Restaurantbesitzer: Für je 100 € Umsatz muss ich 93 € ausgeben
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/restaurant-owner-hospitality-vat-cut-budget-costs-pressures-opinion-6847000-Oct2025/
Von SpottedAlpaca
Restaurantbesitzer: Für je 100 € Umsatz muss ich 93 € ausgeben
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/restaurant-owner-hospitality-vat-cut-budget-costs-pressures-opinion-6847000-Oct2025/
Von SpottedAlpaca
42 Kommentare
Fry me a river.
And 7% would be a comfortable margin in hospitality
Step 1:complain
Step 2:complain
Step 3:profit!
So they’re making a 7% profit. What’s the issue?
Awh the poor craythur
Yes that’s how a business that sells things works.
7% profit after everything is paid is decent. He’s prob paying himself too
And here was me thinking starting a business meant you could generate money from thin air
Baffled that these people don’t understand how razor thin restaurants and hospitality is. Famous chefs shut down their restaurants because they are not sustainable.
Majority of the battle to keeping these businesses going is excellent management and sourcing skills – all this hospitality sector does is moan constantly.
This is so sad 😢 Upvote if you cry evertim
So much to unpack here, from his „trust me bro“ figures to his shade towards a customer not ordering drinks. If you want to come into the public sphere and cry about your profits then show us your books. Lets see what you really take home. My wages are fully public & regularly scrutinised in the media during pay talks, but everytime its a private industry we never get to see what these folks take home, yet they do more moaning than most.
„I was never meant to be here. Having worked in hotels all my life, owning my own business was never part of the plan – but life had other ideas, and here I am.“
Oh my god the poor guy, someone forced him to own a restaurant. Should we call the gardai?
Might go against popular opinion here, but 7% is way too low of a profit margin for a low turnover business that you need people to independently choose your business over others to book turnover…€1m sales gets you €70k profit for a 70hr week and all the risk associated with carrying debt…fuck that…
He does realise that’s a normal profit margin for a business right?
His problem is that his 7% is 7% of not a lot. He needs to figure out how to create a better turnover rather than increase the profit, this requires skill in business, a skill that if you don’t have it, you’ll need to bring it in from elsewhere or eventually you’ll sink your business unfortunately
Why do business owners bitch and whine and begrudge having to spend money lol, you shouldn’t be expecting it to be free? Cope.
If he’s getting a wage out of it then I don’t see the problem. Too many people start hospitality businesses thinking they’ll be swimming in it or that they can just open a restaurant, hire a bunch of staff to run it and earn yourself passive income. I’ve worked in hospitality for years and want to open my own cafe that will work at myself because it’s what I enjoy doing. The only reason to open a hospitality business is because you enjoy doing it. The only people I know who made really good money doing it were cunts that were awful to work for.
That’s a normal profit margin in business.
A 7% margin is fucking outstanding. What are they moaning about
So you’re saying he could pay higher wages?
Some people seem to think that businesses get stuff for free and make up the price to suit themselves.
Single digit margins are about what you expect in the hospitality sector. I’ve owned and also run restaurants for a larger hospitality group and the first year we hit double digit margins it was a pretty big deal.
But all of that is beside the point. What matters most is what your top line is – there’s no point in having great margins on low sales and you’re better off having 7.5% net on a large turnover.
There’s a relatively low barrier of entry for some cafes, coffee shops and simply put sometimes the market has too many choices and some will not survive.
I hate to see people going out of business, it’s such a risk that these operators take but also it’s a vote of confidence in the economy and local towns – and some of them just get wiped out.
My guess is the owner in the article was trying to relay to the general public that he’s not making as much as some people think he may be.
But again, it depends on what his top line looks like.
That 93 includes all expenses and salaries. That’s not terrible.
I’ve worked in bars in England.
I came to Killarney and the and the manager told me his GDP was very bad and that it was below 80%
I had to laugh because in the UK it’s normally between 65% and 75%. I told him that he could actually afford to reduce his prices and that if it’s normal to have a GDP above 80%, its hard for me to defend Irish bar prices
I struggle to think of a more entitled group of people than restaurant owners. Going into that line of work is a choice. You want an easier life and a steady income? Go be someone else’s employee.
Also hospitality is such a saturated market that it’s kind of an objectively insane decision to be like: you know what Dublin really needs? Another coffee shop/pub/italian restaurant.
Get out of the business then. Is there a bigger pack of whingers than restaurant owners?
With a respectable profit margin like that, the solution is get more customers.
The usual (better) argument from the hospitality industry is that lower costs to them can mean lower prices for consumers and thus more customers. Win-win they say. This guy, however, says the quiet part out loud, which is that lower costs to him would not be passed on to the customer, just added to his profits.
I get 7% profits and if I fail I don’t have to pay back the bank (assuming they were clever and set up an LLC).
“Not even a paid beverage”
That’s a fucking disgrace, that customer should be banned from the establishment
A case of wanting to eat your cake and have it too. Wants large profit margins without having to spend money. Wants customers to spend and not complain about prices, even ridicules a customer for using a voucher to pay (idk about you, but usually vouchers are only gotten after spending a bit at a business to get that voucher, assuming it’s that kind of voucher where get a free meal). Reeks of entitlement.
