One thing ive found is over the last few years ive massively gotten into cooking, even more so when we werent allowed out. Now im at a level of a decent home cook whenever I go out im unimpressed.
Went out for a sunday lunch yesterday £15 each and I can cook it better. Or to my taste better. Potatoes werent roasted well, veg overcooked etc.
That and the amount of salt places use I tend to end up desperately thirsty having eaten out.
Its hard on all fronts, and not least of which for us is the fact that my fiancee is coeliac and that is endlessly exhausting with people saying x is gluten free “depending on the severity of the allergy” and on further examination isnt coeliac safe at all.
We even went to one place that said something was safe for coeliacs because theres no celery in it. Weve also had to leave because they cant do it or want to touch it.
Just feels very hard when vegans are catered to perfectly which is primarily a lifestyle choice when someone with a disease is left being handed a ring binder and told to research her own dinner.
Just makes it easier and cheaper and more rewarding to just eat at home. Plus if a roast dinner for 2 would be £30 we can afford fancier ingredients like a high welfare chicken for £15 and get 3/4 meals out of it. I really struggle with the value proposition of everyday chain type food.
Whaaaat?!? How can this be? Businesses going bust under business-friendly Tory rule?
Because no one comes out anymore. I work in a pretty small country pub/restaurant, Sunday’s are usually the busiest days of the week (usually between 50-60 people come in). The elderly come out for Sunday lunch and we get a lot of families come in. Sunday just gone, we had three bookings. Fortunately, I wasn’t set to work, but a waitress I work with got told not to come in because our boss said she can’t justify paying another member of staff to waitress three tables.
As a family of four, the ~£60 spent on a mediocre meal out, makes a massive change added to the weekly shop!
*edit* maybe my quote of £60 was too low! But kids are young enough to eat the cheaper kids meals.
Not a surprise, restaurant, cafe and pub spending is the ultimate in discretionary spending.
Also it’s a sector that has seen massive growth over the past decade or so. They can’t get the staff either so have to pay them better, which cuts into their profits (assuming they have any).
So I know a lot of people in the hospitality industry and even some restaurant owners, I know things are really difficult right now and they are struggling.
However every time I have seen a job vacancy advertised by local places (and places I frequent) they’ve been really coy and vague about what the pay actually is for the positions they are hiring for.
I understand money is tight but at least be upfront about how much someone can expect to earn a year if they are working minimum wage, 40 hrs a week, including weekends and evenings. For the curious is £17,371.12 after tax or £1,447.59 a month. “Good Bants, tips and 50% off food” doesn’t really cut it as “employee benefits”.
I do actually call them out on this weirdly vague description. One place tried to claim that “all the cool kids are doing it” (verbatim) and another place tried to argue that they don’t pay “minimum wage” but “the living wage”. (Not The Real Living Wage, btw). Honestly.
We’re still during the pandemic. It hasn’t ended just because the politicians and the media (in the UK at least) are ignoring it.
It’s almost like telling buissnesses to try and avoid giving their staff wages ( as if some higher ups couldn’t just take it out of their bonuses and salary…) to keep up with inflation is going to lead to people having to cut back.
We should have had massive minimum wage rises across the board. What little they’ve done so far isn’t enough and took far too long. Savings are gone, confidence is wiped. So of course people aren’t going to spend out on casual meals anymore.
My mortgage is up 200 quid a month, my electric has gone from 40 quid a month to nearer 100, prices of food and diesel are through the roof and I haven’t had a pay rise in 2 years.
Most people are experiencing similar, people who had 4-500 a month disposable income, that’s all gone. That’s a good proportion of the population that aren’t eating out anymore
This really isn’t a surprise; it just really isn’t worth the cost to eat out and go to the pub nowadays (beside weatherspoons); why would you spent £6 on a pint or £50 on a meal when you can comfortably cook at home and buy 4 cans for a fiver. It’s a grim reality, but shouldn’t be a shock to anyone with a developed frontal cortex.
