Türkiye to roll out digital platform for comparing restaurant prices

The Ministry of Industry and Technology is planning to implement measures that will allow consumers to compare restaurant prices through digital platforms, similar to the approach taken for supermarket prices, as announced Saturday.

Tackling price gouging in restaurants

After the launch of the “Market Price” application, which revealed price discrepancies in supermarkets, the government is now setting its sights on the restaurant sector.

The Ministry of Industry and Technology, alongside the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TUBITAK), had already rolled out the “marketfiyati.org.tr” platform.

This platform allows consumers to compare the prices of almost 50,000 products across different supermarkets.

The platform quickly gained widespread attention, receiving over a million unique visitors within just three days, leading to millions of product comparisons.

It revealed significant price differences, with some supermarkets, such as A101, BIM, CarrefourSA, HAKMAR, MIGROS, Tarim Kredi and SOK, applying price markups of up to two times the cost of the same product.

Statement from Minister Kacir

In a live interview on CNN Turk, Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir discussed the possibility of introducing a similar price transparency initiative for restaurants.

“We are considering taking a similar step for restaurants. When you visit a restaurant, you can only see the prices once you reach the door. However, digital tools are widely available, and the more we provide these tools to citizens, the better. This way, we can expose opportunists and protect both consumers and producers. The steps we are taking are aimed at ensuring fairness and promoting competition,” he stated.

Kacir emphasized that these measures alone would not reduce inflation, but they would contribute to the fight against rising prices.

“These steps are fair and foster competition, which will help in the battle against inflation. We will continue to take actions that meet the expectations of our citizens,” he added.