A chronic shortage of labour in Dublin has forced one coffee shop owner to shelve plans for further expansion. Eamon Dempsey, who owns Kaffe-Moka on South William Street, has two other coffee shops, one of which he plans to franchise in eight weeks time. "We are doing it for reasons of quality. Because of staff issues, it is impossible to run more than one or two businesses well. We are going to start first by franchising our Dun Laoghaire business.
"We want to be the best and export ideas and to do that you have to have quality staff. Everything comes down to the staff. Even if the food or coffee is good, it ruins it if you have to wait to be served by a grumpy waiter."
A critical shortage of labour supply in Dublin and along the east coast has been a huge thorn in the side of many cafe owners. Linda Madigan, owner of Cafe Ole on Liffey Street, says she is "weary" of training staff to make good coffee and ensure that they comply with Eastern Health Board hygiene standards, only to see them leave weeks later.
"You can't get them to swear allegiance. They can just turn around and say good luck at any time. Staffing is the most difficult aspect of the business and it's going to get worse. My place is small, all the training is down to me and while I'm enjoying being in the business at the moment, for the long term I'd have my reservations. I know that sounds pessimistic but that's how I feel."
According to Ann Geraghty of Cafe Aroma in the GPO arcade, she receives very few applications from Irish people for waiting jobs because there are easier ways of making money: "It is a lot of hard work and more tiring than selling jeans. It is quite physical because you have to clean tables and you are on your feet for long periods."
Some cafes, such as Insomnia and KaffeMoka, are trying to entice people to consider coffee-making as a career by training them in Barista - the art of making coffee. Kaffe-Moka have brought over an expert from New Zealand to train staff.
Cafe staff tend to be transient, says Small Firms Association Director, Pat Delaney "Generally, you find non-nationals who are working for the summer or people who are doing it as a starter job." He says the introduction of the minimum wage has the most impact on labour intensive businesses "Labour accounts for about 30 per cent of overheads of these cafes and is becoming more costly. If it doesn't force them out of business, it will force them to look at ways to minimise costs.
"Either they raise the prices, which is difficult because it is a competitive sector, or they reduce the number of staff. A company previously employing 10 people at £4 an hour are likely now to reduce that to nine people to bring labour costs back down."
Many of the city centre cafes already pay the minimum wage. "We have had to pay it all along," says Linda Madigan. "We wouldn't get people to work for any less."
According to Eamon Dempsey, labour costs are continually escalating. "To keep staff, you have to pay them more and more, so what's going to happen is that we are going to have to streamline staff to keep costs down."
