Packing lunches

Leftovers never tasted so good to Arthur Alcones.

The Exchange Bank management trainee is lunching less at restaurants near his downtown Santa Rosa job to save money in the face of rising food and gas prices.

"It's just to save the extra bucks. I'm feeling pinched," he said.

That $6 sandwich, $7 burrito or $10 pasta lunch is a lot less appetizing to workers who are feeling their wallets increasingly squeezed. Like Alcones, more are packing lunches for their midday meals.

Restaurants have seen sales dip even as they pay more for food that goes into their menu.

"This is brutal right now," said Dana Franklin, owner of three Port of Subs sandwich shops in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park.

Changes in lunchtime eating habits reflect a larger national trend with consumer spending on track to register its slowest growth in 17 years.

Eating out at lunch four or five times a week was routine for Alcones a few months ago. Today, he might buy lunch only a couple of days.

When he does go out for a sandwich, burger or pasta, restaurants must compete for his dollar.

"I try to find the better deals out there," Alcones said.

Working at Exchange Bank's main branch on Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa gives Alcones a smorgasbord of choices. While the restaurants are tempting, Alcones more often takes time to cook at home and make enough for leftovers at lunch, saving $10 to $15 a week he used to spend eating out.

"That gets me an extra couple of gallons of gas, or I can buy my girlfriend some ice cream on the weekends," he said.

Packing lunch is among several cost-saving efforts Jann MacDonald has adopted to offset higher health care costs and her husband's job loss.

"I used to bring it two or three days a week. Now I try to bring it daily," said MacDonald, a Santa Rosa paralegal.

Eating a turkey sandwich and a peach on a bench in Old Courthouse Square, Macdonald said she foregoes deli sandwiches, Chinese food and other lunchtime favorites, saving $20 or more a week.

Still, this and other cost-cutting measures don't boost the family budget so much as offset higher costs elsewhere.

"Everything we're doing to skimp is allowing us to break even," MacDonald said.

High gas and food prices have become a major strain on personal finances. Consumer food prices are up 6 percent this year, according to the latest government study. Sonoma County motorists are paying nearly 40 percent more for a gallon of gas compared with a year ago.

Chris Vetrano spends $65 to fill up his Ford Taurus, up from $50 earlier this year. He absorbs some of the shock by making lunch rather than eating out most days of the workweek.

"Even with grocery prices going up, it's still a lot cheaper," said Vetrano, a client associate for Wachovia Securities in Santa Rosa.

Vetrano couldn't afford his habit of eating out for lunch often four days a week.

"I would look at my bank statement and cry. I had to change quite drastically," he said.

Always a good cook, Vetrano said he just needed to make time to prepare more meals at home, yielding leftovers for lunch at work. He has impressed co-workers with his pork roast, chicken breast with vegetables, and assorted pasta dishes. Now, he eats out at lunch only on Fridays.

"I am saving money in the long run," Vetrano said.

Leaner lunch crowds have resulted in a 5 percent to 10 percent drop in sales at two of the Port of Subs sandwich shops Franklin owns.

"I've noticed more couples getting large sandwiches and splitting them rather than getting two small ones. They're making that sacrifice to save a couple of bucks. That's when you know times are rough," Franklin said.

Running a sandwich shop also is tougher with Franklin's cost for meats and cheeses and other supplies up as much as 15 percent.

To reduce overhead, Franklin and his wife, Robin, are working more. The couple cut their work force from 30 to 20 this year. They raised prices 3 percent this spring, the first hike in two years, but resist going higher.

"At some point you can't keep raising it. You have to eat the cost increases and work more," he said.

There is little hope for a turnaround this year, according to the latest study by the National Restaurant Association.

Sales nationally were down four of the first six months of this year, and the association's index tracking the industry's health is at a six-year low. Restaurant owners expect the slump to continue over the next six months.

"That definitely shows the difficulty," said Mike Donohue, the association's spokesman. "Restaurants are laboring under a weak economy and the highest food and energy inflation in decades."

You can reach Staff Writer Michael Coit at 521-5470 or mike.coit@pressdemocrat.com.