Cost of living crisis: Northamptonshire trade organisation calls for Government to support hospitality sector

Trade organisation, Made in Northamptonshire, is throwing its weight behind demand for the Government to increase support for food and drinks businesses across England.

Made in Northamptonshire is calling on the Government to back independent food and drink producers, growers, retailers and hospitality outlets after seeing the cost of living crisis force some of its members to close their doors for good.

Founder of Made In Northamptonshire Rachel Mallows said: “Unfortunately right now, many of our members are calculating the cost of being in business and it’s just not stacking up; the cost of ingredients, the lack of skilled staff and the cost of energy are tipping them over the edge.

“With customers already looking at cutting their expenditure, passing those costs on is not always viable.”

Rising costs of imported ingredients and materials, supply chain issues, staff shortages and skyrocketing energy and fuel prices have all contributed to a steep increase in production costs.

Unable to absorb the additional cost due to tight profit margins, businesses are having to pass this on to customers amid a cost-of-living crisis.

In a bid to urge the Government to address these ongoing problems, Food from England - a national platform of 26 regional food and drink organisations - has issued an urgent letter to the Prime Minister and all of England’s MPs.

The letter has urged the Government to do the following:

- Extend the Energy Bill Relief Scheme to June 30, 2023.

- Provide grant funding to high-energy using food businesses to invest in green energy solutions.

- Extend the seasonal worker scheme beyond December 2022 across all sectors in the food and drink industry to avoid further closures due to staffing shortages.

- Devise a fairer business rate system that will support smaller businesses in the long term.

- Provide capacity-building support to regional food groups in England.

Rachel continued: “The Covid lockdown saw both the demise of many artisan producers, and food outlets disappearing overnight.

“If we do not support the industry now, we will see a repeat of this tragic loss of livelihoods, skills, employment, and community, possibly on an even larger scale.”