Well during Covid they were getting furlough and grants. Now they have to pay extremely high energy bills and food prices, while fewer people are going out due to the cost of living crunch.
I can barely afford to eat at home, let alone out in a restaurant!
The general quality of restaurant food has noticeably declined, along with the prices sky rocketing.
There are businesses that are thriving despite the economic situation, but I feel as though many are lazy, unwilling to make changes, or trying to profiteer under the guise of increased costs.
I’m sure some will also close in spite of trying their best, which sucks.
We’ve dramatically cut back on takeaways and eating out – years of pay freezes, prices going through the roof and now a mortgage increase of several hundred pounds a month. It ain’t rocket science.
Doesn’t help nobody can afford it
The headlines will inevitably be about how millennials are killing the restaurant industry though and ignore the fact we are all broke and constantly get told not to spend our money on things like avocados/takeaway/restaurants etc
Makes sense. Underpaid staff and overpriced food, no one wants to work there nor go out with the cost of living. I’d rather stay at home and have several meals and drinks for £5-10 than pay £15 for just a burger at a restaurant.
My experience has been similar to others post COVID.
Poor service
Mediocre food
Poor value for money.
Other than lashing out very occasionally on a pricey starred restaurant, I’m pretty much done with eating out now. Unfortunately, as customer numbers dwindle, a lot of restaurants may try to cut costs on food and increase prices, but both are signs of the end.
How many people who work in hospitality could afford to eat out regularly at their restaurant?
I had a vasectomy today (ouch) and thought I would treat us to an Indian, Saturday just gone.
Called up and what usually cost us £24 was now £29 without a large rice or poppadoms (total was £36 which was a lot). Had to say sorry not ordering tonight. Its a shame as the food is amazing and it’s not the restaurants fault, just the additional £15+ could go into the energy account. We ended up doing a ramen with minced beef and veg which was lovely and cost much less than £36.
Maybe instead of “EaT oUt To HeLp OuT” to save a failing hospitality sector we can have “Tax the Fucking Energy Companies Ripping the Country Off”
The whole country is falling apart in front of our eyes. I will never forgive the Tories for what they have stolen from us.
Over the last 6 months, I’ve noticed a sharp decline in service and the quality of food, alongside the increase in prices.
Why would anyone bother paying over the odds for an average meal at best.
I’ve decided to start reigning in meals out, and only now go out if it’s a special occasion or an invite for a wider group.
My girlfriend and I would rather cook our own food or have a more affordable takeaway if we want a treat now.
As prices rise, demand falls – that’s Economics 101.
Inflation is causing a fall in demand, and retail has no option but to increase prices to cover costs.
Unfortunately, this is inevitable and not something that any government can do anything about. Artificially reducing costs for businesses (fixing energy prices) does little as consumer confidence and spending power is also reduced.
Costs going up, people have less money to heat their homes let alone go out, and we’re actually acting like this is a shock turn if events?
I guess the whole country needs to crash and burn before the Tories think “maybe ordinary people actually need to get paid instead of feeding billionaires”
Wait, what am I thinking, they’ll just blame the population and cut benefits
Restaurant owner here .
Right, I’m 35, own 3 cafe/restaurants under the same brand. The Pudding Pantry, we’ve never made a lot of profit, but our turnover is now £2.5m. This is due to being very labour intensive as we do things properly.
In the 8 years I’ve owned it, I’ve never really paid myself properly. It’s a myth that restaurants make a lot of money.
We have experienced electricity rises of 600%, most of the food we buy in is 30% to 200% higher, the disposables and cleaning 60% to 100%.
We’ve put our prices up, but it’s nowhere near enough, we face 6 months left before we go under. I’ve worked my bollocks off for 9 years, starting a brand from scratch for nothing.
Restaurants aren’t trying to rip people off they are trying to survive. If you think I’m just not good at running a business, ask me what I’ve tried in the last 6 months. We now have to look at buying products that aren’t as good to survive, shrinkflation, and QR codes on the tables (hate them) to cut labour.
