Hospitality owners tell of fears over rising price pressures

More hospitality owners have told LCN of their fears for the industry and the compromises they are having to make as inflationary pressures grow.

Ken Sharp, who owns Bangor’s Salty Dog Hotel and the the Boat House restaurant, says his biggest worry is what will happen after the holiday season ends.

“The summer should be OK but my real worry would be the autumn when people are looking to Christmas and they have had their big fuel bills through.

“Everything has gone up in price and it’s the knock-on costs too, not just sunflower oil but all the thigs that are made with it like mayonnaise.

“We have taken stuff off the menu and tried to get rid of those expensive ingredients. Fish is more expensive than meat at the minute, you can’t keep a named fish on the menu so you’ll see a catch of the day instead.

“Energy prices are stupid but you can’t not air condition a place in the summer or heat it in the winter.

“We look at the costs literally every day but we are also learning as we go because you just don’t know what is going to happen in the next six months.”

While the war in Ukraine may now be driving inflation Ken told LCN Covid changed consumer behaviours which are now being repeated as people tighten their belts.

“One thing we have seen is people are drinking less and that seems to be a pattern. People realised they could do that at home during lockdown.

Mid-market at risk

“We now have to be more creative and counter that drink at home market by being experiential,  offering that low and no-alcohol alternatives  people, particularly young people who may not have the same cultural attachment to alcohol that we did.”

While Ken, above, fears for the future of the “mid-market” should the current situation continue, he believes those who innovate and change their offerings are best equipped to come out the other end.

“We are still seeing people eating out, larger tables with a pent-up demand but we are waiting for the shoe to drop and that may well come,” he told LCN.

“The mid-market is probably most at risk as those used to eating out will trade down to getting a takeway.

“When Tesco and M&S first came out with their £20 meal for two we had to think about casual menus on a Friday night to compete. Anyone who is going to survive will have to up their game.”

Kyle Stewart, who along with chef and business partner Gerard McFarlane, owns Asian-fusion restaurant Yugo and Lottie bistro in Belfast, is also well award that  people have changed their habits in the past two years and may do so again as the cost-of-living crisis grows.

“Clearly not everyone’s experience is the same. Thankfully here and Yugo have been great, but we don’t take anything for granted any more,” he told LCN.

“Yugo would have been booked up weeks up in advance and while we are filling it, it is on the day rather than too far in advance.

“It is not where it was for so many people and every time you turn the news on it is so bleak and people are not exactly being encouraged to go out and spend given the situation.

“I met one regular who told me she had just got used to not being out and a different way of living and I appreciate that, it took me a while too.

“Everything has gone up in price massively and you just can’t pass all that on to the customer or they will not come out. You have to be smart with ingredients and shop around and there are things that are just too expensive to put on the menu at times.

“You might use cod instead of halibut for a few weeks… the prices are constantly fluctuating. That’s where the skill of the chefs come in. You have your targets and try to meet those.”

Read more in the next edition of LCN magazine.