Across the whole industry, prices have gone down by an average 4.1 percent, whereas the national Consumer Research Centre of Finland says that prices could have been reduced by as much as 6.6 percent.
The biggest reductions have been seen in franchise coffee shops and in railway station restaurants. At the other end of the scale, some independent pizza and kebab restaurants have not reduced their prices at all.
Comparisons were made by recording the prices in 400 restaurants at the end of May and then again at the beginning of September, with the new rate of VAT coming into effect in July. Restaurants were under no obligation to pass on the reduction to customers and made independent decisions as to whether or not to reduce their prices.