An energy crisis, strikes and political uncertainty: Adam Hyman on running a business in 2022

We business owners have a dirty little secret: we’re ‘control freaks’. It’s as good a title as any, if a little blunt. Still, anyone who owns one will agree. Making vital decisions and managing people is part of what running a business entails.  

As you grow a business, and grow as a person, you realise you have to relinquish some control. No matter how big or small, it is never an easy ride. It’s not a 9 to 5 by any means – especially in hospitality – but we all have our reasons for doing it, and when you speak to most entrepreneurs, they love what they do. It’s always more than just a job. You have your good days; you have your bad days. No one is the same and you often have those sleepless nights worrying about a flurry of different things, be it finances, a tricky client or an issue that needs solving. But that’s half the fun. It would be boring if it was plain sailing and everyone would do it. 

Yet over the past couple of years, there’s been a big change in how we’ve had to run our businesses. Up until the pandemic, 99 per cent of the time success was in our hands. We created our own destiny. We made mistakes, we learned.  

Of course, there’s always been a need to adapt and evolve. But when COVID struck in early 2020, we completely lost control. It was strange. In a matter of days, we were in a position many of us would have thought incomprehensible a few weeks before. Many of our businesses were brought to an abrupt halt through no fault of our own. 

Two years on and we were starting to recover. There was relative normality. Things had changed, business models had been tweaked, but we were back in the position of being able to plan how we would move forward after a frustrating 24 months.  

Today we find ourselves in a similar position to COVID times. Talking to restaurateurs and small business owners over the past couple of weeks, there has been a common theme: do we have the energy and the determination for another battle? 

There again seems to be another perfect storm of external factors that are making everything incredibly difficult.  

Earlier this week the Government announced that it would not be looking into allowing a hospitality work visa scheme. Back to the drawing board on that one; ultimately, we have a severely diminished workforce, largely thanks to Brexit, and there appears to be no obvious way out.  

Next, widespread train and Tube strikes. Transport staff need to be paid properly and if a strike is their mechanism to try and achieve this, then I wish them the best. But the economic damage it does is shocking. A well-known central London restaurant group told me that a transport strike has a six-figure impact on the company. The associated knock-on effects are palpable. 

Finally, the energy crisis. This needs no explanation. It’s going to be fatal for many entrepreneurs – including countless in hospitality – unless the Government delivers a comprehensive plan pronto. 

This is not an article asking for sympathy. It’s not meant to be a moan either. We’re all in the same boat. This is a more of a warning to our government and our financial institutions. The UK is made up of brilliant, creative, hard-working small businesses that are the heart and soul of our high streets up and down the country. Many are run by people who have personal loans, personal guarantees on their homes, and have put a lot on the line to get going. For some it’s already got to the stage where enough is enough and they’ve downed tools. For others, there’s a real sense of desperation and defeatism in the air. How much more fuel is there left in the tank before a daily fight to keep your business alive becomes too much? 

I don’t know the answer. I just hope our government, financial institutions, and energy companies act before we have to find out. 

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