Hospitality, Community and Deliveroo
A story of loss
What a state we’re in. Addressing the current global situation is a longer post (and we’re not the people to write it), but in a two-minute read we can tell you a little about the challenges that the hospitality industry is facing right now, and some of the issues that we’re dealing with day to day.
Ours is a sector characterised by creativity and resilience. We wouldn’t do what we do if we didn’t enjoy innovating our way out of a crisis or sidestepping a bit of a situation.
We’ve weathered Brexit, Covid and crippling inflation. But everything is about to get harder. From April we’ll face a hike in employer National Insurance Contributions, meaning higher wage costs. We’ll also see a massive reduction in business rates relief. At the same time, the cost of living crisis has reduced customer spending power, so fewer people are splashing out on non-essentials.
Meanwhile, we haven’t put our prices up at the restaurant in as long as we can remember. We try hard to keep our menu affordable, even as our costs continue to rise.
And then there’s an additional challenge. The big guns at the summer music festivals where we’ve made second homes and the clever bosses at Deliveroo, whose business took off during the pandemic as the culture of ordering in took hold, have found ways to slice off large chunks of our takings by claiming a huge % of every order that we process. In signing up to such a situation, we lose roughly a third on every transaction (a further 20% goes to HMRC).
We’ve dropped those festivals that are no longer viable for us, but what to do about Deliveroo? The loss is twofold: it’s financial, but it’s also human. We’re missing those customers who used to prop up the counter with a Lucky Buddha Beer while they waited for their parcels of joy. Community has always been the beating heart of our operation, and if we’re sending food out and not seeing our people, that’s loss of a different kind, just as keenly felt.
Last week one quarter of all the orders we took went through Deliveroo. We understand that when it’s cold and dark people don’t want to leave the house, but our space surely feels sadder for it.
We’d love to know your thoughts as we consider our options. Please DM us or hit us up in the comments.
Meanwhile, we’re open all the usual hours this week, as follows:
Weds - Fri: 5-9.30pm (dinner only)
Saturday: 12-3 / 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3 / 5-9pm
This week's menu is up on the website - check it. Come by for take-away, dine-in or (if you insist!) you can order home delivery through Deliveroo.
Our freezers are also packed with all the nutritious meals you don’t have time to make yourselves - come have a forage.
Finally, if you’re in the market for TT discounts and freebies just subscribe to our weekly Substack to receive offers direct to your inbox.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Julie and Yeshi
Opening hours this week:
Weds - Fri: 5-9.30pm
Saturday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9.30pm
Sunday: 12-3pm 🥢 5-9pm
☏ 01865 499318
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Ditch Deliveroo. It’s a risk, but I think it’s a worthwhile one. Here’s my logic:
- Deliveroo is a broken business model. It only appears to work because they exploit people and the parent company is propped up by billionaire investors that are gambling the company will find a way to monetise its vast global customer info database. Do you really want to be a part of that system? I certainly don’t. If people had to pay what it actually costs to use Deliveroo and other similar services, they wouldn’t use them. End. Of.
- If you look at the businesses that survived revolutions in their industries and became the last hold outs of the way things used to be, they tend to have lots in common: they were always one of the best in the business, producing top quality product with care and attention. They had a loyal customer base that carried them through the lean times and then, when all the competition had gone under, they were the last ones standing and were able to trade on that. I think you have a brand that suits that style. In your place, I’d lean into community and face-to-face interaction, become even more known for it, make it your USP. I bet the beer drinkers miss you too. I’m beginning to see the signs the pendulum might be swinging back and people are starting to notice what they’re missing. I hope so, I really hope so!
- It sounds like it’s actually losing you money. Adding volume to a loss-making transaction is a way to lose money faster. I’d revaluate what ways of selling have the best margin and are most suited to your personalities and double down on those instead.
Ditching the delivery services might not work, it’s a tough tough market at the best of times, but honestly, if you can’t make it without Deliveroo, Deliveroo isn’t going to be what saves you.
Good luck! I live in Scotland so mail order sauce, buying the recipe book, and reading your lovely emails is the closest I can get to momo, but I’m wishing you all the meta in the world 🙏