The latest Consumer Price Index from the federal government showed that price inflation rose faster for food away from home as compared with food at home, a trend that could push more consumers away from restaurants and toward grocery stores.
New data from the U.S. Department of Labor, released last week, showed that the general Consumer Price Index, or CPI, remained unchanged in April when compared with March, and fell 0.7 percent when compared to April a year ago. The CPI is a measure of the average change in prices of goods and services purchased by U.S. households.
For food at home, which can generally equate to grocery store prices, the year-over-year change in prices increased 2.3 percent in April. For food away from home, which generally equates to restaurants, the changes in prices rose 4.6 percent in April, versus a year ago.