When Frost Burgers first opened in Liverpool city centre four years ago, it turned an empty shell into a thriving vegan restaurant.
The concept proved so popular with customers it soon became known as one of the pioneers of vegan food in the city and attracted rave reviews online. A year after opening its doors on Wood Street, an upstairs flood caused the restaurant to close for two months for a refurbishment, before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country.
Despite these setbacks, Kriss Janmeijs and his team managed to pick themselves back up, with a second branch opening in Manchester last year. But with rising food prices, increased VAT and soaring energy bills all taking their toll on the company, Frost Burgers have since made the difficult decision to close both restaurants.
READ MORE: What Liz Truss's £150bn energy bills plan means for you
On what is the last week of trading for the Liverpool branch, the ECHO spoke to manager Kriss Janmeijs about the challenges facing independent businesses and the hospitality industry amid the cost of living crisis and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kriss, 33, told the ECHO: "I was here on day zero basically, before this was even a thing. I helped to paint all the tables, wash everything, put the floors in, help the guys do the walls and everything. It is quite heavy to be honest.
"In general there's less people coming in. Obviously people are trying to save their own money.
"We used to do 250/260 orders on a Saturday, and apart from these two weeks before we announced that we were closing, we were doing about 60-70 max - so basically it's dropped by 75% on the busier days."
Despite receiving rave reviews from customers online, Kriss said the business has "been losing money for a while now" due to an increase in costs. Frost Burgers will close its doors on Sunday, September 11.
Kriss said: "It is energy prices, food prices have gone up, oil has gone up by almost 100%.
"The rest of the food obviously has gone up as well because of the fuel for the food suppliers, obviously they need to rise their prices which is totally understandable. The same goes for farmers - their prices are increasing."
Kriss said while everyone is struggling in the current climate, vegan businesses have been hit particularly hard due to an increase in competition in recent years from chain restaurants, who are able to buy more stock from wholesalers and sell it for lower prices.
He added: "The products that we are buying are quite high quality and we do not wish to compromise on that by any means, we'd rather close than start making bad food basically."
Frost Burgers is not alone in feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis which is forcing businesses across the region to close their doors or make difficult to decisions in order to survive. The Baltic Social, on Parliament Street, recently close its doors after nine years of trading in the heart of the Baltic Triangle.
The team said it was “with a heavy heart” that they made the announcement but that the “combination of trying to bounce back post covid” as well as “absolutely astronomical increases in energy, food and drink prices” impacted the decision.
The Rose and Crown pub in Bebington, Wirral, recently called for more support for businesses after it was quoted a whopping £61,667.94 for its annual electricity bill from British Gas.
In a tweet that has been liked over 15,000 times, the pub said: "Just thought I might update you on the latest ‘best’ energy deal available for a pub of our size. We were paying 15p/unit in May. This is the best quote available today."
The pub added "action is needed urgently otherwise thousands of small businesses will disappear this winter".
Earlier this week, the new Prime Minister of the UK, Liz Truss, set out plans to tackle soaring energy bills across the country after weeks of pressure on the government from opposition parties and journalists. Under the plans, energy bills for UK households will be capped at an average of £2,500 a year for the next two years under a new "energy price guarantee".
This will replace the energy price cap which was due to rocket to £3,549 from October 1 and rise even higher in 2023. Ms Truss said the new plans will see businesses, public sector bodies and charities receive "equivalent support" to households - but only for six months.
After the six months is up, there will be ongoing support for "vulnerable industries." A review in three months will decide which sectors should receive ongoing help.
The new support scheme will likely come as welcome news for some businesses, but for others it will be too little, too late. Matty Peers, owner of Colin Lunt greengrocers in Wirral, spoke to the ECHO this week about the difficult decision he's made to close one of his stores in Hoylake due to the cost of living crisis.
Colin Lunt first opened its doors on Banks Road, in West Kirby, over five decades ago, with Matty taking over as owner after the shop's founder and namesake died in 2019. With business booming, Matty decided to open a second branch in Hoylake in August 2020.
But just two later the Hoylake shop will be closing its doors next week on September 17, due to spiralling costs - from fuel to shipping and energy bills. Matty, 47, told the ECHO: "It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.
"We’ve built up a really good reputation in Hoylake but unfortunately there’s been knock-on effects of the price rises and the footfall has just seemed to disintegrate. I know everybody is in the same boat and trying to close up the purse strings and keep things to a minimum, but it just wasn’t sustainable to carry on anymore.
"One shop was basically carrying the other. The footfall in West Kirby is a lot higher and I had to make a decision sooner rather than later because, if I tried to keep the Hoylake shop going, I would have to close the two.”
READ NEXT:
Bank Holiday announced to mark the Queen's state funeral
Woman, 22, found dead in Adelphi Hotel room as three men arrested
All nine men arrested so far in Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder probe
Family pay tribute to 'loving young man' who died in M6 crash
Man tackled to ground after jumping barriers in front of King Charles' car
