Beloved Sydney café owner reaches breaking point over cost increases: ‘You’re punished for working hard’
Dave Martin is a Coogee icon. The small business owner has lived and worked in the beachside Sydney suburb for 15 years, and he loves his local community as much as they love him.
His café, Courtyard, serves up some of the most affordable coffee in the area. At $4.50 for a small skim cap, latte or flat white, Martin, 55, would love nothing more than to keep his prices right where they are. But these days, keeping afloat is becoming an uphill battle.
Dave Martin has been running Courtyard cafe in Sydney for 15 years. Dave Martin/Courtyard
Between absorbing the heavy hit of the recent surcharge ban, skyrocketing energy bills and rising labor expenses, plus relentless price hikes on coffee beans, milk and sugar, Martin told nine.com.au he’s reaching breaking point.
“The costs are going up every year, wages are going up every year, and you’re paying super every week,” Martin said.
“There’s a lot of talk about what the government’s doing, but it’s just making it harder and harder.”
He said he’s never struggled as much as he is today. Dave Martin/Courtyard
Martin doesn’t have a superannuation fund of his own, a harsh reality shared by many small business operators who always assumed their business would serve as their retirement nest egg.
Instead, he feels less like an entrepreneur and more like an unpaid tax collector, forced to hand over GST while operating as a human cash machine for the government.
Even simple operational shifts bring fresh stress. While he hasn’t yet tallied the cost of transitioning to mandated recyclable takeaway cups, he’s certain of one thing: it won’t come cheap. “It’s just going to be another pain for us,” he said.
With around 15 competing coffee spots nearby, raising prices feels like too big a risk. Dave Martin/Courtyard
Then there’s the staggering blow from the surcharge ban. Martin estimates absorbing card transaction fees instead of passing them on will slice a massive $1,000 a week straight off his bottom line, amounting to a $50,000 hit each year.
The constant financial strain takes a heavy toll, keeping him aware late into the night.
“You lay awake at night tossing and turning about putting your prices up, because there’s so much competition out there,” Martin admitted.
“People are on a cap as well. You can’t keep putting your prices up. I get an email from a supplier every two to three weeks saying they’re putting their prices up.
“If I raised my prices every single time, I wouldn’t have anyone coming through the doors.”
The squeeze is visible in everyday customer habits, too. Cash has virtually disappeared from the counter, plummeting from 40 per cent of transactions to 5 per cent.
Meanwhile, regulars who used to drop in six or seven times a week for a sit-down breakfast are now opting for takeaway just twice a week to stretch their budgets.
To keep up with the shift, Coogee Courtyard has had to pivot away from big, sit-down brekkies to fast, affordable on-the-go options like bacon and egg rolls, grilled cheese, banana bread and burritos.
“Takeaway is a lot more now, probably 60/40 over dining in,” Martin explained.
“People are buying the cheaper options... you just have to adapt and roll with how the community feels.”
The thought of closing down has started crossing his mind for the first time. Dave Martin/Courtyard
Even as profit margins continue to shrink under the weight of minimum wage hikes, council rates, GST, and payroll tax, overhead costs keep climbing.
Martin currently pays nearly $900 a week just to keep the gas and power running.
The last two to three years have undoubtedly been the toughest. When he first opened, overheads were reasonable and small businesses weren’t suffocating under endless bureaucracy and red tape, he said.
Martin remains fiercely grateful for his local community. Dave Martin/Courtyard
While the thought of walking away crosses his mind during the hardest moments, he quickly asked himself, “Well, what else am I going to do?”
Despite the grinding pressure, Martin remains fiercely grateful for his local community and acknowledges many others across the country are doing it even tougher. Still, he believes hard-working Aussie business owners deserve a fair go.
“I’ve been here so long, I’m part of the community. But it’s getting harder, and it shouldn’t be getting harder, it should be getting easier,” Martin said.
“There’s no reward in this country to work hard any more. No wonder productivity is so low. You’re not rewarded. You’re punished for working hard.”
