Prelude

I would say their closure has nothing to do with HST.  They are in the middle of nothing.  The resta ...
blue20ae 發表於 2011-2-28 13:09

All foodies don't care about view.
The restaurants with view is usually for the people who pretends to know things about food and are willing to pay the view instead of food quality.   Yeah, it's sad that's the majority of the people.

Prelude

I would say HST is part of the reasons for many high end restaurant closure, not the only reason though.
These restaurants are NOT only for rich people, guys.
Rich people might eat these restaurants daily, but the mid class people do visit them once a month or so, and the low class people may visit them once a year.
The mid class people are the main revenue generator here.

1. The 7% increase = 7% less meal budget, simple.
It may force the mid class people to eat at the next lower grade of restaurants.
Overall, immediate effect is more than -10% (guessing).

2. The 7% increase = eat out less, because of psychological factor.
Another some percentage of effect.

3. Alcohol law is making it illegal for a couple diners to open a bottle of wine for a dinner.
Immediate effect is 20% (guessing), because some of them don't care about the law, and some might drink 1 bottle instead of 2 bottles as before.  Wine is average 40% of the bill of the meal.

4. Cost has been increased like crazy for the last 3 years.  Many cost have been doubled for the last 3 years.  Given the slow economy, no restaurants have the guts to increase the price to cover the high cost, but instead lower the price.  Rent keeps going up as well.
So, we have these fcuked up situation where: Cost and Rent goes up, and Price goes down.  Where is the profit?   

When you add up 1,2, and 3 together, you immediately easily see big decrease in revenue, which in turn, tremendously increase the fixed cost.  That just further put more pressure on the #4.   Again, where is the profit?   The profit of a well run high end restaurant was around 10% during normal times.  You can guess what's the result of 1,2,3, and 4 together.
So, you see how the government killed the high end restaurant industry?
What did the government do to help this sector?