The hospitality poor mouth

Beta Ray Bill

The hospitality sector is very cut throat, there are the "haves" and "have nots"

I've no sympathy for hotels, they pay the lowest wages and charge the highest prices.

I've a real problem with restaurants/sandwich shops in Dublin at the moment. There are "the haves": Restaurant is busy every day of the week, charge high prices and then suddenly it closes… cause quite simply, they were making a few thousand a day in profit before and now they're only making a few thousand a week in profit. It's the the "I don't get out of bed for less than X mentality"

The other side is the guys who are to the pin of their collar, margins are tight, they're making money, but a few bad reviews on google and they're dead in the water.

I think the VAT should be relaxed but only for cheapish restaurants, if someone is going out and paying €50 for a Steak they can pay the VAT at the full rate.

Finally, the tipping thing is REALLY getting to me lately, particularly in sandwich shops. I've to go up to the counter, I've to order and I've collect when called. And when it's time to pay there is a "10% 15% 20%" option to tip on the card machine. That should be banned, I received no service other than the sandwich being made which I paid for. This is not the US, I don't to see tipping coming in here the way it is in America, basically an excuse not to pay people.

Viscount Aggro

I reached my "tipping point" a couple of years ago.

DataDude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608179#Comment_122608179

If your wages are not going up to match the price increases, you should speak to your employer/look for a new one. Most peoples are:

https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-elcq/earningsandlabourcostsq12024finalq22024preliminaryestimates/

Beta Ray Bill

@Viscount Aggro even €10 is excessive.

There's a certain Pizza place on Parliament street that's charging €6.50 for ONE slice of pizza.

I made a comment about the price and was basically told (In a nutshell) "I know it's dear, but I have overheads/quality of life expectations"

Like if you wanted a full Pizza you're talking €40. How are Mizzoni able to do it (Across the whole City) for €20/€24 and these lads want €40… It's B/S… f**k em, let them burn. Absolute RIP OFF!

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608485#Comment_122608485

The most amazing thing about that is that DiFontaine's continues to do business. As does Bambino, who's prices are equally insane.

6.50 for a slice of pizza. To any rational mind that is absolutely crazy.

People have to stop going along with this nonsense. It's the only way things will change.

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608179#Comment_122608179

You won't pay more than €12 for ANYTHING? So you expect a steak dinner to cost less than an hours minimum wage?

Viscount Aggro

NM.

Viscount Aggro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608852#Comment_122608852

Yeah thats right.

Rocket_GD

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608866#Comment_122608866

Well congratulations on the savings but do you not think that anything is worth more than €12?

Personally I'd rather enjoy life a bit more than save every cent I have.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608866#Comment_122608866

You can get a lovely pack of steaks in SuperValu for €7. Box of mushrooms €1. Bag of onions €1.70. Bag of spuds €5. A few drinks for €20.

Learn how to cook a steak. Learn how to sauté onions and mushrooms. Learn how to make proper home made chips in an air fryer*.

One of the cheapest, simplest and tastiest meals to make, and have a quiet night in with. With spuds and onions left over as well.

*For anyone that's interested, peel and chop the spuds into chips. Strain them to get the starchy stuff off them. Put them in a pot and pour in boiling water, then put on full heat. Wait a few minutes and and when the remaining starch starts to bubble up (just as it's really starting to boil, no more than 4/5 minutes), take them off, drain the water, dry them off. Thrown them into a bowl, use 2 tablespoons of cooking oil for every 300g of chips, cover the chips as well as you can in the oil. Stick them in the air fryer, shaking them once every two minutes until crispy brown. Savage.

Beta Ray Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608857#Comment_122608857

Dominos Pizza in Tallaght was at one point the most busy Dominos in the world and is still the most busy in the EU.

At the time it was considered the busiest in the world, Tallaght would have been considered a very lower working class area… €20 a shot, minimum.

Gimme a break….

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608485#Comment_122608485

Mizzonis 20 inch pizza costs 31 euro before delivery charges which matches what Bambinos reportedly also charge, 30-34 euro, for a full pizza which are also 20 inches, di fontaines are slightly more expensive at 33-36 euro.

Having sampled all 3 many times I prefer bambinos and am happy to pay a euro or 2 more for a whole pizza that's such good quality.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608966#Comment_122608966

Anyone paying full price for dominos is a fool, theres always codes available that give you anywhere from 10% to even 50% off

Theres even a great thread on here that people update to help each other out. Personally I wouldn't order dominos unless i had a 30% code at minimum.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056744169/dominos-pizza-codes-cant-use-with-meal-deals

Not made with hands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608857#Comment_122608857

Fcuk who exactly?

These businesses don't care about the likes of you who can't afford them.

They are obviously targeting a wealthier segment of the market.

Do McDonalds still do the eurosaver menu, €2 for a double cheeseburger?

That's your rung of the social ladder right there. Enjoy it.

