Coffee shops are not the real victims, restaurants are and this is why.

For a typical $100 spend here is the industry standard breakdown. $30 cost of goods, $35 wages (normal rates) $10 GST (close enough) which leaves $25 to pay the bills and make a profit.

Now if you take Sundays, the food cost and GST are the same, but the wages are now $70, leaving a loss of $10 before paying the bills and making a profit. This is why many are closed on Sundays and PH's.

Now pubs and clubs are no so badly effected, for two main reasons, one being pokies, the other being no table service. Qualities restaurants don't expect you to wait for the buzzer and collect your own meal, and they most certainly don't have pokies.

Butch, if you can afford to eat 5 star you can afford to pay. As Enzo somebody once said "If you have to ask the price you can't afford it!" Lets get over it, just put your lamb cutlets up to $40/kg and we'll all be happy.

The restaurants that I deal with are fine and happy. They buy my rabbit with a shelf life of seven years at 10$ ,kg and sell for 100$, kg they do not complain.
You need to sort the players out between the innovative,s and the laggers .

Have you worked in a restaurant, retch? Recently?

No Toni, not for a while, however my brother owns a very sucesful one and i know quite a bit about them.

He says on a Sunday he would be better off closing and standing out the front handing out $5 notes to everyone. He is an industry leader.

So what is your involvement Toni? Where is your expertize in the industry and, do you agree or disagree with my figures. If you don't, then please advise your thoughts?

Doog, restaurants don't sell whole rabbits, you rabbit. They also put more on a plate than just a peice of rabbit.

When it comes to running costs for any business, as well as ingredients and overheads, restaurants include their wages bill.

The overall wages bill for a business that operates on weekends should already include in-built penalty rates and those costs are already included in the cost of their meals Monday to Friday.

It's the same for every business that operates on weekends. Why should restaurants (and coffee shops) get special consideration?

In other words, penalty rates are already covered in running costs and any reduction is no more than a easy grab for more profit in a competitive environment.

If they still "can't afford to be open" on a weekend (probably their busiest time) then perhaps they shouldn't be in business at all.

No business has a "divine right" to be successful.

So Rache, how do you explain restaurants, some very good ones, being closed on Sundays. Remembering they charge $15 for a bowl of soup, while the local cafe charges say $6.50?

Butch, what about rent? A major cost for most retailers, how does 5 or 6 days trading compare to 7 day. Trading 12 hours a day compare to standard 8? How does that fit into your formula?

Paul. Most leases today have what are referred to as 'core trading hours' and they are usually 8am till 5pm Mon to Sat and 8 till 9 Thurs. Most small businesses struggle on Thursdays due to the mandetory extended hours.

Centres do this so they can charge additional rent/outgoings so if one chooses to trade outside these hours, they are charged additional fees so a 12 our day costs extra, as do most Sundays although some centres are now incorporating Sundays into a normal week. Of cause centre managements are not available outside your regular 9-5 Mon to Fri.

Where is Toni? He asked me a question, i replied, and asked him one, but he is nowhere to be seen. Nothing unusual on this forum i might add.

rechtub,

Maybe some restaurants are closed on Sunday because (as you say) "they charge $15 for a bowl of soup, while the local cafe charges say $6.50".

Ask their customers.
They don't want to buy or can't afford to buy.
It's always been that way and always will.

Both businesses were subject to the same penalty rates.

rache, you just simply dont get it do you.

A coffee costs about .60 cents to make or 12%, and the wage component is fairly low whereas most restaurant meals cost around 30% nd the wage componant is much higher due to preparation, cooking and wait staff costs. Around 35% on normal rates.

So you can double the wages of a coffee shop and still make a living, but doubling the wages of a restaurant results in a loss to the owner, to the tune of about $10 in every $100 takings for the day. This is why many are now closed on Sundays.

I DO get what you're trying to say but still I dispute the wages component of a restaurant is higher than the ingredients they use and their overheads. That's where the real cost comes in. The food preparation industry is an expensive one to operate and not just because of wages.

Anyway, I also would have thought weekends would be the busiest time for restaurants while weekdays are busier for coffee shops.
Restaurants also tend to open later and close later already so working hours should not be an issue. Personally I've never seen a restaurant open 9am to 5pm or a coffee shop still open at 10pm.

Because of those odd working hours I would also be surprised to see most restaurant staff being paid on an award or EA basis.

Maybe we should use the US model for hospitality staff - pay them $7 per hour and let them beg for tips to make up the rest?

The greatest economic growth in Australia's history came after WW2 when incoming immigrants and population growth required large scale infrastructure and housing construction.

The workforce was then heavily unionised and people were paid fairly and paid well and the money they earned was then spent entirely back into the local economy.

Forced austerity always ends in economic decline - short term profit but long term losses.

Rache, coffee shops typically buy just about everything in pre made, including the likes of their range of tosties. Restaurants on the other hand make most of which they sell, although they are tending to buy in the likes of sauces and deserts, simply due to wage costs.

As for the Us system (tips) some of these staff make a very good living simply because they are so good at their job. I think you will find the min wage has increased as well.

My wife went to a bar in the US a while ago and could not believe the service.

The customers would place their money on the bar, $300 was the norm, and the women at the bar would pour their first round of say 5 drinks. These very experienced women would never ask what they were drinking again unless there was a change, and the got it right every time. What ever money was left at the end of the night, they kept. What a wonderful system. Whereas back here most don't even know what goes into a cocktail, or what the days specials are, and given they get paid the same as top staff, the top staff usually under perform, and who can blame them.

Here, people get paid for how long it takes to do something, rather than what they can achieve and if you dare sack them, you are in for a hell of a ride. To the point where many bosses just fall over and keep the useless staff.

What AU needs is stimulation not cuts and downtrodden workers. The less you earn the less you buy. There is nothing new in that.

It's a ferret chasing a rabbit down a burrow, but never blocked the other end.