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It’s a bang and a bust for local caterers trying to make do in a market that isn’t in their favor; and despite increased sales and heightened demand, the rising cost of food and fuel is dashing any hopes of increased profits.

“It’s a little bit devastating,” said John Maher, owner of Execuserve Catering by John Maher. “You have to pay the price, and you have to pass it on to the consumer and operate as cheap as you can.”

Maher, who also operates Parrothead Burger Barge, watched four or five months ago as wheat prices climbed, and that’s when he knew he was in trouble.

“I was able to hold (prices) for five years, but it finally came down to it and we had to raise prices,” he said.

Maher was holding out for as long as possible on increasing prices for his customers and said it was extremely difficult for him to raise prices at Burger Barge.

“I begged people to find us a few more customers so we wouldn’t have to raise prices,” Maher said. “It’s kind of hard when you have to look at someone in the eye and charge them $6 for a lunch that used to be $5. We serve a lot of construction people (and) their budgets aren’t growing any.”

Other caterers are following in Maher’s footsteps and begrudgingly increasing prices.

For instance, Gateway Market recently increased its delivery charge from $10 to $15 and made adjustments to its menu.

“All the food items were increased by a little bit to make sure we were in the right with all the food prices that have gone up significantly,” said Stacy Schoop, director of catering at Gateway Market.

In the Bag catering also has had to increase its delivery charges from $8.50 to $9.50 to compensate for higher gas prices. However, that extra dollar doesn’t offset the extra hundreds of dollars spent at the gas pump for the large fleets that most caterers have.

“Gas – I’ve just tried to ignore it,” said Mike Taylor, owner of In the Bag catering. “You have to deliver, you have to have vehicles, and you have to fill them up. I’ve got a guy that comes in every Monday before deliveries and gases everything up and I say ‘Don’t tell me; don’t tell me.’ I’m good at avoiding it.”

Luckily, though, Taylor said he increased prices by 5 percent two years ago and hasn’t had to increase them since. Taylor said that if it comes down to increasing food prices this time around, he will probably have to raise them 10 percent, which he claims is “probably still not going to cover the cost increases in food.”

However, his stubborn holding the line on prices has come at a cost. Taylor said his self-imposed price stability is affecting his bottom line.

“I’m not losing money; I’m not going in the hole; I’m just not making as much money as I had made in the past,” he said. “I’m not worried. My business is up from a record; it’s just profits are down. I’m still making money, so we’re not in the red.”

However, Taylor said these decreased profits are making him re-evaluate the way he operates his business. And in Taylor’s case, affordable operations still require meeting expensive standards.

“The last thing you want to do is decrease the quality,” Taylor said. “We’ve got good presentation, we’ve got good food and we’re not going to screw that up.”

Taylor explained that he has talked to his staff about really controlling the amount of meat they put in sandwiches, making sure it doesn’t exceed normal weights. For Taylor, this is one measure he is implementing to avoid increasing his prices.

“I don’t want to raise prices, so we’re controlling costs by portion control,” Taylor said, “making sure we’re sending out the right amount instead of too much.”

Taylor said that he has also tried to save money by encouraging his employees to be more efficient and to control their own consumption of his products.

“If you want a bottle of water, fill it in the water cooler rather than going back and getting a brand-new one,” Taylor said.

But it’s not always as simple as telling an employee to refill a water bottle. For instance, Taylor explained that to cut corners and save on expenses, he settles for adequate, rather than new, “stuff.”

“Probably one area we’ve cut back on is buying new stuff – new vehicles,” Taylor said. “We’re just putting up with what we’ve got. And I never buy really good vehicles; I buy adequate vehicles.”

As long as the adequate vehicles get the job done, that’s what Taylor will do.

“I’m not worried,” he said, “I’m an optimist.”

And Maher feels the same way. Having been in the catering business for 35 years, Maher knows how to persevere through the hard times.

“I’ve done this for a long time,” Maher said. “I’m fairly adaptable to it.”

And as for Gateway Market? The company is “just trying to ride it out,” Schoop said.