There has to be something fundamentally wrong - restaurant closure

[Terroror]

A restaurant we go to quite often is about to closing after two decades in business.

It’s popular, booked out all the time. In fact, I understand it’s had the busiest Christmas period in its history.

Its closing because the business is no longer sustainable to due to rising costs. Not lack of custom - it’s very busy - but energy costs, rates, staffing costs.

A much loved business down the pan.

There really is something fundamentally wrong when experienced restauranteurs with a busy restaurant can’t make this work.

I don’t see much concern from the government.

AIBU?

I know of a few restaurants that are struggling and talking about closing, all are super busy and popular and have been running the last 10-20 years

One of them is closing due to a greedy landlord. Massive increase in rent and wants to tie him into a 10 year lease. He’s closing this week. He owns another bar across the road and that’s far more profitable for him so he’s concentrating on that. It’s a shame, their food is great, not wildly expensive (although it has increased quite a bit in the last year).

The other 2 are just struggling with increase in costs - business rates now the covid discounts are ending (and restaurants haven’t been included in the government’s relief they’re giving to pubs), rise in employers NI contributions, food cost increases, energy cost increases, etc, etc. They’ve managed to absorb them for a while but not any more and you can only put prices up so much before people stop coming.

DH runs a small business (not restaurant) and he thinks this is the worst winter he’s ever had.

Traditionally trade drops off December/January/February but this year the drop has been far bigger than it’s ever been. Weather is shite, his customers are struggling and not spending and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. He’s really considering his options at the moment - he basically brings home minimum wage for a ton of stress and responsibility and he’s not sure it’s worth it anymore.

Yes I am always shocked at places that close, busy, popular, but sometimes there are other things in the background like huge debts, or family working 7 days a week and burning out, the weight of the responsibility and no-one want to take over from them.
Recently I know of a VERY popular butchers closing. It was full every day. But the family running it had had enough of it taking over their life and none of the grown up kids wanted to take over.
A huge successful pet store, the only one for miles around and everyone went there for their pets and supplies. But again they had burnt themselves out running it and only wanted to sell it to someone passionate like themselves, couldn’t find anyone so sold the land to developers

People expect to pay the same price eating out as they did in 2021, it's just not possible. Prices need to rise on menu every 5/6 months. Inflation was at 10% in 2022 .

I have seen so many facebook posts recently announcing closures from long established hospitality businesses here in NI. All of them have cited the huge spike in business rates as a factor, although not the only reason. The rate increase alone is nuts before you account for rise in NMW, employer NICs, food costs, utility costs etc etc. Fair play to anyone able to keep a restaurant running these days.

It's restaurateur, no 'n'. Even Michelin starred chefs (well not the French ones) get that wrong. It's an incredibly difficult, costly business to be in. The mark up on alcohol covers lots of the costs. Running a restaurant well means long opening hours, high staffing requirements, managing goods with a short shelf life, etc, etc. It's why a lot of chain places seem understaffed - it's how they keep one of the big costs down.

Partly I think we have accepted that grocery prices will rise by say 20% and we have to suck it up - but if restaurant prices rise to this extent, we hum and haw and stay home.

Also Brexit decimated the waiting staff situation where I live. It was almost overnight.

This is a good point - and a lot of my friends have reduced drinking and/or are on fat jabs so just eat a starter and some water!

Every beloved restaurant closed with my patronage because it wasn’t a rip off.

It's not a rip off if that's what it actually costs to maintain the business.

Yes, I noticed that eating out recently. The majority of tables around is were having just a main course. No starter or dessert and just had tap water.

It was a thing in the 1960s to drive to a motorway service station on the newly opened motorways specifically to eat a meal at the restaurant there.

You used to be able to get a proper cooked meal at a motorway services, no longer, it’s all fast food now.

As recently as the 90s DH and I would occasionally drive to a Little Chef on an A road near us for a meal, they were good value.

Yeah it's really sad. It's becoming impossible for businesses to survive, we have so many empty shop fronts now, we're going to have no high street!
A favourite cafe near me suddenly closed - same situation, prime location, always busy, good reviews, repeat custom etc. yet it's still not enough. Feels like we're loosing a community also. Something desperately needs to change.

