To think hospitality industry rips us off

[Daygloboo]

We keep hearing about how threatened the hospitality industry is....business rates, small businesses taxed into oblivion etc.... but Im starting to think its just a giant rip off. I went out for lunch yesterday, 5 of us, to a country pub . The first 4 things people asked for on the menu they didnt have. ( It was becoming a bit like a 2 Ronnies or Monty Python sketch by the end " oh well, yes you see, we havent actually got that" over and over again) The water they brought was in a dirty jug. The seats of the banquet thing we sat on had stains on, the toilets, and indeed the restaurant itself, were really really cold, and there was an old local with literally one tooth standing at the bar half drunk who kept coming up interfering in our conversation....hugging my elderly mother and almost spitting in our food when he spoke. When we raised eyebrows, we were told by the( very flaky ) waitress that he was a ' harmless part of the furniture'. The food was nice but the bill was £200. I left feeling like we customers are all ever so slightly having the piss taken out of us by all these moaning restaurant owners. It's by no means the first time Ive felt like this after going out to eat either. And im not one of those moaning minnies who deliberately looks for faults just coz i like having a go either. Whatever happened to decent food at reasonable prices in a warm space with clean surroundings. Is that really too much to ask these days. I remember a time when reasonable quality goods and services was standard. You didnt pay extra for what should be basic good quality. Its all getti g a bit Emperors New Clothes. Anyone else finding this to be true ? I think a lot of so called ' business people' need to get their heads out of their arses.

As i said upthread, there were no other places around and we were meeting the 2 others. Its hard to all just get up walk out and then drive miles trying to think of somewhere else. We hadnt seen them in ages. You cant just waste a couple of precious hours looking round for somewhere else.

Yeah. Good points.

No alcohol and some only had 2 courses. It wasnt good value.

Yeah. Think you're on to something here. Lies after lies.. do they think we are stupid??
Making up all these issues to raise costs to minimise the service and experience.
Britain should revolt.
You're barking.

I have worked in food hospitality since age 17, am now 40…it’s a tough sector. Margins are v v tight. You try making an entire meal, heating a building, paying waiting staff, cleaners, chefs, managers, an accountant, maintaining equipment, factoring in food waste etc etc …and for only a few pounds more per dish than you can make yourself at home! No restaurant owner is sitting at home laughing maniacally on their wad of cash, they are working every hour under the sun and are probably very stressed. Maybe some big chains make a lot of profit but then they go under at the drop of a hat because they are big and unwieldy. I think YABU!

It’s going to get worse re pricing. It is the exponential rising costs surrounding hospitality that aren’t helping. Business rates - mentioned in the budget as a favour to the industry- are REALLY high already. The new “reduction” is great in principle, except that they’ve also been re-evaluated UP - my local pub has gone up x2.5 times. So even with a reduction the costs are still rising, along with all the costs you have had rising like energy etc. what you have seen at home is worse in businesses.

It isn’t acceptable to have shit service or food for the cost I totally agree, but when your favourite good place has to raise its prices - now you know part of the reason why!

Unfortunately, despite being a huge employer - hospitality is demonised for some reason and even on here you see people happy that hospitality is failing and hoping that pubs/bars close.

In reality, the tax take from hospitality based industries is massive unlike their current profits.

You had a bad meal in one establishment and so condemn the entire industry?

YABU.

It’s always been a “thing” to open a business - what exactly do you mean?

Agree it’s bloody stupidly expensive to eat out now and as a result we do it far less - probably why they have to charge so much in order to stay open. Well that and the extortionate price of food 🤷🏻‍♀️

People aren't evaluating if their new business has even the remotest chance of being successful, I agree hospitality is tough with low margins, so the aim should be to get repeat trade by offering a good all round experience. I suspect the truth is there are far to many outlets, 4 cafes on a small town high street, opening a fifth isn't going to magically increase overall trade, the same customer base now has to be split 5 ways, so in the end it becomes a battle to cut costs and to see who can survive longest.

It is a business not a charity but have no idea how it is a 'thing' more now than ever

I mean a thing in the sense that some people do it just because they think.it' a a cool way of making a living but they havent actually put much thought into the responsibilities and challenges that go with it. A lot of ppl want to start businesses nowadays, which absolutely wasnt the case when I was growing up. Bur a lot of ppl dont factor the needs of the customer onto the equation. Its as if the customer comes last......which is probably why so many new businesses go to the wall. A lot of people think it's glamorous and cool but dont actually know what the bloody hell they are doing.

I always smile when I hear anyone has taken on a pub or hotel.
It sounds lovely.I know from 42 years in the industry it's bloody hard work.
Do what I do.Become a chef that loves providing decent food and putting smiles on customers faces.
They come back.Unfortunately so much is bought in or frozen now only to be warmed or plated by someone.

It's not ripping you off, it's being ripped off by soaring energy bills, increases in the NMW and the cost of everything going up. So they're passing the cost down to you as the customer, otherwise they'll shut.

