The chief executive of BrewDog has claimed that soaring energy costs mean that a pint of its Punk IPA would actually cost £27.50 if the company raised prices in line its bills.
Taking the brewery's bar in York as an example, James Watt also complained that a burger and fries should cost £48.75, if prices were to match inflation.
In a LinkedIn post, he warned that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will make the situation worse when he rows back support for business energy bills from April.
"We’re only in the foothills of a crisis which poses a far bigger threat to companies than Covid-19," Watt wrote. "The sad reality is that there are many great businesses that simply will not survive 2023."
While he stated that this climate is "incredibly challenging for BrewDog", the Ellon-based brewery has the scale and backing to survive.
"The government threw the kitchen sink at Covid, but unless it acts quickly, tens of thousands of businesses vital to employment and our economy will wither and die," Watt argued.
"People inside government know this, not all of them are career politicians who’ve never done a day’s work in the ‘real world’ of business.
"This government has no plan, no ambition, people talk about a lack of industrial strategy, but it’s far worse than that; there is no strategy full stop."
The social media post continued with a list of what Watt would do if he was in charge:
- Cut business rates in half for a year, or better still scrap them altogether.
- National Insurance needs to be cut further still.
- VAT holiday for hospitality for a year.
- End strikes by cutting a deal rather than trying to ban them - walkouts in December alone cost BrewDog more than £1m.
- State-backed loans to protect small businesses, with repayments starting in 12 months’ time.
He concluded by stating that "if this means spending a bit more money to support business through this nightmare now, it’s better than spending the money on unemployment benefits if thousands of businesses go under", adding: "Without more help, we’re sleep-walking towards utter disaster for the tens of thousands of businesses in the UK."
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