The consumption tax hike has brought the restaurant industry — already grappling with shortages of labor and rising costs of materials — yet another challenge in keeping customers and attracting new ones.
Major restaurant operators have taken various measures out of fear that the tax increase from 8 percent to 10 percent for eat-in food will push customers to choose takeout, which in order to ease the burden on poorer households will still be taxed at 8 percent under the two-tier system that began Tuesday.
They will face tougher competition from supermarkets and delivery services, which see the two-rate system as a tailwind for their sales of prepared food, especially at a time when such products have grown in popularity among working parents and elderly people living alone.