Kotido: meat prices increased 

Kotido restaurants owners are told to reduce on the pieces of meat that they serve to maintain profits.

By Hopestar Owiny

Kotido, September 1, 2022: The increase in the price of meat in Kotido municipality has imposed losses on the restaurant proprietors as they are confused about how to price a plate from their restaurants.

Previously, a kilogram of cow’s meat went for shs9,000 while goat’s meat was sold at shs10,000 a kilogram.

On August 23, 2022, the chairperson of Kotido meat handlers, Peter Sogol pinned a notice on public places alerting the public that the meat prices had increased, citing the high prices of animals in the market.

According to the notice, a kilogram of cow’s meat went to 

shs10,000 while a kilogram of goat’s meat jumped to shs12,000 and now a thigh of goat’s meat is as high as shs20,000, something that did not go well with those operating restaurants in Kotido town.

Merica Longok, the proprietor of Serenity Foods Restaurant which sells local dishes like boiled meat, chicken, vegetables, and beans, among other foods told TND News that they can no longer make any profits if they keep serving the same quantity of meat at the same price.

She said customers also complain if the price of food is increased in restaurants or quantity is decreased.

“This has made it difficult for us to sell meat because we are finding it challenging to change the price yet customers also complain that the economy is biting and they can’t buy foods  at a high price.”

Christine Lanyero of Best Olel Restaurant, popularly known for pasting local dishes, says her customers have refused to agree with the ith repricing of meat and this has greatly affected the profit margin. 

She says she used to get a profit of around shs800 per plate of meat but this has reduced to half and it may make them fail to pay rent because the rent fee is high.

She adds that those operating restaurants don’t have an association and makes it difficult to regulate the food prices.

Charles Alir, the chairperson of Kotido business community says the hiked prices of meat might affect the profit margin but appealed to the restaurant operators to maintain the price and slightly reduce on the quantity of pieces of meat.