The rising gas prices are hitting the individual's wallet as well as local business.

Many companies pass along that extra cost to consumers in surcharges, but some local businesses are doing everything they can to prevent that.

David Whitehair is the Transportation Director for Shenandoah Growers in Harrisonburg.

They distribute herbs to several states along the East Coast from South Carolina to Massachusetts.

He says they've been planning for a big spike in gas prices and for them, that means making some changes.

Whitehair says, "The main thing we were trying to do is increase our efficiencies, and doing that the first place that we tried to start was consolidate our route structure."

Not only are they trying to cut costs, but their employees are doing their best to save money.

Whitehair says, "They're doing everything they can to find the lowest prices while they're on their routes."

Many local restaurant owners are feeling the extra fuel surcharge on many of the products they receive.

Fortunato Merone owns Tutti Gusti in Harrisonburg and says he basically has to eat the extra cost if he wants to stay in business.

"When the customer comes to your place, for me that is a mom-and-pop restaurant, and I got to compete with other places out there, there's only so much that I can raise up," explains Merone.

Philip Karp, the Vice President of Marketing for Shenandoah Growers, says they do everything they can to save money to make sure extra costs aren't passed along to consumers.

"We examine every single step and every single area that we can address as a company to tighten down to become more efficient so only as a last resort we have to pass on these costs to the customer," says Karp.

Shenandoah growers is looking into alternative fuels like bio diesel, but that's a long-term goal and not anything that would happen right away.

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