Food prices are rising again – but are you paying more than you should?

Food prices may be rising at a much slower rate than during the height of the cost-of-living crisis, but for foodservice operators, the pressure on margins hasn’t gone away.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released on 19 August, show that food and non-alcoholic beverage prices were 1.3% higher in July 2026 than a year earlier. Meanwhile, prices in the restaurants and hotels category were up 4.0%.

These figures are a long way from the double-digit food inflation experienced in recent years. But when you’re managing a significant food spend, even relatively modest increases can have a sizeable impact.

And there’s an important question foodservice operators should be asking: Are prices genuinely increasing – or are you paying more than you should?

Not every price increase is the same

There are plenty of legitimate reasons for food prices to move. Commodity costs fluctuate, labour and energy costs change, while weather, supply issues, exchange rates and demand can all affect individual categories.

But a headline inflation figure doesn’t tell you whether the price you’re paying for a particular product is competitive.

One supplier may increase a price by 3%, another by 6%, while another holds its price. There may be valid reasons for those differences but without reliable market data, it can be difficult to know.

Benchmarking provides the bigger picture

For businesses managing thousands of products and purchasing lines, manually checking prices against the market simply isn’t practical.

Effective procurement benchmarking provides the context needed to understand where prices sit within the wider market. It can help identify:

· Categories experiencing genuine market inflation

· Products where supplier pricing has moved significantly

· Potential opportunities to negotiate or review costs

· Areas where alternative products or specifications could deliver better value

This doesn’t mean simply looking for the lowest price. Quality, specification, availability and other factors all need to be considered. The aim is to understand whether the price you’re paying is fair and competitive and to have the evidence to challenge it when it isn’t.

Small differences can add up

A few pence on an individual product might not seem significant. Across thousands of products and a substantial food spend, however, small pricing differences can quickly become meaningful.

The latest ONS figures show that food prices are still moving, even if inflation is considerably lower than it was a few years ago. For foodservice operators, this makes it more important than ever to understand what’s happening within their own purchasing data rather than simply accepting that every price increase is a result of inflation.

Understanding if you’re paying the right price.

We help organisations across healthcare, leisure, education and B&I benchmark their purchasing data against the market, identify opportunities and build the evidence they need to make more informed procurement decisions. Get in touch with us here if you’d like to understand more around if you’re paying the right price.

The Quenelles team