Inflation having an impact on Cape Cod businesses as summer starts

HYANNIS -- The Bourne Bridge will be busy Friday as families hit the road for Memorial Day weekend.

It's the unofficial start to the summer season. Along with drivers, the ferries will ramp up service, bringing tourists to and from Hyannis Harbor.

Main Street businesses are hungry for that boost in foot traffic, especially after two pandemic summers.

The woodfire pizza oven is roaring at Pizza Barbone, but the cost to make one of these pies, the owner says, has gone up.

"Unfortunately, prices do have to reflect that inflation," owner Kerrin Coleman says.

Inflation has hit all industries, like Kilwins, that serves ice cream and other sweets.

"Gas and oil has gone up. the shipping costs, but everyone makes it work somehow," said Dominick Marciano, who owns a Kilwins on the Cape. "People are dying to get out, and now that the weather is nicer, I think this summer is going to be really good for the Cape."

The average price per gallon in Massachusetts is $4.73 for regular gas. In 2021, going into Memorial Day, it was $2.91. 

It doesn't seem like that's stopping people from visiting or spending their hard-earned cash. 

"Our product that we use is the best quality product, so people don't mind spending that extra money for the better product," said Marciano.

It's that optimism that businesses on the Cape are banking on this summer.