Amid a flurry of Dublin restaurant closures in recent months, restaurateurs want people to know they tried to warn you.
On Wednesday, Dublin’s Ukiyo bar and restaurant became the latest landmark in the city to close its doors for good.
In a message to customers, the bar’s owners said that after 20 years of serving the people of Dublin, its profit margins have become “so meagre that there is no future for us and so many more of our fellow businesses”.
“Three more of our neighbours closed last week; we are all within 50 metres of each other, all respected, long established and highly regarded on one of Dublin’s busiest thoroughfares.
“If this is not direct evidence of a systemic decline in our industry and in our immediate urban fabric then I don’t know what is.”
Ukiyo co-owner Duncan Maguire told The Anton Savage Show restaurant owners have been warning people about high running costs for a long time.
“We got great support during COVID, [but] the kind of dining landscape has changed in the interim,” he said.
“Then we've had kind of arbitrary increases in VAT, which has really pushed us over the edge.
“There's a lot of public opinion that restaurants overcharge – but the reality is that restaurants are on a very low margin.
“Even in good times, they're really looking at a 6%, 7%, 8% margin - and that's mostly the best you'll get out of a restaurant.”
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Mr Maguire said the increase in VAT took an extra €1,000 a week in payments from Ukiyo.
“We had tried everything to reduce our costs but then there was just a buildup of payments,” Mr Maguire said.
“It was death by a thousand cuts at the end.
“The decline happens slowly at first, and then at the very end, it happens all of a sudden.
“I’m devastated – I mean it’s really raw and as I said it’s our family business and we put our heart and soul into it.”
He also noted that following COVID, people aren’t dining like they once were.
“Nobody's in the office on a Thursday or Friday,” he said. “If you're missing the lunch trade on a Thursday and Friday, then you're missing the post-work drinks on Thursday and Friday evenings.”
Ireland in a 'cycle' of closures
Restaurant Association of Ireland CEO Adrian Cummins said Dublin is in a “cycle of closures”.
“We’ve seen two restaurants a day close,” he said. “When I look back to the height of the recession in 2012, we only had one restaurant a day closing at the time.
“There's something wrong in the system... the model is broken and that’s down to Government policies since last September.”
Some 570 restaurants in Ireland closed between last September and July, according to the Restaurant Association of Ireland.
Popular closures recently include Brasserie 66 in Dublin 2 and Token in Smithfield.
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