MCDONOUGH, GA — Local food truck owners say rising gas and food prices are taking a toll on their businesses as tensions in the Middle East continue to impact fuel costs.

Courtney Petty, who owns Tezzypooh’s Ice Cream & Dessert Truck in McDonough, said the higher prices are forcing her to make changes to keep her business running.

“The gas prices are outrageous,” Petty said.

Petty said her business now charges customers a travel fee because of higher fuel costs.

“We’re now having to charge our customers a travel fee, so when they book us just to come to their event we have to pass the cost on to the customer,” she said.

Petty said the rising costs are affecting more than just gas prices.

“With our truck we also have a generator, so not only do we have to put gas in the truck, we have to fill our generator up with gas,” Petty said.

New figures show food prices are also up nearly 3% compared to the same time last year.

Petty said she is cutting back on spending for her business as costs continue to rise.

“Now I have to make certain decisions when it comes to spending money like do we need this, do I need to buy this,” she said.

Petty said customers are also reacting to higher menu prices.

“They don’t like when you have to increase your menu prices for customers, they don’t like that,” she said.

AAA said metro Atlanta’s average price for a gallon of regular gas was about $4.06 Wednesday morning. That is down about 7 cents from a week ago, but still about $1.15 higher than this time last year.

“I’m hoping that these prices will go down and things will get back to normal,” Petty said.

WSB Radio’s Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story.