Whether it's after a night out, with a partner at the weekend or if you just love a good chipper to cure the hunger, the price of a takeaway is reasonable enough.
However, a bag of chips could cost a good bit more in the next few months.
It comes as some South East takeaways are paying 50% more for supplies like oil, packaging, and potatoes.
Waterford Cllr Eamon Quinlan says chippers are being left with no choice but to up their menu prices.
Speaking to Beat News, Cllr Quinlan says takeaway businesses are at boiling point:
"They are facing significant pressure as whether it be due to supply reasons, inflationary reasons - they can't put their finger on it but they are seeing is a price increase in all the basic goods that they need to turn out their takeaways and I suppose many of them are concerned that it may lead to a price increase across the board as it already has run on a cheap basis for the past number of years."
Angelo is the owner of The Marian in Waterford City, and is one of many takeaway businesses in the region facing the pressures of supply costs.
Speaking to Beat News, he says chippers don't want to up their prices, but they have no choice:
"Because of the increase of gas and electricity, it's up in the roof at the moment. It's gone so bad and the only option is to cut down on the quality ingredients used for a cheaper option, or up our prices, and we don't want to do that."
Cllr Quinlan added that it's not just utility bills that are on the rise for stand-alone takeaways in the region:
"The cost of the potatoes themselves and other ingredients are jumping on average 30% or more. They just can’t get the basic staples required to run a fast food take away anywhere near where they could a year ago."
"Some operators advise that they are being told by wholesale suppliers to take it easy on the cans of coke etc too as the guarantee of being able to keep up with demand simply isn’t there."
"This is similar to the stockpiling that went on with Flake bars during the Summer for 99 ice cream cones. As people switch from outdoor eating habits to being indoors, grabbing a takeaway, the systems ability to supply is being stretched, leading to price increases."
"Businesses simply can’t swallow these costs so they will have to be passed onto customers. A price hike across the board is what is being signalled to me by reluctant operators who have advised me that raising prices worries them as they do not want to incur a potential blowback from consumers.”
We asked people in the South East what would be an acceptable price for a bag of chips, and how they feel about the price of fast food increasing in the coming weeks.
One person said "€2 or something, I would not spend a fiver for a bag of chips are ya mad."
While another said "I would not pay any more than €3, for a fiver you could get a full meal in McDonald's for that. It just wouldn't be worth it."
While the situation remains in flux at the moment the wholesale increase in prices means that this issue will likely not be solely confined to South East chippers, but could have national implications.
Listen back to Beat News Journalist Cillian Doyle's report below:
