Customers key to winter survival says Cambridgeshire restaurant owner
But business confidence amongst hospitality firms remains low
A restaurant owner in Cambridgeshire believes the goodwill of customers will help venues pull through this winter.
Figures from the Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) Small Business Index found business confidence amongst smaller firms rose in the third quarter of this year, but remains below zero points for the sixth quarter in a row.
For the third quarter of 2023, the FSB saw the lowest level of confidence in hospitality businesses at -31.1 points for accommodation and food service activities.
Steve Haslam runs several restaurants and pubs including in Ely:
"There's nowhere for hospitality to go at the moment other than to sure up their own defences," he said.
"We're trying to attack the market in terms of pivoting between the summer and winter in a stronger way in order to boost sales.
"We're still in the midst of a cost of living crisis, interest rates seem to have stabilised and there's pressure on both sides of the coin because hospitality relies on consumer goodwill and confidence."
What else did the Small Business Index find?
For this year, the Index recovered from -14.2 points in quarter two to -8.0 points in quarter three.
However, the FSB's measure was last in positive figures in quarter one of 2022 which it says is down to rising inflation and the energy crisis.
But the Index showed 2 in 5 small firms saw revenues fall over quarter three, while 1 in 3 three saw an increase.
"We're under difficult circumstances"
"I'm the eternal optimist," Steve added.
"We're having to trade through a difficult period which probably has more pressure than what Covid did, so that will mirror how people are feeling in terms of confidence.
"We are under a difficult set of circumstances at the moment, but if you look forward 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, you can see that can improve so we believe energy costs and inflation will come down."