Restauranter forced into lay offs due to crippling costs
Catriona Carpenter of Mimosa Tapas Bar, College Street, Carlow
THE OWNER of one the region's most popular restaurants says that she must close part of her premises and let up to six staff members go due to escalating costs in running her business.
Well-known restauranteur Catriona Carpenter said that she is being forced to close a section of Mimosa Tapas Bar in Carlow town because of the huge costs in running a restaurant.
She cites escalating energy costs, food prices and wage bills as well as massive PRSI and tax bills as crippling her business.
“Literally nothing has stayed the same price. It’s horrendous. We’re very, very busy and we’re finding it difficult, so I don’t know how other smaller, independent businesses are coping,” said Catriona.
“It’s so hard to make it work now, it’s vital that some of our costs go down. I have to close some tables down in an effort to reduce staff and food costs. I’ll keep going as I am until Christmas and then make the cutbacks. I employ 35 people right now and I could lose up to six staff members because of downsizing, but I have to do it to make the business pay.”
In recent weeks, Michelin-starred chef Dylan McGrath shocked the Irish hospitality industry by closing two of his long-established restaurants. Dylan, who has family links to Co Carlow, said that his businesses were no longer viable in the current climate, while the Restaurant Association of Ireland has found that two restaurants, cafés or other food-led businesses are closing their doors permanently on a daily basis.
Restauranteurs, including Catriona, have called on the government to lower the VAT on food businesses from 13.5% to 9%, the rate it was during the Covid years.
“People say to me that I should increase the menu prices, but that would just feed into a vicious circle of paying more tax on the money that’s earned. I don’t want to raise the prices. We opened this restaurant so that people can eat as much or as little as they want (in the tapas tradition) in an affordable way.
"The government is making it impossible for restaurants like ours to survive, they’re always putting obstacles our way. Our costs are huge and the taxes are simply ridiculous. I don’t care what they reduce, whether it’s PRSI or VAT, but something has to happen.
"I don’t want a handout, I want our costs to go down. We’re very successful, but it’s taken a lot of work, it’s taken a lot of sacrifices to get here,” concluded Catriona.
