Perth restaurant scene in crisis
Perth restaurants are shutting down.
Low revenues, minuscule margins, customer behaviour and bloated labour costs have been cited as some of the factors putting the out of business.
Some of the most profile places have closed their doors.
Restaurant Amuse has closed and Fuyu is closing next week on April 13.
“I haven’t taken a pay cheque in three years,” Fuyu owner and award-winning chef David Coomer told the West Australian.
“We’ve just been working to pay the bills.”
“There’s just no money in the gig. It’s not worth doing.
“The stress of the past few years has been intolerable. It’s taken the joy out of the business.
“You do an 80-hour week and look at your takings and it’s just dollars and cents.”
Coomer blamed it on “WA’s boom-and-bust cycle”.
“We had an influx of people here in the boom,” he said. “Now that’s been reversed, with more people leaving the State than arriving. Less people, more dining chairs and less discretionary spending have had a devastating impact.”
Another is the Stix Bar and Restaurant in Burswood which closed on Friday night.
Owner Kate Ayris says she’s heading off to Italy for a month to think about her future.
“Perth is different to Melbourne and Sydney,” Ayris told the West Australian,
“It’s harder to get people out in Perth and when they do, it’s always about what’s cool at the moment.
“I think restaurants are doing breakfasts and brunches these days because it’s cheaper.”
All this coincides with an SV Partners’ March 2017 Commercial Outlook Report which found that “accommodation and food services is Australia’s most at-risk industry”.
According to SV, nearly 7 per cent of the nation’s accommodation and food services businesses are at high risk of insolvency, compared to a national, all-business high-risk rating of 2.5 per cent.
SV attributes this to weak consumer demand and low wages growth driving poor cash flow in a sector that relies on discretionary expenditure.
by Leon Gettler, April 3rd 2017
