Catering Industry Prices in Slovenia

The empirical analysis investigates the causes of the catering industry inflation pre- and post-adoption of the Euro in Slovenia. The empirical analysis on the factors of inflation in the catering industry is based on the monthly statistical data during the period 2000–2007. It confirms that the catering industry prices are positively associated with the costs of intermediary inputs, wages in the catering industry, demand for tourist services, and the Euro adoption. The principal component analysis identifies two common components as the general level of prices and wages in the catering industry, and the Euro price adoption and Euro price stabilization and by demands for tourist services. The multiple regression analysis confirms the association of the catering industry prices with the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages as the intermediate input costs and wages in the catering industry, and to a lesser extent with the Euro adoption in Slovenia and by demands for tourist services. Prices in the catering industry are strongly associated with the consumer price index and not just with the specific input cost factors and tourist demands. On the short-run, the catering industry prices were positively and statistically significantly associated with the growing input costs for food.