide debate was generated in the social networks and media by the "complaint" of a diner at the Angelmó market, who, very upset, published the bill of what they ordered, which reached 162 thousand pesos. In this, one of the things that stood out the most was the price of the paila marina, for which he was charged 18 thousand pesos. Regardless of the irregularities that the restaurant may have had, such as not displaying the prices -although apparently they were not asked for either- or not providing a bill, I am interested in analyzing the reasons why a popular local dish could cost almost 20 thousand pesos.

During the week, we released the CPI for January, which increased 1.2% with respect to the previous month, which was well above expectations. As a result, year-on-year inflation reached 7.7%, a variation not seen since November 2008. Of concern was the increase in core inflation (particularly the CPI without volatility), which also rose 1.2% in its monthly comparison. When we go to the divisions, the highest monthly incidences were observed in Transportation (0.395 percentage points) and food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.330 percentage points). Restaurants and hotels also presented an important incidence, which reached 0.110 percentage points. If we omit the shares that each of these divisions have in the basket (known as weighting) and only look at the year-on-year variations, the order changes a little: Transportation leads by far, with 20.9%, followed by Recreation and culture (14.0%) and restaurants and hotels (11.0%). Food is a little lower, in the middle of the table, with 6.0%. 

I mention the above because the president of the Chilean Gastronomy Association (ACHIGA) tried to explain the high price of dishes based on the increase in costs faced by the industry. Lower capacity, implementation of sanitary measures, increase in the price of food and transportation, among others, have impacted the business and, in his words: "This is finally passed on to the client". I have no idea how much a paila marina in Angelmó cost a little over two years ago (my last visit there was more than that), but I get the feeling that the high level - which is one thing - of price does not necessarily have much to do with recent cost increases. I don't think that before the pandemic dishes cost, I don't know, 4 Mil pesos and that all the extra is the fault of costs. One thing is inflation, which is a generalized increase in prices, but another thing is that, facing the same cost increases, a paila in Angelmó costs twenty lucas and another in a famous seafood restaurant in Providencia, less than half.

Let's look, then, at the other side of the story. Because we usually forget that, in a free market economy -or what most resembles it-, companies cannot do anything without a demand for their products, which is made up of all of us, the consumers. Let's start from the idea that a dish in a restaurant is more expensive than the simple sum of its basic components (the food): the place, the service, the tradition, the prestige, etc., etc., etc. Therefore, trying to make an analysis based only on how much a kilo of fish or clams costs is irrelevant. As it is also irrelevant to make one commenting that the kitchens have a dirt floor, plastic tablecloth or a bench to sit on. All of the above, to substantiate the "robbery" nature of the bill. However, the very detail of the story told by the person who started the "funa" is very important. And I quote: "As we all know, February is the vacation season, so Angelmó was very crowded, we could not find parking. In fact, we went into a kitchen where there was a table available. We went in, ordered, ate some typical dishes". Dirt floor, plastic tablecloth, benches to sit on, etc., but the whole area was very crowded. We were lucky to get a table. In other words, charging 18,000 pesos for a paila marina, the vendors had all the tables full. Here I am going to insist, I am not going to defend the fact that prices are not listed, that no ticket is given, but we consumers have a role to play if we think that a price is excessive. That powerful role is not to buy, not to leave, not to validate bad treatment or deficient service.

Therefore, why does a marine paila cost 18,000 pesos? Because there is someone willing to pay 18,000 pesos for one. Or 5 thousand pesos for a coffee. Or half a million pesos for a concert.

Nathan Pincheira 

Chief Economist of Fynsa