Hit hard by Florida hurricanes and puréed by floods in California, tomatoes have faced some challenging months recently.
A national tomato shortage, which began in October, is expected to continue through this month, according to The Washington Post. The produce industry expects this coming week to be the worst, as remaining tomato supplies are used up. Until a new harvest can replenish the market, shortages will persist.
Restaurants and grocery stores now face the choice of either raising prices or covering the higher costs.
"I personally know of a lot of restaurants in the area that have had their general mangers choose to raise prices," said Leah Martin, a manager at The Biltmore Grill on the Corner. "We haven't, but we've just been very careful with them by cutting back on pre-preparation and slicing them only when ordered. We have to send tomatoes back because their quality is really bad. They're often very pale and green."
Christian Tamm, manager of Christian's Pizza on the Downtown Mall, said he believes that price, not quality, is the major problem at his establishment.
"We're not raising prices -- you just hope that it goes down," Tamm said. "However, from an initial $18 for a case of tomatoes, they're now up to $60."
Well-known to customers for its tomato-basil soup, Café Europa on the Corner has also experienced increased tomato prices. Café Europa Owner Foti Vavelidis said he has made changes to account for it.
"You'll see on the Corner that few places actually use tomatoes anymore," Vavelidis said. "For our Greek salad, one that heavily uses tomatoes, we charge an extra 50 cents for a side portion, an additional 75 cents for a larger one."
Vavelidis said if tomato prices rise further, his customers will continue to pay more for salads.
"These extra charges will be proportional to any rise in costs we bear," he said. "If tomato prices rise tomorrow to $150 a case, we'll reflect that."
University Dining Services have also felt the impact of the shortage and have responded by cutting tomatoes from the salad bar and placing signs throughout the dining halls to inform students of the reason for their absence.
As December progresses, tomato prices should begin to decrease as farmers manage to get their new tomato crops to market, according to the Washington Post.
Speculating on the future, Vavelidis said he also expects to see an upcoming deflation in tomato prices.
"A month and a half ago, normal prices ranged around $13 to $14 a case," he said. "They're now close to $100, but I'm seeing them go down again. Next week, they should be around $35 to $40."
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