Hospitality Owner’s Chilling Warning About Coffee Prices

A hospitality business owner, Josh Rivers, has warned that the next two years will be the worst ever for the hospitality industry. He claims that the award agreement has gone up, super went up, gas went up, electricity went up, and all major food groups, cheese, eggs, meat, and bread all went up. Rivers said that coffees should be $8 or $8.50 for a small but they are stuck at $5.50 as customers don’t have the money to pay for it.

An Australian cafe owner explained why the cost of a coffee should be $8.50 as operation costs continue to rise. He said the award agreement has gone up and while it’s not enough for people to survive on it’s also too much for cafes, adding frustrating with economists repeatedly telling us “it’s going to be okay.” He said hospitality businesses are seeing a downturn in expenditure and it’s “only going to get worse.”

Richard Forbes, the chief executive of Independent Food Distributors Australia, whose members provide food to 60,000 cafes, restaurants, pubs, and clubs, told news.com.au that distributors have seen a 30% increase in the cost of food over the last three years. He said that we’ve all seen the price of beverages and food rise. That’s not going to get any better until we start doing something to rein in the costs of business.

As well as food, Mr. Forbes said those in the supply chain are facing other rising costs including rent, insurance, petrol, and energy. His average members are facing energy bills of $25,000 per month – not per annum, per month. All of those costs have to be absorbed. At the end of the day, when you have rising energy costs, insurance, rents, fuel, and labor costs in the beginning of the supply chain down to the end of it, then the people that end up paying more for their coffees, their piece of carrot cake, their meal at a restaurant, their parmigiana at a pub, are the consumers.

Australians have shared frustration at the rising costs of dining out or ordering takeaway. Nikki Potter was left shocked at the price and size of a small coffee and Vegemite on toast, which set her back $13.90. She took to social media to ask if she had a “right” to be annoyed by it. An anonymous Australian woman expressed her frustration at paying $50 on fish and chips, which featured chips, two battered pieces of fish, calamari rings, a seafood stick, and potato scallops.

It’s not the first time Australians have complained about the quality and price of hot chips, with one woman complaining about her experience at a New South Wales cafe after paying $10 for the salty treat. When she called the cafe to complain, the Aussie was told that due to the current times, they had made a decision to reduce serving sizes. However, the explanation did little to settle her rage and after taking her frustrations out to the public, she realized she wasn’t the only one who experienced this at the same eatery.

Read More @ AU News