Lamb, crab, steaks under threat as restaurants cope with spiralling costs

Gina Murphy, owner of Hugo's restaurant on Dublin's Merrion Row, said the last five to six weeks have seen 'massive, massive price increases' across the industry.

A major rise in prices could lead to racks of lamb, crab claws and fillet steaks vanishing from restaurant menus, according to a well-known restaurateur.

Gina Murphy, owner of Hugo's restaurant in Dublin's Merrion Row, said the last five to six weeks have seen “massive, massive price increases” across the industry.

Ms Murphy, a native of Ballina in Co Mayo, who grew up in the family-owned Bartra House Hotel, warned restaurants are doing everything in their power to keep prices down. 

However, she acknowledged that at some point the increases will have to be passed on to customers.

“We have had massive, massive price increases from all our suppliers over the last five or six weeks," she told Newstalk Breakfast.

"Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine has really impacted everything and the cost of goods has just shot up — I mean we have experienced price increases along the lines of about 30% on most of the goods we are taking in at the moment.

"A container of milk that I buy was €8.50 and it has now gone to €13.60 — this is all in the last five or six weeks. A box of unsalted butter I would buy used to be €51, we are now at €72.50. Another container of chicken pieces we use for a particular dish would have been €32, we are now at €43.20. So, these are all massive increases.” 

Ms Murphy said every restaurant in Ireland was "ducking and diving" to try and avoid bumping up prices on their menus.

“We’re trying to reconstruct our menus to try and keep the prices down, but when you have items like butter going up like that, I mean that’s a basic ingredient in so much of our cooking. You know, you would use butter in your sauces, in your baking, in your pastry section … but everything across the board is going up.

"I got an increase the other day of 14% on paper napkins. Just little things like that. My utility bills have gone through the roof.” 

Ms Murphy said the pricing pressures come on top of a devastating two years when the hospitality industry all but screeched to a halt due to the pandemic.

She warned it was vital that hospitality Vat remains at 9%.

“If we get an increase in Vat back to 13.5%, that has to be directly passed on to customers because that’s not a tax on us; that’s a tax on the consumer. So that’s one thing to help us keep prices down. 

"I mean we operate on very, very tight margins so a 1% or 2% difference in price can be the difference between breaking even and making a loss," she said, adding the last two years have been "horrendous" for the industry.