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My favourite local café turned off the coffee machine for the last time just a little while ago. Another victim of the current economy.

Al Chiosco was a small Italian style “piccolo bar”. On a corner, near the beach with tables and chairs outside under umbrellas, amongst olive trees. Great coffee and pastries in the morning. Pizza and red wine in the evening. It was a gentle 10-minute walk away from home for the Beagle and I. A pleasant routine 3 or 4 times a week.

Sometimes I was their only customer. Other times they were flat out. Always a smile. A piece of prosciutto for the beagle. And they knew my order.

But they have now closed forever. They had tried to balance the lease, the wages, the rising cost of coffee and other goods. But with the rise in the award wage on 1 July plus other rising costs, it just became too much. And whilst they had regulars like me, we were coming a little less often as we also have financial constraints of our own.

Small business is suffering in Australia right now. Being squeezed between rising costs and dwindling sales. Hospitality particularly so. The Courier-Mail (4 July 2026) says at least 80 businesses in the dining sector across Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast were closed since December, with dozens more having seemingly disappeared without formal notifications.

Hospitality has always been a tough gig. I wrote in my Gault&Millau Newsletter nearly 10 years ago about the difficulties. In 2017, Gault&Millau reviewed 969 Restaurants for the 2018 Restaurant Guide. From January to August 2017, 32% of these restaurants either closed, re-named or underwent a major transformation in branding.

Sadly, not much has changed. The number of high-profile places going out of business is rising. It is now a weekly occurrence in the news, passing without much comment.

” The average café last years made 3% profit. Let this sink in. Wages are now 45 to 55% of what you pay in a café or restaurant. Just because you see a café or a restaurant busy, doesn’t mean they’re making money” Phil Di Bella on 4BC April 2026.

One in 10 food and beverage businesses closed their doors in Australia in the year to March 2026 (CreditWatch’s January Business Risk Index). And this may rise to 15%. Not because the food wasn’t good. Because the economics of running one have never really made sense, and the margin for error keeps shrinking.

Aussie hospitality titans have warned the nation’s iconic cafe culture is on the brink of collapse due to a “relentless” crisis as venues bleed cash just to keep the doors open.

Before the Fair Work Commission bumped up award wages by 4.75% on 1 July and pushed the baseline minimum wage to $26.44 an hour, cafes around the nation were already at a tipping point. 

On public holidays, when the 150 per cent penalty rates kick in, the lowest-paid cafe workers will now make a staggering $78/hour from 1 July. Add to this Payday Super changes, the phase-out of junior pay rates and removal of credit card surcharges, means venues will need to add at least 10 per cent to menu prices this year to stay ahead.

Every closure affects a whole community. The owners who poured their love, passion and money into the venue. The employees who are now out of work. The suppliers who have one less place to sell their products. The guests who have no-where to go.

Cafes and restaurants are not just a place to eat. They are social venues where people come together to do business, meet old friends, woo a lover, share a meal with family or escape from the rat race. Every closure is a community losing a place where it gathered.

So, the beagle and I, now take our walk without a stop, a slice of prosciutto and a coffee. No more, the friendly smile from the barista each morning. Just another empty shop with a “for lease” sign. Vale Al Chiosco – and the many others that will follow.