The Argentinian coast is renowned for its tourist attraction and for its gastronomic proposals in high season, but it does not escape the context of economic uncertainty that the country is going through.
In Mar del Plata and Pinamar, two seaside towns that are always destinations chosen by vacationers, there are everything from supermarkets that remark weekly for the increases in suppliers to restaurants that prefer, as much as possible, to absorb the costs so as not to transfer them to the table, and thus sustain consumption and retain their public.
The first week of January did not vary so much from the second: in reality, everything depends on the "back" that merchants have to battle inflation which, according to data provided by INDEC, was 25.5% in December 2023. The year closed at 211.4%.
What both businesses in Mar del Plata and Pinamar point out is that they are "juggling" to find an intermediate point between the prices that reach them and what they can transfer to their menus: the objective is to have a profitability, although reduced.
Hernán Szkrohal, gastronomist and president of the Mar del Plata Hotel and Gastronomic Business Association, explains in dialogue with Clarín: "On January 3, the menu was updated between 20 and 25% when some increases had been 40%. That's where we stay, because consumption is low, there are people in the city but you can see the moderation in consumption."
Szkrohal points out that profitability is resigned in order to maintain consumption even if it is only moderately and that it is obvious that "there are offers in different segments, the offer is very wide, perhaps those who have an exclusive restaurant that handles other values, can collect the real increase".
He clarifies that, in general, the strategy is to keep prices lower, but that this is a white lie: "You're working, but you know that your profitability is going down. That is until it is possible, and we already know that when it has to be increased, it will be below what the distribution channel increases."
Prices in Mar del Plata and Pinamar
At the beginning of the month, Clarín designed a "summer basket", with products that are commonly consumed on these beaches on vacation. He surveyed prices a week apart. And he found that what the businessmen say is corroborated on the blackboards: the variations were practically nil.
In Mar del Plata, the plate of ricotta or vegetable ravioli is available for $ 4,800 and did not change in the last week. In Pinamar, the same dish costs $5,200, and the price didn't change either.
"We produce the ravioli ourselves, so we don't touch them. Okay, the veggies went up, the chard went up. It was $3,500, today it's $7,000. Well, I use a chard cage to make 70 servings of cannelloni. That affects me, I absorb it. It doesn't matter, I lose a little bit of profitability. Now, well, when another variable goes up, electricity, gas, more complex things, then I'll see," says Lisandro, who manages La Esquina de Azu, one of the restaurants in the downtown area of Pinamar.
This bodegón-style gastronomic space produces many of its dishes by hand and is a small family business.
For this reason, it is highlighted that, unlike high-end restaurants or paradores in other areas of Pinamar that decide to transfer prices more quickly to their diners, here they prefer to sacrifice "a little profitability" to allow the constant rotation of customers and that the place always remains full.
"It irritates me as a merchant or as a small business owner to have to touch prices. I try to do it as a last resort, when there's no way anymore. Complex situations are going through in terms of the economics of a business. January isn't as bad as I thought, but December was chaotic, it was terrible. We have been trading for 15 years, and it was the worst December in the last 15 years, without a doubt," says Lisandro.
He adds that January is accompanying "a little more" and that the uncertainty is what is going to happen in February: "If it is going to be something similar to January, we are going to have a reasonable season. If it's going to be anything more like December, we're going to have a bad season."
How much does it cost to eat at the beach?
Beach products, those that become essential to enjoy a day in the sun, also try to preserve their prices as much as possible.
A clear example is churros. Since December 15, El Topo has not increased the price of a dozen: they are $4,200 at the local and $5,000 at Pinamar beach. In Mar del Plata, the dozen is available for $4,000 and the prices were not touched either.
Emanuel, in charge of the Pinamar store, explains that they were able to freeze the price because they have the support of the deposits, although in a few weeks they will have to go out again to buy merchandise: "We increased on December 1 and we had to increase again on December 15 because we had been very low. We try to maintain. There is a reality, if I set the price I have to set, I lose the sale. So I'd rather have more sales and have them give me less revenue but not lose volume."
He comments that they still do not know if the increase will arrive in the second half of January or if, on the contrary, the prices that are there throughout the season will remain.
"Families indulged in coming to vacation, but many skip meals. They have a good breakfast, but they don't have lunch, they eat some churros. They offer them a hamburger for 6 or 7 lucas. And with a dozen churros, 3 or 4 people eat, put some mates and get out of the way. So what we are also looking for is that the customer can continue to access the churro, even if we have to give up a little," he concludes.
In the paradores on the coast, the most requested foods - such as rabas and hamburgers - remained unchanged. In a Parador in Pinamar, the plate of rabas costs $9,500 and the hamburger with cheese and soda still costs $7,100. In Mar del Plata, the price of rabas remains at $7,000 and that of hamburger with soda, $4,700. At a downtown pizzeria, in both places the 8-slice mozzarella pizza remains at $8,000.
Prices in the supermarket
Those who have a different reality than gastronomy are the small neighborhood supermarkets in downtown areas, which face constant price increases by suppliers. Remarking weekly or biweekly, for them, becomes inevitable.
It is not something that is perceived, at least for now, in the sausages sold in delicatessens. In Mar del Plata, 100 grams of cheese cost $650 and 100 grams of ham cost $600. In Pinamar, they cost $960 and $1,200 respectively.
Where there was a variation was in the Quilmes brand liter beer, which in Pinamar went from costing $1,400 to $1,700. But in Mar del Plata, on the other hand, it dropped a little from $1,800 to $1,750for a promotion of the moment.
"Drinks have increased, I have at a good price those that I had bought in quantity before the increase. But when I replenish, I have no choice but to move it to the gondola. There is little merchandise that is kept, what there are sometimes are promotions and there the price is a little accommodated," explains Juan, who works in a neighborhood market in Mar del Plata.
Although the price of small milk bread did not rise in Mar del Plata and is still at $1,200, in Pinamar there was a change from the first to the second week of January: it went from $1,500 to $1,900. The latter, they explain, is due to the fact that suppliers of lactal bread are continuously increasing and this complicates the scenario for small businesses.
"It's automatic, that's why some people don't even change prices or anything, that is, the labels. We don't go up to the touch, sometimes we try not to increase so much, because it's also abrupt for the client. Until we say 'we have to raise it because there is no other choice'. We held out for a few days. During the year we tried not to go up and we had less profit," remarks a merchant in one of Pinamar's small markets.
As for other beach products, in Pinamar the aluminum lounge chair costs $54,000 and the difference with Mar del Plata is noticeable, since the same product costs $37,000. Neither price changed in the week surveyed by Clarín. The value of the Dermaglós F30 sunscreen remained at $10,300 in Pinamar, but rose from $10,560 to $11,000 in Mar del Plata.
Pinamar and Mar del Plata. Special Envoy and Correspondent
ACE