An independent restaurant owner in North Wales discusses his increasingly ‘bonkers’ energy prices

Si Toft is the chef-owner of the highly regarded Dining Room in Abersoch, North Wales. He’s appeared in these pages before, then talking about rising food prices, but today, alongside staffing pressures, it is energy costs that are hitting the hospitality industry hardest. CODE caught up with Si to discuss the challenges he faces – challenges replicated in towns and cities everywhere.

My energy prices are bonkers: they’ve gone up 400 per cent. My rates are small compared to a lot of businesses, but where it’s relevant, is that I’m paying for my mortgage, for my kids off this one business. We’re a tiny independent and it’s us who’re getting hit hardest.

We’re the ones that’ll close. We make our money over the summer – this year, every last penny will go towards getting us through the winter. That’s normal to an extent, but not to this degree.

We usually stay open through the winter because we have to look after our staff – they help us out over the summer and it’s a team effort. We often run at a loss in winter, but it’s manageable. We work on it together. This year, I do think we’ll get through it as a business, and we’ll sort something out, but looking at these energy bills, it’s going to be a nightmare, and some period of closure is probably inevitable. 

It might just be that I go and work in another kitchen at a bigger place and then reopen my own restaurant in February or March. I think it’s a bit mad I have to do that, but I’ll do whatever I can to keep things going. 

I’m thankful I don’t have the same responsibilities some restaurant owners do – people don’t rely on my business to pay their rent or mortgage. Our staff are all casual. We have three nurses and a teacher on the floor. They work for me to pay for petrol and parking, really. It shows how messed up things are overall but at least they can get through the winter if I do have to close. 

The steps taken by ministers so far won’t help. These energy costs are crippling for businesses, and for consumers. People are seeing dining out as more of a luxury, and we can all understand that, but there are measures that could be taken to relieve the situation and keep the economy running more normally. Something needs to come through now. This matters. The Government shouldn’t be waiting to gauge public opinion just to act.

As told to Josh Barrie