Crunch time

By Paul Fulford on July 9, 2008 2:33 PM | Permalink

I ate with a friend at a city centre restaurant last night and, within an hour, we were the only customers there.Passing by another often busy city centre restaurant at around 10pm, I saw that it was empty apart from the staff.

I've not noticed any significant fall-off in trade at other restaurants I've visited recently, but last night set me wondering whether the credit crunch had really started to bite. Or maybe it's just that the holiday season is kicking in.

Either way, these are hard time for the trade.

One chef told me his bill for ingredients has risen sharply. Likewise for drinks. But he daren't pass on the cost to customers for fear of driving them away.

There's no doubt that people are being a lot more careful with their spending. But there's a danger we'll talk ourselves into recession.

Only one answer - eat out and do your bit to boost the economy!