Thirded
Seconded!
With labour costings in a business, one has to multiply the wage by 1.5 to look after PRSI, holidays etc. So €13.60 is about €20/hr when doing the calculations. That being said I believe everyone should be on the living wage a minimum.
Price point may be an issue in the city where there is a lot of close competition, definitely much less a factor outside of it.
1.70 an hour increase is only 13.60 per person for an 8 hour shift I know it's still has to be absorbed by the restaurant.
Think ye might need a new thread for this lads 😉
It's a strange one.
Considering the amount of people who are actually on minimum wage is only about 5-6%
I always have a bit of a problem with people on moderate to high incomes (or any wage above minimum wage) complaining that minimum wage is too high.
A bit like when the lower tax band is widened or the threshold to enter taxation is increased, you hear the usual, "nothing for the middle income earner", which ignores the fact that everyone benifits from the lower rate reductions. That reads to me, that not only do I want more in my paycheck, I want extra that poorer people don't get! It's like it doesn't count if everyone gets it!
I said if it was solely minimum wage.
But everything can be a tipping point. All the inputs you mentioned. You could choose any of them that tipped it over
But the reality is it's all the things. Not minimum wage specifically.
Yes but you said if an increase in min wage is the problem a business has no long term future. Its more the tipping point/the straw that breaks the camels back. You can only increase your prices so much before your not filling seats.
As I mentioned. I think it's a combination of the increase in all of the input costs you mention that are causing the majority of the issues for businesses.
It's not solely the increase in minimum wage
I had lunch in the Opera House cafe this week, very small menu but the food was nice. Soup, sandwiches, (very big) sausage rolls & salad. There were five of us there & everyone was happy with the venue.
If your working on a very tight margin it could be the difference between making a profit or a loss. I couldn't fathom running a restaurant or food business, the input costs are insane. Energy, rent, rates, insurance, wages, training, cleaning supplies, washroom supplies, till rolls, banking charges, VAT, accounting fees, payroll. I'm sure I'm missing a load there.
Or Good Day Deli. People will pay a lot money if you have the right customer base and the location and food are considered worthy.
Yera sure look at perry street
They're charging about 18e for the "super perry" which bar the chips I'd consider a "normal" fry you would get in most places for a lot less.
Perry street is up and down very inconsistent and often not that particularly nice of a breakfast.
You can most of the time not get a seat in the place.
So I'd happily pay 20e for a breakfast that warranted it.
Seeing places closing is not nice.
But I imagine it's a combination of many different components and not just an increase in minimum wage.
People would pay €20 for a breakfast if the quality warranted a €20 charge.
I’m saying that was the solution to that Athlone guys problem, but the value of something is whatever people will pay for it.
Depends on how high the minimum wage gets I guess. An increase of €1.70 an hour as mentioned in the post would be €68 a day, for 20 staff that's €1360 a week, so just over €70,000 a year of a price increase. Now I'm not in the industry so I don't know how much turnover a business like that would have a year - €1m? One of the people I spoke with in Athlone was saying he'd have to charge €20 for a breakfast to make it worth his while, and nobody was going to pay that. I suppose things will find balance as time goes on but I do hate to see these local restaurants closing.
I think any small business that gets closed out solely due to an increase in minimum wage probably had no long term future anyway.
I thought it was just me.
My partner loved it I enjoyed the food. But I just couldn't connect with the place itself.
Was the owner of nash 19 not running business for 30 years or so ?
There's not many incompetent people can stay in business for 30 years.
Very true.
I worked in a few bars over the years and learned a lot about who was running them and how they were run.
I applaud entrepreneurialism and also the people who keep these places ticking over (the staff).
I think the general level of service in Cork is decent, but I think the costs have soared and there’s very little if anything being offered to the customer to mitigate the increase. I don’t want free food, but if you’re charging nearly seven euro for a pint (which many places do) then get you’d better have the fundamentals absolutely locked down.
When I enter a restaurant or a bar, and I pay for the food/beer the staff are not doing me a favour by serving it to me, I’m paying for it, the food and the service and the lights over my head and the music and the clean floors etc etc.
The scales must be balanced. If you need to increase the price of something from €12 to €15, fair enough, I have cost increases in my business too, but what do I get out of it if I pay more and get the same or less? How is that an attractive proposition for me (the customer)?
It's interesting (or maybe I'm thinking too much) that a lot of the column inches are being given to the darlings of the Cork restaurant trade. We never hear much about the Market Lane group who seem to be doing ok and rarely come out asking for subsidies or cheap labour. There was no mass flagellation when the doughnut craze ended or the Asian food places ran out of steam , maybe that's because they weren't run by the great and good of the city who'd been to the right schools and members of the right golf clubs.
Scary times. And all those inflation increases are cumulative.
It seems to be in the main pubs and restaurants at the moment, but dont forget other small businesses of all kinds supply goods and services to this sector, thats a worry, if this spreads further than the hospitality sector
This could exacerbate further the hospitality biz closures.
"Higher costs for holidays, higher mortgage and rent costs, and higher food prices are behind the inflation figures."
Sounds like poor management then (disinterest even).
It's been going downhill for a while. Only opened on a Thurs-Sun over the last few months. Was there before the summer, very drab and cold appearance.
He's a lovely fella, bit of a serial entreprenuer though and I'd imagine got bored of Electric.
I was in there on a Saturday night in Q1 2023 and they had no Coca Cola (of any type), no non-alcoholic beer and the 7 staff behind the bar were chatting to the extent that I was waiting at the bar for service, despite there being circa 20 people in the place.
High prices and shite service was my lasting impression.
Ernest Cantillon is a decent guy from the few times I’ve met him. I hope the (competent) staff land on their feet.
Unless she has personal guarantees on credit. It's not easy to get credit these days without personal guarantees.
A pal of mine lost his house and almost lost his mother's house when his business went into liquidation. Personal guarantees!
Somehow, though, I expect Ms. Nash will come out of it just fine! Perhaps not her creditors, staff or Revenue, unfortunately.
Quite shocked at this one, thought it was going well..
