It’s about the survival of the cafes

The additional costs – just like anywhere else – are higher energy prices and higher food costs. In March, the electric bill doubled, Christina Hamill, director of Café Hamill, told By Budgin. The law tripled in June and nearly doubled in August. “The outlook is unfortunately very poor,” Hamill said.

So it had to raise prices on the 1st of October. Fried chicken does not cost 16 euros as before, but now more than 20 euros. According to her own statements, Hummel is also trying to counteract inflation with savings. Among other things, cloth napkins will no longer be ironed, opening hours will be restricted and cake display cases will be much warmer.

Fear that energy subsidies are not enough

She was not satisfied with subsidizing energy costs. It is very little and also unclear when the money will be paid. In the first step, it is planned to pay 30 percent of the additional costs compared to the previous year. But Hummel thinks increases of up to 900 percent are possible, because “30 percent is not that much.” Then there’s the question of whether the whole year will count, that is, whether the 30 percent will apply to the whole of 2022. I actually got my first raise in March.

Then there is the issue of payment. From November you can apply, from when will the payment be made? Employee Christmas bonus is due in November and December. The money saved for this is already included in the bill. That’s almost all “very very close and I request you to respond as soon as possible”. In general, you would suspect that cafes in Vienna could survive with the current opening hours.