cost of living hitting cafe harder than Covid – The Irish Times

costs have soared to such an extent that most cafes are “just one broken piece of equipment” away from closure, according to a former youth worker who opened a cafe in Crumlin in four years ago.

of Pip’s Café and Deli on the Old County Road says businesses like his are beginning to wonder if there is “any light at the end of the tunnel.”

“So many restaurants and cafes have gone under lately. It is really tough times. Our over an eight-week period pre the cost-of-living crisis would have been about €1,300 on average.

“Our would have been €400 on average, which was about €12,000 a year. Our has gone up to about €4,000 on average per bill and our gas is about €800 per bill.

“It has gone from about €12,000 give or take up to €35,000 – €37,000. That is the difference of about €500 a week. It is bigger than our rents, rates … everything combined. It is like having an additional member of staff.”

Paul says that he can’t expect customers to pay an exorbitant amount of money for a tea, coffee or sandwich.

“We are a community-based cafe. If you put 20 cents on to a coffee, 50 cents on to a roll people are going to notice. And in a cost of living crisis people will compromise quality over price. They will go for the cheaper option. We can’t pass any more increases on, so we just have to absorb them.”

Paul says that they have had “everything thrown at them” since they opened the business in 2018.

“When we saw the end of , we thought that was it. To be honest the cost-of-living crisis is worse.

was a different time. A lot of people had their income protected. It didn’t affect social welfare recipients. People were able to work from home. wasn’t too bad, but this is the nail in the coffin. You only have to look at the number of closures.

“During Covid a lot of businesses…

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