‘Everything is going up’: UK hospitality sector struggles as inflation soars

theguardian.com:

“I am wrestling every single day to keep the business up,” said Damian Wawrzyniak, the chef behind Peterborough gastro pub House of Feasts, who fears he will have to close the restaurant next month after six years.

Wawrzyniak said bills had soared but he could not raise prices to compensate as ordinary people cut non-essentials including dining out to cope with the rising cost of living.

The number of diners visiting his restaurant is down by about 40% while the cost of some ingredients has gone up 40% or more. “The price of cheese has doubled. Oil is [through] the roof. My energy bill is up by 300% and is now nearly the same as the rent,” said Wawrzyniak. “Electricity, gas, BT … Everything is going up, even insurance.”

Wawrzyniak is not alone. Hospitality businesses across the country are facing a squeeze as business costs rise, but they find it tricky to pass on the pain to customers also struggling to cope with rocketing prices. Difficulties in finding staff have only added to cost increases.

A wave of closures is expected over the coming months as independents and well known names, from Mark Hix to D&D London, look at their portfolios.

Hix, who closed his Fox Inn in Dorset on Sunday, wrote on the restaurant’s website: “I don’t need to tell anyone how hard it has been for everyone in the industry since Covid hit, and the challenges simply continue with rising costs and a difficulty to recruit like I have never known in my whole career.”

Des Gunewardena, the chief executive of D&D, said the closure of its Aster restaurant in London after five years of trading was “a sign of the tough times we are in”.

“In the past we would have taken a longer term view. But given the current acute challenges of inflation and, more