LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Inflation has all of us doing a double take at prices wherever we go— and that includes restaurants.
Three Fold Noodles in Little Rock has taken steps to ease some of the pain at the cash register.
Like almost every restaurant in the pandemic, inflation has continued to leave owners in a state of suspense.
"Honestly, we are in survival mode still," said Rebecca Yan, manager of Three Fold Noodles.
Every day, dozens of people come and order their favorite dishes on the menu.
Yan said that high labor and food costs have been hitting the business hard.
"It really hit our guests as well, you know, financially [and] it's really been hard on both sides," Yan described.
Even as the business pays more just to stay afloat, employees are still working to put the customer first.
"You know, most places raise their prices and we did not throughout the pandemic," Yan said.
What's extraordinary about this is, instead of spiking their food costs to offset rising inflation, the restaurant has done the complete opposite by lowering their prices.
"We are doing this 10% discount across every single item at Three Fold [and] we really wanted to help. We understand that both sides are suffering," Yan explained.
The new price adjustment started earlier this week— though Yan said that it took her boss nearly a month before making a final decision.
It's still too early to tell what kind of effect this discount could have on finances, but Yan was certain that it will have a positive impact on customers.
"So really isn't much from the customer side, but we've seen an overwhelming amount of support," Yan said.
The discount only knocks off one or two bucks, but Yan said that it's a small way to give back to customers who've supported them in a big way.
"A lot of very depressing things [are] going on in the world and we really hope to be that silver lining," Yan said.
One of her biggest hopes is that other restaurants and businesses come together and adopt a similar plan that could help customers even in the smallest way.
"We've got to work together to survive," Yan said.
Yan added that this price decrease will continue until further notice.