TORONTO - As higher prices percolate at Canada's largest coffee and doughnut chain, Canadians should brace themselves to pay more for restaurant meals, as well as their double doubles as coffee and other food prices rise further, experts say.

Tim Hortons (TSX:THI) has said Canadian customers will begin to pay seven cents extra for a large cup of coffee starting Monday. That brings the cost to $1.57 plus tax, about 4.5 per cent more.

And rising prices of other food commodities -- from sugar to beef -- mean consumers may start paying more on any number of meal options each time they dine out.

The worst rains in decades in major coffee grower Colombia have created a breeding ground for a fungus that decimates coffee plants. That problem, along with more people in growing economies like China and India who are willing to spend their money on a java jolt, have dwindled world coffee stockpiles.

Coffee future prices climbed to $2.90 per pound on Tuesday -- nearly double the $1.67 a pound paid in July of last year -- and their highest levels in 15 years.

World coffee prices could rise to $3.05 per pound in the next few weeks, says George Kopp, an analyst at the International Futures Group in Chicago.

"I just don't think this was a short lived thing," he said, explaining that Brazil and Colombia's coffee harvests aren't recovering as well as expected, which is driving up java costs. And potential disputes with farmers, who are demanding more for their beans, may intensify existing supply problems.

"I'm hearing rumours that producers in Central America are reneging on contracts with big processors as they are looking for higher prices," he said.

With the price of wheat used in bread, donuts and muffins increasing 68.4 per cent over the last year, the company is also raising the cost of bakery products at its cafes, said David Morelli of Tim Hortons. However, he wouldn't get into specifics about which products or how much.

Tims has already raised prices at its U.S. locations by about three per cent.

At-home brews Maxwell House and Folgers increased prices last year, and Starbucks announced last month that it will sell packaged coffees for an average of 12 per cent more. The chain also raised prices on some drinks in its coffee shops last year.

In an emailed statement, McDonalds Canada says it is "well positioned to mitigate" cost pressures and higher commodity prices affecting the restaurant industry, but did not comment on whether it will raise prices.

Meanwhile, Tim Hortons said its expenses keep growing.

"Costs have risen significantly, including commodities like wheat and cooking oil, labour and operating costs, and most notably coffee bean prices, which have nearly doubled," Tim Hortons spokesman David Morelli says in an emailed statement.

Food commodity prices have been climbing steadily for slightly less than a year, but Canadians haven't felt too much of a pinch yet. The high loonie and tough competition between Canadian grocery store chains have helped Canadian prices stay lower than levels that helped spawn unrest in some countries in the Middle East.

Tim Hortons' 4.5 per cent coffee price increase is in line with predictions for Canada that suggest an average five to seven per cent increase in the price of food by the end of the year, said Adrienne Warren, senior economist at Scotiabank.

The prices of commodities like coffee, cocoa, wheat, sugar and beef started rising about nine months ago, and it takes about that long for costs to work their way down to hit consumer wallets, she says. The higher price of oil and gas used to deliver food only adds to the price Canadians pay.

"Once the costs increase at the wholesale level and the grocery store level, you can expect some pass through as well to restaurants," she said.

"Potentially you might see some announcements from some of the major restaurant chains of cost increases over the fall as well."

That's because other food commodities like wheat and sugar are experiencing the same supply problems as coffee. Global food demand is rising as populous countries like China and India become wealthier and seek more nutritious food -- and literally eat away at world supply.

Combined with disasters in major food producing countries -- like floods and drought in Australia, drought in Russia and floods on the Canadian Prairies -- agricultural products cost 41.8 per cent higher on average than they did last year, according to Scotiabank's most recent commodities price report.

And the rising cost of wheat means livestock feed is more expensive, which pulls up the price of beef and pork products along with it.

Some major Canadian food manufacturers have already started charging more.

Meat and baked goods maker Maple Leaf Foods (TSX:MFI) raised its fresh bakery prices by 20 cents per unit at the end of March as it battles rising prices for the flour used in its bread and the pork, beef, and chicken used in its deli meats and hot dogs.

Breadmaker George Weston Ltd. (TSX:WN) began charging five per cent more for its products in April, and has said it could increase prices even more by the end of the year if bakery ingredient costs continue to rise.

Warren said the intense competition at grocery stores means retailers have been eating the rising costs, but they can't do it for much longer.

"Eventually down the road, there's only so much they can absorb of the higher cost and eventually those costs, maybe not entirely but at least partially, get passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices."