Heaving a huge sigh of relief as the price of food climbs higher, Gerry and Bonnie Gervais are glad that they chose the caterer they did for the May 31 wedding of their youngest daughter.
"We booked the caterer in January 2007 after Chantel became engaged," says her mother of Waterdown, Ont., near Hamilton. "We gave a deposit and were assured that even if the prices go up we were locked into a contract."
What is driving food prices higher is rising fuel costs, which increase the price of everything from fertilizers to transport to food processing. Another contributor is a rising demand for meat and dairy in rapidly developing countries such as China and India, leading to higher costs for grain used for cattle feed. The demand for raw materials to make biofuels also is causing higher prices.
Most reputable caterers will honour deposits on events even if they were made well in advance of the function happening, say industry spokesmen.
Nevertheless, with "delivery costs from suppliers going through the roof," Nicole Pieckenhagen, director of Toronto's Couture Cuisine Event Artistry, a catering firm, says she has been forced to send her clients letters to say "it would be adding a food crisis levy to bills in order to maintain product quality."
The levy was calculated to be a full 25 per cent difference in food costs. But rather than place a great burden on clients, she says her company has decided to "absorb half this amount, making the charge on all food items 12.5 per cent."
Sheila Whyte, owner of Thyme & Again, one of the largest catering firms in Ottawa, is bracing for higher costs "across the board."
"We stick to our contracts for events like advanced planning of weddings, but certainly when we do our pricing for next year and the year after we will have to adjust accordingly."
With 370 weddings planned for this summer and fall, The Ancaster Old Mill in Hamilton, Ont., has already absorbed price hikes in order to honour their clients' contracts, says owner and manager Aaron Ciancone.
"And as far as raising our prices, we do it every January through a moderate raise for inflation," he says.
Pieckenhagen of Couture Cuisine says that her company always has a clause in their contracts specifying that food prices are subject to change, but "we rarely change our prices even with the understanding that costs do fluctuate."
"But we have found our food costs have gone up considerably," she states. "One thing that we hadn't expected were delivery charges across the board. Every single supplier is asking enormous delivery charges."
Whyte of Ottawa says that the rising costs "represent a big giant chain reaction" to a global food crisis.
Meanwhile, Bonnie Gervais feels they are fortunate that their daughter is being married this year rather than next.
"We didn't think much about price increases when we booked the reception with Michelangelo's Catering, but we certainly do now," she says.
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Judy Creighton welcomes letters at 9 Kinnell St., Hamilton, Ont., L8R 2J8, but cannot promise to answer all correspondence personally. She can also be reached by e-mail at jcreighton(at)golden.net.
