Half-size, same price

AJS does all the grocery shopping and I generally eat at the office cafeteria, so the increasing prices for foodstuffs only hit me today.

Since I'm teleworking this morning, after dropping the kids at daycare, I decided to treat myself with a fabulous Misha's coffee and their droolworthy morning-glory muffin, my absolute favorite muffin on the planet. After a short wait in line, I order the dark coffee and my muffin; to my surprise, the barrista grabs a mini-thing about 1.5 inches across (rather than a typical, generous 3+in with overflowing cap). This teeny muffin has no cap and is delicately encased in some preciously embossed paper muffin cup that actually dwarfs it.

She informs me, "oh, yeah, we've switched bakeries." This doesn't bode well.

I examine it: a quick once-over shows that it does in fact have carrots, walnuts, and raisins in it, so I continue with the purchase. CRAZY me, I figure that this itty-bitty thing would somehow ring up for a smaller amount than the regularly sized muffin, twice as big. Can you guess where this is going?

No, she rings up the SAME PRICE (or maybe a few cents more) than usual. I say, thanks, but I don't want the muffin and just get coffee.

It was a pretty muffin, for sure. But, I'm eating here, not at an art gallery. I generally leave the muffin in a brown bag and tear off hunks while I'm driving to my destination. I don't sit and meditate with it to absorb its beauty before consuming. Has the price for materials risen this much already, or it is just that perhaps the new bakery is more pricey or has more chi-chi caché?