'Everyone's feeling the pinch': Cork restaurateur’s warning for future of the trade

A Cork restauranteur has spoken of the battle for survival of many food and hospitality businesses which are facing increased food ingredient costs and declining tourism numbers, according to Tourism Ireland figures.

Mike Ryan, the owner of Coqbull and Cornstore in Cork city centre, was speaking to The Echo as the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI) launched its pre-Budget submission in Dublin.

The main demand of the RAI document was for the reinstatement of the 9% VAT rate for tourism for food businesses.

“Everyone’s feeling the pinch — the problem is that this is about keeping the doors open for many places because a lot of hospitality businesses are working on very tight, low margins at the moment,” said Mr Ryan.

“At the moment you’re looking at price hikes everywhere — insurance, food, energy inputs, labour — everything has gone so far up.

“There’s very little the Government can do to soften the blow of what’s happening — they can’t reduce energy, they can’t reduce the costs of inputs coming from abroad — what they can do is ease the taxation on small to medium businesses and that’s what this is about.

“For the last 18 months, and, we foresee, for the next 18 months, no one is in this for the big bottom line profit, this is about surviving for a lot of places, this is about making sure that at the end of this we still have small family run businesses.

“It’s like farming, once these generational businesses are gone, no one’s going to take them on. It doesn’t make financial sense because if you go to a bank right now and say I want a loan for hospitality, they will politely laugh at you.”

In its pre-Budget submission, the RAI warned that tourism businesses in Cork and other tourism-dependent counties could face closures, job losses and long term damage to the tourism economy if the government fails to reinstate the 9% Vat rate for food-led hospitality businesses.

In its statement, the RAI said this was particularly the case in Cork as restaurants, cafés and gastro-pubs were vital to city and rural life and economic survival.

The organisation also cited a cost of doing business survey it had carried out in which it found the cost of food ingredients had increased significantly with fruit and vegetables up 40%, chocolate hiked by 157%, meat increased from 955 for beef to 35% for pork and chicken, gas higher by 58% and electricity up by 96% between 2022 and 2025.

RAI chief executive Adrian Cummins said bringing back the 9% Vat rate was essential and that temporary measures were not enough.

“We need a pro-SME, pro-hospitality budget that supports survival now and enables long-term growth,” said Mr Cummins.

“Restaurants are more than businesses, they’re the heart of communities, tourism and culture in counties like Cork. But high Vat, soaring input costs and government-induced pressures are pushing many to the brink.

“Bringing back the 9% Vat rate, as promised by Government, is essential.

“Tánaiste Simon Harris called it a solemn commitment, now it’s time to deliver.

“If we lose our food-led businesses, we lose not just jobs and investment, but the very soul of rural life.

“The knock-on effects of closures in Cork include lost tourism revenue, rural isolation and irreversible damage to the city, towns and village centres.”

According to Tourism Ireland, 565,000 tourists visited in May of this year, down 8% on May 2024, and there was a €127m reduction in spend.