In London, restaurants are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis.
Restaurant managers in the capital are feeling the strain as staff shortages and reduced salaries put the pressure on.
Alexandro is a manager at Eggslut on Tottenham Court Road, and claimed that the restaurant was thriving before the pandemic but had to rethink its marketing strategy to stay relevant when Covid hit.
Moreover, as an American brand, Eggslut faced additional challenges as customers only knew of it through word of mouth.
Alexandro said: “It took us almost eight or nine months to recover from Covid and to see an increase in our sales while maintaining all our staff and ensuring premium quality services to our customers.”
Whilst he is hopeful that the cost of living crisis will not undo all the hard work the restaurant did during Covid to stay afloat, Alexandro acknowledged that they were still operating below expectations.
Elisa was hired to manage the Victoria branch of Danish bakery Ole & Steen almost a year ago and is enduring the daily stress and lack of staff as much as she can.
But the impact of inflation and the cost of living crisis has been nightmarish for the brand.
She said: “Some days there will be only two people, who are working long hours shifts with only 30 minutes breaks. Our direction is not listening to us, for them we are the problem if the situation is worsening and therefore we managers have to do our jobs and team members’ duties as they are laying off massively.”
Many stores had to reduce their workforce as the price of electricity and others utilities were increasing.
In addition, the brand was undergoing so much pressure and losses that managers are now overworking.
Elisa, like other managers is feeling at her lowest and remains without any help from the higher
management.
She is planning a strike with others members to defend herself and her rights.
Ole & Steen declined to comment on Elisa’s claims.
Even though inflation and cost of living are depriving some businesses from being more profitable, some
entrepreneurs may still be doing very well.
Funk is a supervisor at The Cheese Bar, a well known bar on Columbia Road that is run by a small team.
Their experience of cost of living and inflation is quite different from others.
She said: “Because we already have our niches and operate with a small team, we did not have it that hard. Instead we have noticed a significant increase in our sales and gained more profit since January this year.”
Whilst still affected by the situation, the customers have still been coming in and business has still been good.