So yes, but also no.

The industry was dealt a blow during lockdown from reduced footfall. Now it's being killed off by increased taxes and other overheads, they'll be gone soon which means many more will be unemployed.

So pretty soon nobody will have a reason to worry about shoddy service anymore since it won't exist.

"Unfortunately, despite being a huge employer - hospitality is demonised for some reason and even on here you see people happy that hospitality is failing and hoping that pubs/bars close."

Because it's private business. There are no state-backed pubs, are there? The people writing up these daft policies want the private sector to not exist and every service provisioned by the private sector to be nationalised.

They want the private sector crushed out of existence. You'll just never be told straight because why? The proof is all around and you'll be ridiculed and laughed at, and made to feel stupid for noticing.

I think to generalise from a crap place to all hospitality is a bit much

round here we have pubs and cafes that really are part of our community and wouldn’t survive if they were crap

Ive got nothing against the private sector so long as the service isnt shoddy and the food is good and value for money.

The thing is, people will go to those places that are worth it.

We go out to eat much less often than a few years back…but when I do go out I’m picking somewhere with excellent service and food I love that I can’t make myself.

DH and I both love cooking so I’d honestly rather stay here and make a slap up meal than go somewhere for dinner with our kids, pay over £100 (even a pizza place costs this now) and eat something mediocre.

We work from home and used to pop out for lunch sometimes, but am just not up for spending £10 on a fucking jacket potato or £5 on fresh juice. It’s insane!

We live in London so I do realise things may be less of a rip off elsewhere.

Eating out feels more expensive, or else you get less for the same price, so people eat out less often, and are less tolerant of mediocrity when they encounter it. I would hate to own a restaurant right now!

I think people’s expectations on eating out has also shot up in the past generation. The meals I remember eating out in the late 80s / early 90s were much more basic than now, smaller portion size, more basic ingredients. When you think back to the 60s and 70s the difference becomes even more pronounced.

I remember being served tinned cream of mushroom soup in a restaurant with my grandparents and them thinking it was lovely and posh - that wouldn’t fly now 🤣.

Your traditional greasy spoon that serves shit sausages and cheap white sliced bread still serves a purpose in some places but mostly on the high st it’s cafes serving sourdough, avocados, posh sausages, artisan type sandwiches with rocket and balsamic glaze or at the very least ham hock and mature cheddar rather than thin slices ham and cheap rubbery cheddar in them etc etc.

The only thing that has possibly stayed at the same standard is the service.

So yeah, eating out is more expensive, but you probably would be moaning if you were charged 70s prices and given 70s food to eat (broadly speaking)

We recently went out for tea, and it was so expensive. Two pints, two non alcoholic drinks, no starters or puddings, just four mains and a tip already on the bill. £120, we won’t be going again.

We actually left hospitality few years ago because it was clear to us what a shitshow it's all going to become.
No ceiling on energy prices, ingredient tripling in price and so on. Just a shitstorm hitting and not letting out. When price rises hit, energy companies required small businesses to pay thousanda in deposits to switch providers.
There was no way we could have sustain quality and number of staff without working even more hours and still dropping salary to not have to raise prices to keep same minimal margin. There was very little option to add revenue because of where we were based.

We understand the issues, what's happened and we still get occasionally pissed off when we eat out or order in. So we don't anymore really except very few special places.

We were weekly eaters out but hardly at all since summer this year as prices are just insane now for very average food. I think this is a common pattern and think a lot of restaurants will fold after Christmas.

I have a sneaking feeling that your view on what are willing to spend and view as good value for money for what you get , and a business owners view on what they’d like to provide and then need to charge for that service to be viable business have almost no overlap.

At which point, the interaction is doomed.

You either get:

• Your price point and your expectations met - but not in a way thats viable for the business (see why so many go bust).
• Your price point and business viability - but not your service expectations met (heating on business rates is expensive, are good cleaners, an extensive menu, experienced staff etc, so to stay viable on your price point corners get cut).
• your expectations met through a viable business - but at a cost that you no longer view as good value for money.

Business rates for hospitality premises are crazy. Staffing costs are approaching £20/hour even to pay minimum wage once you account for NI, pensions, training, leave, admin overheads etc. Food costs have gone up more than most people acknowledge. Fewer people are eating out because their own budgets are tighter so covers down and wastage up.

You were evidently very unlucky!

We don’t eat out very often, but I can’t say I’ve ever had such a bad experience anywhere. I regularly meet two ex colleagues at a lovely pub for lunch, it’s always enjoyable, with good service, and tomorrow dh and I are meeting Dbro and SiL at another, for the 3rd time, because it’s very good - and which we’d picked at random the first time, because of the convenient location.

Then you deal with the shit experience you get because you decided that was better than voting with your feet, surely. If it was an important occasion and/or one to which people were travelling some distance , book somewhere you know is good.