Potential-Monke

There are places still doing €10 meal deals (albeit without a drink) Mon-Thu 12-4ish. So I understand why it's cheap during those hours as they're rhe quiet times and its to entice people in. But I also assume that this price still covers costs, so when it nearly doubles outside of those hours it just feels like greed. It's dynamic pricing.

Same with the day/evening menus, same menu just everything has a few extra euro thrown on because... does electricity cost more in the evening times for businesses? Because my wages as a waiter didn't increase during those hours. And chefs don't get shift allowence, same as waiters they work the hours they're scheduled to work. So the extra cost was to pay for...

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122614434#Comment_122614434

what a lot of restaurants are failing to understand I have said this in my capacity as an employed chef to managers;

When you increase the evening menu prices you need to either

1. Elevate the menu
2. Offer more

I’m actually delighted you’ve brought this up because it proved the point I’ve been making for nearly 2 years now; customers are not that flipping stupid!!

I’ve offered to train the kitchen how to plate dishes better and work with different gear to the lunch menu to basically make it worthwhile paying a bit extra. But what I see time and again is the lunch menu copy pasted and a few dishes knocked off. Prices go up but the dish doesn’t change. Not good enough.

Potential-Monke

Yeah, it always annoyed me. Most places just out tablecloths on and think that's enough. Food portions are the same ingredients, methods and sizes. Nothing else added other than a few euro and darker lighting. It put me right off eating out in a proper restaurant after 5pm tbh. That's usually when the likes of Donkey Ford's comes in handy with their chip and 5 battered sausages (normal sized ones) for a fiver or thereabouts!

Raichų

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122614509#Comment_122614509

If you see a restaurant or something at it would you send me the name so I never apply for a job there. 🤣

It’s really not okay and it’s a practise I can’t defend at all. then that said it’s been my experience there’s a LOT of places ran by people who just haven’t a clue. I recently worked for a hotel whose “head chef” had never worked in a kitchen previously. They were up to January this year, believe it or don’t, a flipping primary school teacher!!!

castletownman

The thing I notice with restaurants closing, the announcement always mentions 'due to rising costs'. Nothing at all at all about lack of footfall.

A restaurant near me has announced it was closing at the end of the month due to the aforementioned. I have eaten in it twice over the last couple of months, both on a Saturday afternoon, so theoretically the prime time of the week and you'd imagine the busiest period of the year for only eatery in a seaside town during summer. Food was good but it was a ghost town both times.

Can't always be just about the costs.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616227#Comment_122616227

They can't admit that nobody darkens their doors, easier to blame "costs".

I read an article last month of a cafe owner in a town in Tipperary who said she was the last cafe left in that particular town, and she might have to close and then there won't be a cafe in the town. She clearly didn't comprehend there is no local demand for what they are offering, or they'd be beating customers away with a wooden spoon.

Iguarantee

Hospitality businesses can whinge all they want; some are legitimately suffering and some are just delusional.

Cork.

Imperial Hotel (4-Star).

Saturday @ ~6pm.

1x Americano & 1x cappuccino (poorly made)

€8.30

They can absolutely go f*ck themselves if they think I’ll ever spend money there again.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616348#Comment_122616348

I know a couple of cafes in small towns that are wedged busy all week. They are busy because the food and service is top class. People go out of their way to go to such places.

Glenomra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616489#Comment_122616489

2 lattes in little Catherine Street limerick, Thursday morning , outside table 9.90. Extortionate pricing imo. In this instance I had no choice as I caught up with a family member, but that type of spending by me will be a rare occurrence in the future....and it has nothing to do with affordability...at that stage of life...rather the fe****g principle of it..

tayto lover

6 euro for a chicken salad sandwich in a garage yesterday ?? Losing the run of themselves.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616489#Comment_122616489

Hey, just pay up.

Don't you know that that hotel's energy bills have gone up? Don't you know that they have to pay their staff now? Don't you know that transport costs have gone up?

Come on, don't be so stingy. After all what's 8.30 for some quality coffee?

That new 25 reg BMW that the hotel owner wants isn't going to buy itself you know.

🤣

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122566279#Comment_122566279

Will never die out in spite of certain celebrity entrepreneurs burning themselves and creditors and getting sympathy from the media

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122577379#Comment_122577379

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122576506#Comment_122576506

Businesses opening under new name is a favourite pasttime here usually and mostly to avoid liabilities

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608852#Comment_122608852

To be kind I think the Viscount means if something/anything is priced at more than e12 he will choose another item on the menu.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122616968#Comment_122616968

Also,not paying staff for a full shift is common,as is not getting the short break entitlement and lunch break.All helps the Audi quatro purchase

Mr. teddywinkles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122608030#Comment_122608030

Well rental costs must be mental too.

Thats needs to be seriously looked at.

Landlords creaming it for sitting on their holes