'Our Belfast restaurant is struggling more now than during Covid - it's killing us'
Belfast Live has been catching up with hospitality businesses to mark five years since lockdown started
The owners of two restaurants in South Belfast have said the industry is struggling more now than during the coronavirus lockdown. Jonny and Christina Taylor have been at the helm of Shed Bistro since 2018, and last summer opened Saga Belfast on the Malone Road site of their former fine dining restaurant Blank.
Looking back to five years ago this month when restaurants across Northern Ireland were forced to close their doors as a result of lockdown, the pair said they initially thought it would be a short break for a few weeks. However, they began to worry as those initial weeks of closure turned into months.
Five years on, they have said they are "nowhere near recovered" from the impact of lockdown, and that the government haven't given them a chance to, with rates and VAT remaining high.
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Coupled with a cost of living crisis which means customers can't dine out as often, Jonny and Christina say the hospitality industry is continuing to struggle along.
Speaking to Belfast Live about the initial days of lockdown in March 2020, Jonny and Christina said despite initially not thinking it would be too bad, they began worrying about how staff could be paid and retained.
Christina explained: "We thought it would be like a little break, a holiday, then we would get back to it. It went from that to a total panic for us. Before furlough and support came into effect, we didn't know what was going on.
"We were fresh to having this business, we only had it for two or three years at that point. The thing we worked hard to build was potentially being taken away.
"We were a really small team, there were only seven of us at the time, we were all very close. Everybody had a story - people were pregnant, people had loved ones dying, we didn't want to let people go but we couldn't afford to keep them on, so there was a lot of fear that way."
Since Covid, Jonny said things have been "dreadful" for the hospitality industry as a whole. The pair said they are still dealing with paying back the government support loans offered at that time, which is adding extra strain amid rising costs of doing business.
"It's never been the same. We were forced to close so long which put all of us in debt, whether we took the loans or not," Jonny said.
"It's a weight around our necks currently, we still haven't fully repaid the loan we took. It will be repaid in September 2026 and I'm literally counting it down.
"We had a VAT reduction for a few months, then an increase, and back up to 20% within a year. It's just crazy, none of us have recovered."
Christina added: "Looking back now at all those government loans, we're paying back so much more. Minimum wage went up, there's more VAT, it's actually killing us. We're nowhere near recovering from it.
"Imagine someone told you you work seven days a week and at the end of the year, all the profit you will have made, you have to hand it over as prices have gone up so much. Now imagine you don't make any profit, you just break even, and somebody still wants that money from you - where are you meant to get it from?"
The restaurant owners are calling for more support to be given to restaurants, especially ahead of further cost rises next month as a result of rising minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions.
Jonny and Christina said they have "made no profit since Covid", and said regular customers have been feeling the pinch, too, and have had to reduce their visits due to a lack of discretionary income. They said cost increases and customer reductions mean many independent restaurants are being forced to close their doors for good.
Christina said: "Restaurants now need to be supported instead of being rinsed dry. So many restaurants are now being forced to close. The fewer there are, the loss jobs there are, the less tourism there is - but it feels like nobody cares.
"We have more bills, and less customers. Everybody is struggling at the minute. Before Covid, we would have had customers coming to the restaurant twice a week. If they had a long day and didn't want to make dinner, they would come out and eat instead. But now they will tell us they're here once a month as they can't afford to come out."
"I have never known it to be so bad," Jonny added. "We're starting to see more and more big chains coming to Northern Ireland now and independent restaurants being forced to close.
"Restaurants are getting quieter. What we're seeing at the minute, and it just seems at the minute that Saturdays and Sundays are very busy, but midweeks are dying.
"The December before Covid our electricity bill for the month, the busiest month of the year where we have our Christmas lights up, was £1,200. I haven't had a bill at that since then. Our average now is about £2,000 per month and at one stage we were at £6,580.
"The second I take food out of the packaging, I have to charge 20% for VAT and that money goes right to the government. We're working 100 odd hours a week, killing ourselves, while the government are taking 20%. Customers think we're ripping them off, but we're trying to provide a service because we love it.
"We're a very small team now. Before Covid, at Christmas we were working with six chefs in the kitchen and this December past midweek we were working with three, and at the weekend we don't go over four.
"In front of house, we used to work with ten on the floor on a really busy Saturday and now even if it was the same numbers, which we're not doing, but even if it was the same numbers, we would have six on, because we just cannot afford to have more.
"It's not a wonder restaurants are closing here all the time. England, Scotland and Wales are getting rates reductions to help them, but we're not getting anything. We're getting shafted in everything."
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