What will happen to restaurants / cafes

[LaCouleurDeMonCiel]

Pre Covid / COL increase we would eat out as a family 1-2 a week. Eating out would often be spontaneous, places like Bills, Rosas Thai, pizzeria, etc. when we passed one while shopping or because we didn’t fancy cooking.

Now we have stopped the spontaneous meals because the prices are ridiculous. We still go out when we want to go to a specific restaurant or celebrate something but we don’t visit the casual low/mid range places because £100+ is too expensive for a quick ‘not that special’ meal.

Are we the only ones?
Will we see a change in the type of restaurants on the high streets? High end restaurants + cheap fast food ones but nothing in between?

😉

Same here - we wpuld eat put on sarurday and sunday lunchand go out for dinner and pay the babysitter... now we go out as a family of 5 omce a month if even that! I try to go for coffee (with my teusable cup!) with friends or lunch... dinner at friends house is preferable too

I don’t see the point anymore unless you want something special/diffetent. I can cook lots of meals I would want to eat out at a fraction of the price so myself and DH eat out when it’s something we can’t make at home

Reading this, I'm saddened so many still use chains. Please, please use your local independent cafes, restaurants, bars etc. These places are more likely to buy from other independent businesses, use local businesses for things like websites, photography, marketing etc.
Please spend your money with these people, rather than sending it all up to some share holders and so on.

Large chains employ people who need work.

A balance is fine

@MississippiAF they do. As do smaller places. Who spread the money locally. Its just something to consider, I bet a lot of people don't realise how much local places support other small businesses.

There's no point in worrying about what will happen to our neighbourhood cafes etc if we don't even think about how we spend our money.

Not horrified by the sight of a dog at all but i understand why a lot of people don't want to dine with dogs or children when they are paying an awful lot of their hard earned cash to eat out.

@Seaside3 there are some great independents where I live that I do eat at. But lots of independents are at the expensive end of the market.

@AllPlayedOut I've lived in/near the lakes all my life. Dog friendly places are actually quite a new phenomenon, they were few and far between once.

I preferred it before.

@AllPlayedOut they were. People with dogs just did not go into cafes.

@ItsAllAboutTheDosh true. But I'd still rather spend a bit more knowing its going to stay know the area and support my community.
And seeing some of the prices quoted from chains, I'm not sure there is much difference. We don't really have many chains around here.

@Seaside3 I think you are much wealthier than I am. I eat at independent Turkish, Ethiopian and Indian restaurant. Apart from that we might eat at a chain and use vouchers or offers so it is cheap. Last night we got main meals for £8 each.

@ItsAllAboutTheDosh unlikely. I'm.paid barely more than minimum wage. But it's still something I believe in. I've always worked in the industry, so it's something i feel strongly about.

And yes, I do sometimes use a chain. It's just my thoughts on the topic from the op.

@Seaside3 Sorry, we do have a similar income then. I know the quality of food in most chains is pretty poor. So I do not use them often.

I've found it rather odd that , in the last year or so, so many more restaurants/cafes have opened up in my , now, deprived town.
By that I mean that so many shops have closed down yet they seem to be replaced by cafes and restaurants.

I can only assume it's due to so many people wfh and not commuting into London anymore.
My local pub is now rammed most weekdays at lunchtime.

Prices have become extortionate. I was sent an voucher for £15 off Bella Italia so went on a spontaneous visit tis week. £16 for a very mediocre pizza that wasn't even large or deep. It would have been around £12 the last time we went. Won't be bothering again.

@CrispsandThings we have had various places opening up that are obviously fronts for money laundering.

Haven’t noticed restaurants or cafes as fronts but there are quite a number of barbers , nail bars and glittery /trashy home furnishings shops that have opened up with no customers ever.

Money laundering.

It is mainly dessert places and cafes that have opened up in my city and are obvious money laundering places. Open strange hours, no menus or prices, no customers. But they continue operating in spite of that.

Hmm, we've never been in the "restaurant because we didn't fancy cooking" category, nor the "eat out once or twice a week" category, nor "takeaway every Friday".

Occasionally we eat out for birthdays and celebrations, sometimes when we're away or on holiday, or sometimes for a lunch if we're out for the day. Once every few weeks I go for a meal with friends.

But, especially for an evening meal, I've always hate paying £80 for something I could have made at home for a tenner. I also generally avoid places that bulk-buy ready meals and then just microwave them. I like it to be a treat.

Our local cafe is busier than ever. You have to book now. It’s heaving most days.

I don't understand the obsession people have with supporting local independents instead of chains. The local business owner is in it for the money, the same as the chain owner - they aren't contributing to the community any more than a chain, which employs local people.
The quality is hit and miss too whereas with a chain you know exactly what you're going to get. I think one isn't morally superior to the other - just shop where you like the goods/service on offer.

We cut down on meals out a couple of years before the CoL crisis.

Our city apparently has more restaurants per capita than the rest of the UK, but I was so fed up of mediocre, overpriced food, that I just learned to cook it myself.

Now we just go out to an expensive restaurant with guaranteed good food a few times a year for special occasions.

My teens on the other hand, are very happy at the upturn in home-cooked meals!

Holy hikes!!!!