So I guess corn is why Disney is slashing menu options, using lower quality food, serving smaller portions and adding a holiday surcharge? Just like every other restaurant in the world?
Yep, that is totally plausible. And not at all something a social media employee paid by a major corporation would say.
How's the Gov anyway?
With 1/3 of the corn crop being diverted to ethanol, yes, corn is responsible in some way for everything you listed. Taking 1/3 of the corn off the food table and setting it on fire dramatically increases the costs of everything.
* "Disney is slashing menu options" = the soaring cost of corn (due to scarcity caused by drought and the diversion of corn to ethanol processing) means food costs at Disney across the board are skyrocketing; everything that eats corn and is then turned into food for humans is affected by corn price increases. Hamburgers, steaks, chicken, pork, lamb, and whatever other meat-products Disney uses are more expensive in 2012 than ever before before of the high price of corn and the fact that feeding these animals and raising them so they can be turned into meat products is more expensive than ever. This is not Disney's fault.
Disney slashes menu options to cost-cut in response to food price increases from its suppliers. Have you ever had to live on a strict household budget? When food prices go up, that means the $400 you have a month to feed your family of 4 has to stretch farther...which means fewer nights of steak dinners and pot roast and more nights of tuna salad and mac & cheese. Disney has a choice between either raising prices or instructing the F&B divisions to find creative ways to serve meals that keep within the existing food budgets, despite food costs rising. It's a no win situation for Disney because people complain if prices go up on a menu but they also complain if expensive ingredients need to be eliminated to prevent the menu prices from going up.
If you've ever worked in a restaurant, you'd know that the head Chef has a VERY hard job...constantly trying to meet a point of profitability when food prices fluctuate and smaller portions or fewer expensive ingredients must be required at times in order to prevent big increases to menu prices.
* "Adding a holiday surcharge" -- this is the only thing you mention that is NOT in some way related to corn scarcity/ethanol mandates. Supply and demand dictates that holidays cost more. Turkey is MUCH more expensive as Thanksgiving nears. Gadgets and gizmos are MUCH more expensive in the Christmas shopping months than they are the day after Christmas. I buy all my holiday decorations for the next year the week after Christmas this year, because I want to pay less for them and have to plan ahead to do that.
There are entire websites dedicated to finding the right time to go to Disney where the demand for attendance in the parks is lowest and there are the best deals. That's because Disney, like any other company, has higher prices when there is the most demand. So holiday surcharges are a part of capitalism and how businesses work.
It seems like there's a whole generation coming up that has this Occupy Wall Street spirit to it that doesn't seem to understand market forces or supply and demand. So some seem to blame Disney or try their best to make Disney villainous because it has "holiday surcharges". I run my own business and I charge people more during peak buying periods...and all my suppliers charge me more during peak times as well. It's how business works.
