12687 | 19 Dec. 2025 | 10:00
Ognyan Minchev, Facebook
Last night I went to a favorite establishment of mine in Sofia and noticed that since my last visit about two weeks ago, the prices have jumped up by roughly 1/3... In the past few days and weeks, I have noticed that this is happening not only in sit-down restaurants but also in street food stalls and cafes. There is no doubt - a mass action by the hospitality sector, specifically organized in the weeks leading up to Christmas and New Year, when people flock to restaurants and hold celebrations.
I remember how heart-wrenchingly the leaders of the aforementioned association of restaurant owners cried out when the 9% VAT, introduced during Covid-19, was abolished. They threatened with mass bankruptcies, closure of establishments, etc.
Since then, prices at these establishments have INCREASED the LEAST." In practice, they have doubled over the last year and a half, and now they have added another 1/3 to the doubling. One of my favorite things on the restaurant's menu, which I mentioned earlier, was 6.50 BGN about 2-3 years ago. Then it became 9, then 12, and now it's 18 BGN. You were preparing very actively for the euro, weren't you, tavern-keeper! And all your buddies are doing the same...
When the Covid-19 was raging, taverns were closed throughout Europe, while schools remained open. In Bulgaria, the tavern association had special connections with the authorities and the opposite happened - taverns boomed, while children were locked at home for more than a year.
Now psychologists are writing studies about how the lockdown has affected the psyche of Generation Z... It's a bad influence - I assure you as an observer and participant from the front row. But, I repeat - taverns were booming, despite the 9% VAT. Today we are being thanked - the prices have doubled twice.
With nostalgia I remember the beautiful Vienna, where the local schnitzel example cost less than 10 euros - a year or two ago...
New Year will pass, the prices will rise even more and Putin's kopeks will say - "damn this Europe". But Europe doesn't care - they haven't even smelled a Bulgarian tavern or a Bulgarian store.
They only occasionally read travel blogs, where they learn that the olive oil, which costs 1.50 euros in Spain, here costs 5 leva and more. And everything else on the Lidl and Billa lists...
They read and click their tongues - because when they raise prices in this absurd way, they don't swear in their fist, they simply stop buying, stop paying. Where do you see such a thing here...
The disgraceful behavior of Bulgarians as customers is not only a result of the high level of corruption in our institutions, but also of some peculiarities of our national mentality. On one hand, we are too patient and submissive, and on the other - complacent, not defending our interests, nobly waving it off - "Just leave them..."
I won't leave them! This is a market like any other. I won't let the cartel of tavern owners manipulate us with arrogance and slyness - quietly, as we walk hunched over.
I suggest we stop going to taverns for a month. By the end of January, they will be as hungry as Wallachian wolves and will raise the prices back to where they were in November.
They will miss Christmas, New Year, Saint Jordan's Day, and Saint Ivan's Day - in a new and in an old fashion... That's what they deserve. As you sow, so shall you reap!
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