25 comments
One thing ive found is over the last few years ive massively gotten into cooking, even more so when we werent allowed out. Now im at a level of a decent home cook whenever I go out im unimpressed.
Went out for a sunday lunch yesterday £15 each and I can cook it better. Or to my taste better. Potatoes werent roasted well, veg overcooked etc.
That and the amount of salt places use I tend to end up desperately thirsty having eaten out.
Its hard on all fronts, and not least of which for us is the fact that my fiancee is coeliac and that is endlessly exhausting with people saying x is gluten free “depending on the severity of the allergy” and on further examination isnt coeliac safe at all.
We even went to one place that said something was safe for coeliacs because theres no celery in it. Weve also had to leave because they cant do it or want to touch it.
Just feels very hard when vegans are catered to perfectly which is primarily a lifestyle choice when someone with a disease is left being handed a ring binder and told to research her own dinner.
Just makes it easier and cheaper and more rewarding to just eat at home. Plus if a roast dinner for 2 would be £30 we can afford fancier ingredients like a high welfare chicken for £15 and get 3/4 meals out of it. I really struggle with the value proposition of everyday chain type food.
Whaaaat?!? How can this be? Businesses going bust under business-friendly Tory rule?
Because no one comes out anymore. I work in a pretty small country pub/restaurant, Sunday’s are usually the busiest days of the week (usually between 50-60 people come in). The elderly come out for Sunday lunch and we get a lot of families come in. Sunday just gone, we had three bookings. Fortunately, I wasn’t set to work, but a waitress I work with got told not to come in because our boss said she can’t justify paying another member of staff to waitress three tables.
As a family of four, the ~£60 spent on a mediocre meal out, makes a massive change added to the weekly shop!
*edit* maybe my quote of £60 was too low! But kids are young enough to eat the cheaper kids meals.
Not a surprise, restaurant, cafe and pub spending is the ultimate in discretionary spending.
Also it’s a sector that has seen massive growth over the past decade or so. They can’t get the staff either so have to pay them better, which cuts into their profits (assuming they have any).
So I know a lot of people in the hospitality industry and even some restaurant owners, I know things are really difficult right now and they are struggling.
However every time I have seen a job vacancy advertised by local places (and places I frequent) they’ve been really coy and vague about what the pay actually is for the positions they are hiring for.
I understand money is tight but at least be upfront about how much someone can expect to earn a year if they are working minimum wage, 40 hrs a week, including weekends and evenings. For the curious is £17,371.12 after tax or £1,447.59 a month. “Good Bants, tips and 50% off food” doesn’t really cut it as “employee benefits”.
I do actually call them out on this weirdly vague description. One place tried to claim that “all the cool kids are doing it” (verbatim) and another place tried to argue that they don’t pay “minimum wage” but “the living wage”. (Not The Real Living Wage, btw). Honestly.
We’re still during the pandemic. It hasn’t ended just because the politicians and the media (in the UK at least) are ignoring it.
It’s almost like telling buissnesses to try and avoid giving their staff wages ( as if some higher ups couldn’t just take it out of their bonuses and salary…) to keep up with inflation is going to lead to people having to cut back.
We should have had massive minimum wage rises across the board. What little they’ve done so far isn’t enough and took far too long. Savings are gone, confidence is wiped. So of course people aren’t going to spend out on casual meals anymore.
My mortgage is up 200 quid a month, my electric has gone from 40 quid a month to nearer 100, prices of food and diesel are through the roof and I haven’t had a pay rise in 2 years.
Most people are experiencing similar, people who had 4-500 a month disposable income, that’s all gone. That’s a good proportion of the population that aren’t eating out anymore
This really isn’t a surprise; it just really isn’t worth the cost to eat out and go to the pub nowadays (beside weatherspoons); why would you spent £6 on a pint or £50 on a meal when you can comfortably cook at home and buy 4 cans for a fiver. It’s a grim reality, but shouldn’t be a shock to anyone with a developed frontal cortex.
