Queensland cafes unite behind calls for politicians to address cost of business in state election

As the state election approaches Queensland’s cafe owners are calling both major parties to address rising business costs, fearing they will be forced to choose between closing down or hiking up the price of a cup of coffee.

Six of One owner Jason Lilienstein is joining calls for business costs front and centre of the upcoming Queensland Election.

Like all small business operators, Six of One owner Jason Lilienstein has seen his business costs rise consistently since he opened his cafe three years ago.

From the electricity bills, to his insurance premiums and the cost of materials, like milk and beans – everything is more expensive.

As the Queensland election approaches, the Toowoomba businessman has joined with cafe owners across the state in calling our political leaders to address the cost of doing business.

“Small business drives the economy and I don’t believe there is adequate consultation with small business owners full stop, let alone in the regional areas,” he said.

“There are a lot of costs that go into running a business that are not evident to customers, lifting the payroll tax threshold is an on-cost that they could minimise.”

Addressing red tape and government regulation are high on Mr Lilienstein’s list of priorities.

“We are not asking for a handout, just active measures to reduce costs,” he said.

As costs have increased, cafe owners are seeing their margins reduced and Mr Lilienstein said it would be likely that the average price for a cup of coffee would hit $7 in the next 12 months.

The alternative would be for operators to close down.

“Coffee is a bit of a staple, but the amount customers spend is decreasing, as we struggle with increasing costs, realistically we need to be putting up prices, but I feel bad doing that,” Mr Lilienstein said.

“Morally I don’t think I should do that in a time when people are struggling to make ends meet.

“Shutting up shop is catastrophic for business owners, but it’s also a really social hub, people come in and feel a sense of belonging that they don’t have in an increasingly disconnected world.

Cafe king Phillip Di Bella is worried that there are too many cafes and not enough customers. Picture: David Clark

The campaign to put small business costs on the agenda is being driven by Brisbane’s Phil Di Bella, founder of Di Bella Coffee and now the owner of Coffee Comune.

Mr Di Bella said he cost crisis was the worst he had seen.

“This is the first time I have seen all expenses go up at once,” he said.

“Now we are seeing rent, wages, insurance, gas, electricity bills all go up, nothing is immune from a price increase.”

Mr Di Bella said about 60 per cent of Queensland’s cafes are ‘treading water’ and on the brink of slipping into the red.

“The state election is just over a month away, but no one from either side of the government has consulted with small businesses who employ hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders,” he said.

“Right now every little per cent counts, whether it’s lifting the payroll tax threshold, having banks reduce the direct debit fees or rationalising new cafe openings, there are too many cafes opening and we don’t have the demand or the staff for them.”