Rising costs bring end to restaurant couple’s dream
THE owners of a restaurant were forced to close it after little more than a year as spiralling costs meant £20,000 a month was needed just to break even.
Rick and Amy Armstrong realised their long-held dream when opening The Copper Room, on Chestergate, Macclesfield centre, in May last year.
And in many respects it proved a success with the married couple ‘loving every second’ and attracting a 4.8 out of 5 rating on google reviews.
But the restaurant is among those to fall victim to the cost of living crisis and they shut in July.
Rick, 41, said: “We had amazing reviews and everything was great but we were not making money - we were not taking a salary. We had to make £20,000 a month
just to break even.
“Every single supply cost was going up and energy prices rising. You can’t keep putting that on the customer, people won’t stand for that.
“We didn’t want to remortgage our home or have massive debt so although we didn’t want to we had to close our
doors. We loved hospitality and loved Macclesfield.”
The couple, who live in Macclesfield and have a young son, tried strategies to stave off closure.
They sold vouchers, to be redeemed at a later date, where cash was paid up front to keep the business going. But these are now being paid back.
Another problem was the traditionally busy Christmas period in 2021 - which insulates against leaner times of the year - was quiet because Covid was still affecting trade.
Rick started out as a teenage pot washer and became a trained chef. Now he has returned to his previous work, selling tills to other restaurants.
His and Amy’s restaurant had a European menu with the focus on steak, seafood and pasta. Despite proving popular it was difficult to turn this into profit, particularly in the current climate, so the reluctant decision to shut was made.
Rick said: “It was extremely sad at the time, we had loved every second. The tills were ringing but there are such small margins.”