This is exactly what the Rabo analyst was referring to in "Rabobank: You Know Who Else Had Low(er) Reported Inflation But Nothing On The Shelves? The Soviets". If you just pull it from the shelves (menus) no trades take place et voilà, no inflation!
From ZeroHedge:
Restaurants have suffered throughout the virus pandemic, and the shortage of everything doesn't seem to be waning anytime soon. We told readers in June about a worsening crabmeat shortage that sent prices soaring. Heading into September, crabmeat prices soared to record highs forcing restaurants to either pass along the costs to consumers or remove crab products from menus.
One of the top crab restaurants in Baltimore, Maryland, called Jimmy's Famous Seafood, serves customers Maryland crab cakes, steamed crabs, crab soup, and other types of seafood. The restaurant ships crab cakes to customers all over the country and recently warned about "menu prices have recently increased due to the international crabmeat shortage which has decimated our industry."
***....Gail Furman is one of the owners of Max's Taphouse in the Inner Harbor region of Baltimore. She told ABC News crabmeat prices are at "astronomical" levels that are forcing her to "remove crab products off our menus.""Everyone knows about crab cakes and crab meat in Maryland. The price per pound has gone up from $21 a pound. Yesterday, it was $52 a pound, which is astronomical, so a lot of us have had to take crab products off our menus," Furman said. "People just aren't going to pay the prices we would need to charge to produce that product."
....MUCH MORE