Lynx managing director John Pinder, said” “Most hotels, restaurants and pubs have their Christmas menus in place by now and hopefully, bookings starting to fill the December diary.
“The temptation is to agree the prices being quoted by wholesalers and suppliers in order to secure supplies of core festive menu items.
“However, with inflation low, and producers benefiting from lower feed and transport costs, we think there’s definitely scope for some old-fashioned haggling.
“Understandably, suppliers tend to hold back some of the savings they make when margins are good in order to balance the bad times.
“Nobody begrudges farmers and food producers the chance to make a little more in the current market, but it’s important to remember that operators also take a margin hit when costs are high.
“In the current market, it’s only fair that producers, wholesalers and operators spread the upside and each take their share of the opportunity presented by good quality, price and availability on Christmas turkeys, as well as other seasonal menu staples such as ham and smoked salmon.”
Turkey, pork and salmon were highlighted as good value menu options for Christmas 2015 in the market forecast.
The Lynx Purchasing Market Forecast combines official inflation data with exclusive insight from across the range of suppliers Lynx works with. A free copy of the autumn 2015 edition can be downloaded here.