I knew a young woman who worked in a chain restaurant. She used to complain that she'd turn up for her shift, only to be sent home if it looked as though it was going to be a quiet evening. She was still living at home with her parents, but I expect the unreliability of this job would have been unsustainable for her if she'd had rent and bills to pay.

We had got used to paying low prices for food in the UK. Obviously grocery prices have sky rocketed, but I have seen lots of threads on here with people complaining about the cost of eating out. So many people don't consider what makes up the total cost of eating out. A restaurant cannot compete on price with eating at home and it's daft to compare the two.

Chain restaurants have economies of scale for purchasing food and drink, but compromise by having central kitchens doing the cooking meaning you're effectively getting a ready meal in the actual restaurant where the food is reheated or cooked off with all the prep already done elsewhere. Lots of people cannot tell the difference. We had a local pub with an enterprising chef who was producing much better food than we had anticipated when we first tried it. When the ownership changed hands, the new owners got rid of the chef and the menu was all from Brakes and reheated. The quality nose dived although the cost to the diner didn't. I've no doubt it made running the pub cheaper, but it killed the restaurant part of the business with regular diners no longer prepared to pay for a product which had declined in quality. The business suffered further in the pandemic and ultimately closed.

Compare the US, for example, and the cost of eating out for a lot of people in employment is proportionately considerably a lot less than for people in the UK. I think we are experiencing a shift from eating out fairly regularly being the norm for a lot of people to being an expensive treat.

I know what your saying but I am not going to pay more for a sub parr experience. Pre drinks in a bar that had no heating then restaurant protein portion was tiny bulked out with huge plate of rice. I have my own bottom line to look out for so I

Two areas of knowsley, Prescot and Huyton have gone to a bar/restaurant plan, rather than shops. Now those small businesses aren't surviving. One very successful restaurant in Rainhill (up the road from Prescot) has recently closed. Government intervention is needed. As a lifelong Labour supporter, the councils haven't got the interests of the areas, at the center of their planning. Another issue is that when Merseyside was on its arse, outside investors bought most of it and obviously it's about maximising profits.

There's no need to be so doom-mongering. Running a restaurant has always been notoriously precarious. Round here (suburbs of London), restaurants open and close all the time. Has the number of restaurants in the UK been on a downward trend for several years? I have no idea - but I think we'd need to know that to know if it is a real trend.

Although I know why it has to be this way I would let newer customers who hadn’t experienced the previous better times enjoy dining there its a generational thing for me . I can’t unknow the higher standard for less money

Surbiton has a high proportion of good rated restaurants I think they just move off the beaten track and new dining areas become a thing because of rents

Our local independent Italian restaurant closed because the owners wanted to retire and the owners children weren’t interested, the business was put up for sale as a going concern but no interest. A local jewellers closed for the same reasons. It’s not always profitability per se but whether anyone wants to run the business. Our local high street shops are owned by the local authority so it’s not even a remote landlord issue

I think the extra NI employers have to make has tipped the scales for a lot of employers. It’s just another debt to be paid

The November Budget is leading to huge increases in business rates - as much as 100% in some cases. That is a Government matter. It is not the same thing as rent.

There’s an Indian restaurant near me that has been going 40 years. It’s recognised as the best in the city. The food has never changed.

Hospitality is very demanding - the hours can be brutal. I can absolutely understand why the next generation does not want to commit to taking over a family business - they have seen it firsthand!

I'm definitely eating out a lot less than I used to - it's not as enjoyable or as good value as it used to be. Plus food at home has improved so much in the last 30 years. I've pretty much stopped drinking and it seems to be very prevalent amongst my generation (40s) and the younger adults I see about. I will order sparkling water, but will not pay for still - and it seems much more socially acceptable to order tap water for the table. I used to order a starter, but I rarely see one that grabs me nowaways. I used to drink mint tea while everyone had puddings, but now it seems rare for people (other than under12s) to have one. So as well as the rising cost of everything, there is less opportunity to increase profit per table.

We run a small business. Covid was a shock, but we pivoted and did really well. I do note locally that the business who adapted and kept going are doing a lot better than the ones who gave up and took the government cheese.

We’ve seen a lot of this in Dublin. Businesses just run out of rope. Things are already tight, but the bills are killing them.

Also, times move on. A few big UK operators have entered the market. And young folk favour casual food, pizza slices etc…

I bet they own the building or the lease