So many questions…
Trying to say you were forced into opening a restaurant is slightly bizarre. I don’t know many people who can sink a sizeable amount of capital into that…nevermind being forced.
7.5% margin in any business after taxation is healthy.
He mentions nothing about a company dividend. I’d wager he takes one once a year or a member of his family does who also happens to be a director.
On that subject, is his partner a director and getting benefits?
He mentions nothing about funnelling his family costs through the business and claiming VAT back. I’ll bet he does it. Again, it is a common practice.
Then, to have a go at a customer who’s using a voucher that you redeemed already for cash and criticise them for not buying alcohol is just modern snobbery.
He comes off as a prize pratt.
Resturant industry took pretty much all the money for tax breaks in last week’s budget. Instead of saying thank you they immediately complained about Minimum Wage and Pensions and now are saying their margins are too small. I presume this is all an effort to take more from the taxpayer next year.
Whack their VAT back up and tell them to learn to read the room.
This an odd way to outline margins.
That margin can only be accurate at a very specific turnover.
Turnover above that number would be more profitable, turnover below that number would be less profitable.
I’ve rarely read such a tone deaf, self aggrandising, mealy mouthed, self mythologising, profoundly self centred nonsensical load of cobblers. I’m sorry someone inflicted a restaurant on you- how dare they. I won’t go there and please don’t ever sing to me. You buffoon.
“I can’t run my business sustainably, please pity me”
Honestly, this shite of VAT cuts sickens me. In other industry’s if you can’t operate in a breakeven or profitable way that means your business is flawed and you go under, that’s how it works.
But these lot get a government mandated tax cut that will not be passed on to staff or customers due to good lobbying and more than likely handshake deals we’ll never hear about.
Surely a business owner would expect to put in a lot more hours than a normal worker.
The 93 includes employee wages right ?
The restaurant sector has itself to blame. We are not going to get sweet fuck all from this deal. There was a time when people grumbled about all the farm subsidies and breaks. At least we we were getting some return on that. We can dig our hospitality sector and that extra cash is going to be helping out the top dogs and to hell with everyone else.
People have to do the math on this. If they sell €10,000, the business nets €700, and then pays tax.
If they sell €100,000, they make €7,000.
It’s not a lot of profit.
What isn’t in the article is whether the wages include his own. If it does, then OK, you’ve got a salary plus some upside. If not, you have to do A LOT of business to make a living.
What does he want?? Ffs
If a business isn’t sustainable then it isn’t sustainable. The tax payer should not be subventing bad businesses. And if the tax payer going to support bad restaurants why shouldnt it also support shoe shops, sports shops, mechanic shops and every other type of service. This is insane economics and only creates a false economy and that won’t end well.
>I’m proud of my chefs, who are free to express their creativity and cook honest, beautiful food
I was working in Wexford last year and felt like some seafood. I saw The Lobster Pot on Google and drove about 20 minutes to get there. I haven’t had lobster for about 20 years, but as it was in the name of this place I thought I’d splash out. On the menu I think it said something like „lobster tail“ or something similar.
When the food arrived there were 3 or 4 tails slightly bigger than langoustines. I mentioned to the waiter that they were smaller than I expected, and he said „yes, they’re Alaskan lobster“.
Maybe I’m being naive, but surely there’s something wrong if you’re serving Alaskan lobster in Ireland. To call yourself the Lobster Pot and not serve local lobster is a bit of a piss take.
Lots of frustrating bits about this article
„SINCE THE BUDGET, there have been many hateful and ill-informed comments over regarding the reduction in VAT for hospitality.“
My understanding is the hospitality industry doesn’t understand how Vat works. They seem to think it’s a cost they pay. It’s a warped way of looking at it. It’s a cost the public pay for what is essentially a luxury.
„one-star review from a guest who felt we were overpriced and a “rip-off.” Ironically, the guest paid with a voucher, ordered two fish and chips, two desserts to take away, and two glasses of water – not even a paid beverage.“
How is it ironic that they paid with a voucher? He doesn’t mean it can’t be a rip off. If anything it comes off as snobbery and the owner seems to think he can just bank the voucher without actually providing a service.
„I work 70 hours a week, whether it’s on the restaurant floor, from my sitting room, or in the car – managing administration, marketing, emails, and everything else that keeps the doors open.“
This is a choice many owners make and is a fact of life of owning your own business. If he wanted to he could hire a manager.
„I’ve paid myself minimum wage per week – not because I’m saving, but because that’s all the business can realistically afford.“
This is usually an indicator that the business isn’t sustainable and he needs to increase revenue.
„Let me make it simple: For every €100 in sales, I pay out €93 to suppliers, staff, the council, and the government.“
Yes you need to pay wages, they’re not working for free, yes you need to pay rates and yes you pay tax on profits. You don’t pay vat. You need to work it out Sales ExVat.
„Here’s the breakdown:
40% – Cost of food and beverages
42% – Wages
5% – Utilities
6% – Overheads, insurance, rates, repairs, card commissions“
60% gross margin is decent but needs to get hold of his expenses.
Ye are getting yere rewards now .