Some Greater Manchester hospitality businesses question Budget tariff benefit

Some hospitality firms said VAT cuts would help more

The 2026 Budget announced the removal of import tariffs on dozens of items. Garlic, gherkins and plant-based milk are among more than 100 products that should become cheaper as a result, and the Treasury said the changes would save a typical household about £21 a year on its food bill.

Some restaurants and coffee shops in Greater Manchester questioned how much difference the changes would make to them, suggesting that VAT cuts or moves to make it cheaper to employ staff would have been better. Austin and Williams said VAT reductions would help more, while Zahid said reductions on raw meat and chicken would be more useful for his business.

Morgan Austin, the 26-year-old operations manager at Burgerism, welcomed at least one part of the announcement. The chain has six main locations and first opened in Salford in 2018. “Really appreciate the gherkins - that is fantastic for us,” Austin said.

Austin said she would have preferred more significant support for hospitality businesses, including a VAT reduction. She said increases to the minimum wage and employer National Insurance Contributions following the previous Budget had cost Burgerism about £150,000 a year.

“We’re not a massive business,” she said. “That is a big hit to us, and that could be a whole new site for us.” She said the combined effect made it difficult for Burgerism to open more sites, create jobs and hire young people. “We would love to open more sites, have more jobs going for people, hire new young people, but things like that make it really difficult sometimes,” she said.

Austin also said the measures did not go far enough to support medium-sized businesses looking to expand. She noted the limits of focusing on one relatively niche product: “Everyone loves a pickle, except for the 25% of people that take them off the burgers,” she said. Austin said other businesses would have preferred support for products that were not pickles.

Hassan Zahid, 29, runs American-Mexican fusion street food business Fuego 1987 in Manchester. He said the tariff changes would only have a “really minor” impact.

Zahid said reductions on raw products such as meat and chicken would help because Fuego 1987 uses those items in bulk. “It would have helped if they reduced tariffs on raw products such as meat or chicken - the items we use as a bulk amount,” he said. “That would help us to gain some profits rather than reducing it on garlic.”

Gavin Williams, co-owner of Mattina coffee shop in Salford, Greater Manchester, said the changes would not benefit his business despite its significant use of plant-based milk. Williams said Mattina’s suppliers are UK-based and therefore exempt from import tariffs.

He said Mattina’s almond milk comes from Southport, a few miles away, while its oat milk comes from Milton Keynes. “So, we already produce these goods in the UK. The tariff doesn’t include import goods on the raw ingredients. So, what difference is it going to make? Zero,” he said.

Williams said reducing VAT would make a greater difference for independent hospitality businesses. “You can’t keep increasing the minimum wage, increasing National Insurance Contributions, increasing pension contributions, increasing business rates, increasing energy, increasing everything, and not give us something back,” he said. He added: “It’s getting harder and harder and harder to just maintain opening a business.”

Williams described the Budget’s approach this way: “I think it’s a classic Andy Burnham style - we’re going to do loads to help you out, but actually, when you look at the fine detail, the impact is nothing.”

The accounts centered on different effects of the same policy. The Treasury quantified savings for a typical household, while the hospitality representatives described limited benefit for businesses facing higher payroll and operating costs.