A recent survey by the Restaurant Association shows hospitality businesses are pessimistic about the state of the economy, particularly in the next 12 months.
“There just aren't enough people out there who are interested in working in hospitality right now,” Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidios says.
Of the 500 businesses that participated in the survey, 46 per cent cited managing wage costs as the number one challenge affecting their business.
Skills shortages continue, with 52 per cent of respondents short-staffed. Some businesses have even been forced to shut down.
“We saw one just over the weekend and a couple more in previous weeks so it's something we are looking at,” Bidois says.
However, the owner of Kai Connoisseurs, a small cafe and catering business in Christchurch Sachiko Shimamoto (Ngāi Tahu) says her whānau-centred business model continues to keep them afloat.
Loyal staff
Shimamoto hires mostly single mothers from the community who have been loyal since Kai Connoisseurs opened in April last year.
“Our kaupapa is around employing whānau who are disadvantaged in the workforce and for us, we are here to serve our community, so we provide those opportunities to people that we are directly connected to,” she says.
The survey addressed the 12.5 per cent food price inflation rate and said many cafes have had to raise their prices to make sure their business was still profitable.
“We've increased our prices slightly although not anywhere near as much to match the increase,” Shimamoto says.
“The reason for that is because we risk overpricing the menu and not doing what we came here to do, which is serve our community.”
Shimamoto highlights that their catering branch has been instrumental in keeping their business profitable. “If it wasn't for that, we would be struggling,” she says.
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