Tough road to recovery for UK restaurants

Despite rising demand following the lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions, there remains a bittersweet taste in restaurant owners’ mouths. Although hungry to capitalise on this uptick, the hospitality VAT tax hike of 20% was another blow, and the growing cost-of-living crisis throws full recovery into question.

With restaurant owners already battling a talent shortage, 45% are asking staff to work longer hours, and 47% are having to do more themselves to cope, according to new research from Flipdish.

his, plus a multitude of other concerns, has resulted in 37% stating their mental health is worse now than it was during the pandemic peak in 2020. The upcoming Bank Holiday may provide some relief – with 60% more orders are placed on Bank Holiday Mondays – but tighter belts due to the current economic crisis is creating doubt that this will be achieved.

Ryan spoke to Fionn Hart, UK country manager at Flipdish.

Photo by Aleks Marinkovic on Unsplash