00:00Recent headlines show a number of large takeaway businesses are suffering
00:04with reduced numbers of orders, lower revenue, stifled growth plans and even outlet closures.
00:09I wanted to find out how smaller businesses are doing in this environment.
00:12So I spoke to Andrew Crook, President of the National Federation of Fish Fryers,
00:16to see what the story is for all of our local takeaways.
00:19I think we're seeing less footfall. Obviously prices have increased. I mean we're still great
00:24value, fish and chips, but it has gone up. We've seen increase in all our costs so obviously
00:29some of that's been passed on to the customer. So we are seeing people come in a little less
00:33frequently. We've got a lot more competition now. You've got garage forecourts that all do food and
00:38supermarkets that they have hot food ready or even just the ready meals. Very easy to cook and very
00:44quick to cook isn't it? And they can be cheaper, there's no VAT on those. So yeah, some lunch times
00:50are very busy. There's no pattern. So we can have a random busy Tuesday and then all of a sudden
00:56the next day we don't cover the cost of the wages. Companies are having to deal with rising wages and
01:02higher employer national insurance contributions. When it comes to your industry specifically,
01:07how significant are these sort of costs for the operators? Yeah, the smaller businesses were
01:12somewhat protected. Although I did try and open my original shop, which I rented out for 20 years,
01:17I reopened in September last year and I closed it at Christmas and that was partly because of
01:21national insurance because I was going to have too many staff that would be in the pot and it
01:26just wouldn't be viable. My treasurer talking to her about the effect of it, it cost her business,
01:31they've got quite a sizeable fish and chip business, it's one of the biggest in the country,
01:35it costs half a million pounds a year extra with the increase in wages and national insurance.
01:40So that's a shop refit that they're not doing. So that's workmen that aren't going to be
01:43employed, that's equipment that's not going to be bought. In terms of both the government and
01:47local authorities, let's say, however much they might be able to do,
01:51what things do you think would be good to see and what would you like to see?
01:55I think government seems to think that maybe business rate reform is going to be the panacea
02:00that will solve all the problems for hospitality. It only affects about 50% of my members. Smaller
02:05businesses have got small business rate relief, including my own business, so business rates don't
02:10really factor. The one thing that government can look at, which a lot of other European countries have done,
02:15is reducing the rate of VAT for hospitality. We're here to do the work. We are working people,
02:20we're used to rolling our sleeves up, and we just need that help from government. We need a brave
02:24chancellor to reduce VAT for hospitality, and that will kickstart this country.
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