"Waiter, there's a fly in my soup"
"Beep Beep, Clunk Clunk, Exterminate Exterminate"

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The restaurant industry is encouraging members to automate and outsource as much as possible to save money in the face of “unsustainable” labour costs.

Restaurant and Catering Australia will on Monday release the results of a survey showing wages and staff on-costs, including payroll tax and training, account for about 45 per cent of business expenses for members.

“We’re saying outsource everything you possibly can,” RCA chief executive John Hart said. “Whether that’s taking reservations, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the restaurant, laundry.

“We’re also trying to get them to invest in the cost of value-added food product as opposed to spending money on labour. So if they can buy in pre-prepared things that cost them less in kitchen labour then we’re trying to convince them to do that as well.”



Mr Hart acknowledged that automating processes and outsourcing tasks were job killers, but insisted operators no longer had any choice.

The 2014 Industry Benchmarking Report, based on the 2012-13 financial results of 340 members, found 12.9 per cent of respondents close on both Sundays and public holidays.

The vast majority said they closed at these times due to the cost of penalty rates on these days. The association is campaigning for the removal of penalty rates for casuals on weekends.

The association, which represents 35,000 restaurants, cafes and catering businesses across Australia, celebrated a small victory in May, when a full bench of the Fair Work Commission reduced penalty rates by 25 per cent on Sundays for casual employees.

“The cafe, restaurant and takeaway food sector is the single largest em­ployer across all tourism-related sectors, employing 517,100 Australians,” Mr Hart said. “The results of the survey prove the impact of wage pressures will mean less job opportunities for Australians across the country.

“For a sector dominated by small business, labour costs are ­unsustain­able and are likely to result in restaurant doors closing or staff hours being reduced.”

bogarde73 wrote on Aug 11^th, 2014 at 3:25pm:



costs in the hospitality business have gone through the roof no doubt about that.. and as for eating out on the weekend how can you afford too.

the clubs and pubs dont do a bad feed these days...and the costs are ok because of the pokies.. and the meal usually covers the plate..

its a tough business  even sandwiches are costing more and more..... to eat out was the best part of going out.. now its shall we eat first..pretty sad.