Well during Covid they were getting furlough and grants. Now they have to pay extremely high energy bills and food prices, while fewer people are going out due to the cost of living crunch.
I can barely afford to eat at home, let alone out in a restaurant!
The general quality of restaurant food has noticeably declined, along with the prices sky rocketing.
There are businesses that are thriving despite the economic situation, but I feel as though many are lazy, unwilling to make changes, or trying to profiteer under the guise of increased costs.
I’m sure some will also close in spite of trying their best, which sucks.
We’ve dramatically cut back on takeaways and eating out – years of pay freezes, prices going through the roof and now a mortgage increase of several hundred pounds a month. It ain’t rocket science.
Doesn’t help nobody can afford it
The headlines will inevitably be about how millennials are killing the restaurant industry though and ignore the fact we are all broke and constantly get told not to spend our money on things like avocados/takeaway/restaurants etc
Makes sense. Underpaid staff and overpriced food, no one wants to work there nor go out with the cost of living. I’d rather stay at home and have several meals and drinks for £5-10 than pay £15 for just a burger at a restaurant.
My experience has been similar to others post COVID.
Poor service
Mediocre food
Poor value for money.
Other than lashing out very occasionally on a pricey starred restaurant, I’m pretty much done with eating out now. Unfortunately, as customer numbers dwindle, a lot of restaurants may try to cut costs on food and increase prices, but both are signs of the end.
How many people who work in hospitality could afford to eat out regularly at their restaurant?
I had a vasectomy today (ouch) and thought I would treat us to an Indian, Saturday just gone.
Called up and what usually cost us £24 was now £29 without a large rice or poppadoms (total was £36 which was a lot). Had to say sorry not ordering tonight. Its a shame as the food is amazing and it’s not the restaurants fault, just the additional £15+ could go into the energy account. We ended up doing a ramen with minced beef and veg which was lovely and cost much less than £36.
Maybe instead of “EaT oUt To HeLp OuT” to save a failing hospitality sector we can have “Tax the Fucking Energy Companies Ripping the Country Off”
The whole country is falling apart in front of our eyes. I will never forgive the Tories for what they have stolen from us.
Over the last 6 months, I’ve noticed a sharp decline in service and the quality of food, alongside the increase in prices.
Why would anyone bother paying over the odds for an average meal at best.
I’ve decided to start reigning in meals out, and only now go out if it’s a special occasion or an invite for a wider group.
My girlfriend and I would rather cook our own food or have a more affordable takeaway if we want a treat now.
As prices rise, demand falls – that’s Economics 101.
Inflation is causing a fall in demand, and retail has no option but to increase prices to cover costs.
Unfortunately, this is inevitable and not something that any government can do anything about. Artificially reducing costs for businesses (fixing energy prices) does little as consumer confidence and spending power is also reduced.
Costs going up, people have less money to heat their homes let alone go out, and we’re actually acting like this is a shock turn if events?
I guess the whole country needs to crash and burn before the Tories think “maybe ordinary people actually need to get paid instead of feeding billionaires”
Wait, what am I thinking, they’ll just blame the population and cut benefits
Restaurant owner here .
Right, I’m 35, own 3 cafe/restaurants under the same brand. The Pudding Pantry, we’ve never made a lot of profit, but our turnover is now £2.5m. This is due to being very labour intensive as we do things properly.
In the 8 years I’ve owned it, I’ve never really paid myself properly. It’s a myth that restaurants make a lot of money.
We have experienced electricity rises of 600%, most of the food we buy in is 30% to 200% higher, the disposables and cleaning 60% to 100%.
We’ve put our prices up, but it’s nowhere near enough, we face 6 months left before we go under. I’ve worked my bollocks off for 9 years, starting a brand from scratch for nothing.
Restaurants aren’t trying to rip people off they are trying to survive. If you think I’m just not good at running a business, ask me what I’ve tried in the last 6 months. We now have to look at buying products that aren’t as good to survive, shrinkflation, and QR codes on the tables (hate them) to cut labour.
Restaurants are in distress everywhere I look.