Colin Neill from Hospitality Ulster said the industry is battling rising supply and labour costs
Hospitality businesses in Northern Ireland are struggling to break-even amid the cost of living crisis, an industry body has warned.
"The problem now is you're in a crisis and most of the interventions would have to come from Westminster and they're preoccupied with other things. We need more support around rates for pub and restaurants. "So prices are going up, consumer's money is going down, and people can't afford to go out so will maybe decide to have a meal and bottle of wine at home instead."
"In the UK we have more vacancies than people unemployed and looking for work. The cost of meat, grain, cooking oil have gone up, then the cost of energy is just unbelievable," Colin explained."To break even on cod and chips, you need to be charging £10. You add that to a café and restaurant who have to pay for the extra sit-in costs as well, it's difficult for businesses.
"We're in a position where a huge chunk of the industry are struggling to even break-even and we're faced with probably more inflationary costs at the end of the summer." In order to help the industry recovery, he said it needs the same sort of government support it received throughout lockdown.
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