A beloved Crumlin cafe has been hit with "shocking" electricity bills amid the cost of living crisis.
Pip's Cafe and Deli, located on Old County Road in Crumlin, said that for the past few months they have woken up to emails from suppliers saying that their prices had increased, saying that some items have "gone up by well over 50%". This includes stock items such as cups, boxes and cutlery which have all gone "through the roof" in terms of cost.
Speaking to Dublin Live this week, Paul McDonald, owner of Pip's Cafe and Deli, said that they they remain as busy as ever but profits have been hit hard. He said: "We're as busy as we ever were, our profits are less because our mark-up is down just because the cost of living is so high rising we can't pass it all onto the customer. What happens is we absorb a lot of it, and personally I think it's been a little one-sided from suppliers.
Read more: The surprising items that are forcing costs to 'shoot up' for local bakery
"I think they're gouging at this stage, the price of diesel and petrol have come down considerable in the last couple of months compared to where it was, maybe 10 or 15%, it was peaking at 2.25 it's now down to as low as 1.75. I haven't seen anything been passed back to the retailer for us to pass back to the customer, the wholesalers just aren't passing anything back down to us."
Pip's has received "shocking" bills for their electricity use in recent weeks. Paul explained: "Our last bill went from €1,200 for six weeks to up to just under €4,000. We're due another bill in the next few days and I'm actually terrified waiting for it.
"It's absolutely shocking, on our last ESB bill it worked out that our electricity was nearly double what our rent is. That's crazy, to be in a situation like that where your rent is less than your electricity.
"You can't forecast for it or predict it, what your fixed costs are going to be, what your insurance is going to be, what your rent and rates will be," he said.
Paul said that is it is "impossible" to factor in energy bills that are constantly rising. He said: "It's very unfair, the government needs to step in and lower the taxes on the utility bills and that.
"Surely because it's for survival, otherwise we're heading into a major recession, and it won't be akin to what we seen when the property bubble burst, it's going to be more akin to what we saw in the 80s'.
When asked about his plan for the coming winter months, Paul explained that they can't make any cuts in terms of electricity usage. He explained: "Our fryer's on gas, it is the main thing we use so we can't really make any cuts in what we do, so we have to keep the fryer on, the ovens on. There's no way we can cut.
"The only way we can cut is in quality or in staff, and we're not willing to do either of those. I don't know what we'll do, but we're not willing to compromise on the quality of the food that we put out, and our staff has stuck with us through Covid, they've stuck with us since the start of this and they deserve us to battle on through it for them. So, for the sake of the staff, we'll just have to keep going until we run out of money."
Read more: Humongous Dublin breakfast roll devoured by YouTube star
Paul said they have a "great team" of employees and praised them for all their hard work amid the Covid pandemic and the current cost of living crisis. In terms of the future, Paul said that they are determined to soldier on.
He said: "We'll batten down the hatches the best we can, to be honest with you it's survival now, it's not about the money. It's about trying to survive this until the government get a handle on it until we see what's happening in the Ukraine. The only way I can put it for now going forward is it's about survival, to it's to see who can survive this and that's what it's about for any business to think otherwise is silly, it's about survival."
Read Next:
- Clever dad slashes energy bill by replacing one appliance that ‘eats electricity’
- The items you can expect to get more expensive this month as energy bills spike
- Irish mum's €5 family meals go viral - I tried one of her recipes to see if it actually works
- Joe Duffy callers give clever tips to reduce energy bills including egg trick
- Founder of food bank verbally abused by 'entitled' people looking for support
Sign up to the Dublin Live Newsletter to get all the latest Dublin news straight to your inbox
