The Seven Day Warning

If you’re reading this in your back office surrounded by spreadsheets and empty espresso cups, I feel you. We are exactly seven days away from April 1st, and this year, the jokes aren’t funny.

Next Tuesday, the National Living Wage and pension contributions hike up, and the business rates “good times” are finally over. But there’s more with two new ingredients in the mix that seem to show where our industry is heading – and who is currently winning.

Firstly, the competition is getting communal. New data shows that food halls are seeing explosive growth, with footprints set to double by the end of the year.

Why? It looks like they’ve mastered the third space vibe I’ve been banging on about this past year. Food halls can offer the variety customers crave with a lower overhead for the individual trader. If you’re a solo brick-and-mortar site, you aren’t just competing with the pub next door anymore; you’re competing with a 20-vendor ecosystem under one roof.

And then there’s the proposed tourist levy, which some councils are eyeing up as a bed tax or a visitor fee to plug their own budget holes.

It’s a dangerous game. We already know that UK pubs provide £160m in social value to their local communities; taxing the people who come to experience that value is like charging someone to enter a library. It’s a short-term cash grab that risks long-term hospitality heart failure.

Here’s my last-minute April survival kit:

• Get the ‘food hall’ feeling: You don’t actually need 20 vendors, you just need the atmosphere of a food hall – fast service, communal seating options and a browseable digital menu.
• Fight the levy with value: If your local council is pushing a visitor tax, use your social value data to push back. Remind them that your venue is the reason tourists come to the area in the first place.
• Do an efficiency audit: Can you swap a labour-intensive prep dish for something just as good but faster? If it saves your chef an hour a day, that’s your April wage hike paid for.

The April showers are coming – make sure your umbrella is primed and ready for action.

This content is contributed by a guest author. Startups.co.uk / MVF does not endorse or take responsibility for any views, advice, analysis or claims made within this post.