The study, highlighted by the Denver Business Journal, tracked a range of operating expenses, including labor and food costs, and found Denver's overall per-unit burden has now edged past New York's. The Feb. 27 piece points to menu price inflation and wage-driven cost spikes as the main forces behind the crossover.
Venkatakrishnan said that, while the government needed to restrict rising public sector wages, the inflationary impact of pay rises was an issue across the UK economy. While UK wage growth has slowed in recent months it is still running at an annual rate of 5.7% in the public sector, excluding bonuses. Private sector wage growth is running at an average of 4.8%.