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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

100 years ago in Spokane: Restaurants increase prices; a nickle cup of coffee raised to a dime

Jim Kershner

From our archive, 100 years ago

At least 20 eateries on Main and Trent avenues were printing new menus after the area’s leading “restaurant men” met and decided to raise prices en masse.

Ham and eggs, for instance, would jump from 20 cents to 25 cents. Also, the days of the nickel cup of coffee were about to end. In general, prices for everything, including coffee, were about to go up by 5 cents.

The restaurant men said they had no choice because of rising prices for “flour, vegetables and other food products.”

“It is a question of raise prices, or go out of business,” said the owner of Congress Lunch on Howard Street.

These restaurants mainly served a working-class clientele. One proprietor, who had already put the increased prices into effect, said he found that “laboring men do not object to paying more, as they have already been getting much better wages this year than heretofore.”

The reporter, however, did not interview any actual laboring men to corroborate that statement.

One segment of the Spokane restaurant industry was still to be heard from: the popular Japanese restaurants and “noodle houses.” They agreed in principle that a raise was necessary, but they said they would take no action until the Japanese Merchant’s Association met.