Of course, that doesn’t mean the Government won’t claim to have delivered help to the sector off the back of it, but much like previous “help” - later licensing hours for example - it does nothing to alleviate the problems the sector faces.
If anything, it just gives us even more of a headache than help - particularly due to the vague nature of how this “help” should be applied.
How old is a child? And what makes a children’s menu?
Operators are already joking about adding oysters and chateaubriand to the kids menus.
But without any clear guidance, advice or rules from Government, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that happening.
However, for most operators, the effort of amending the tills, working out which proportion of the food spend was from the children’s menu etc, is not worth the time or the hassle.
Nuggets and chips
For those operators that think, great, we can keep the 15% saving on the meagre amount of kids meals we sell, good luck - parents will flocking to your venues expecting that 15% discount on little Timothy’s nuggets and chips.
That wafer thin margin on your kids food is going to stay wafer thin.
The discounted VAT for kids is aimed firmly at the benefit of the families, while forgetting about all the other Government policies that undermine that benefit.
If mummy and daddy have both lost their jobs because their employers have been forced to downsize their teams after the ramped increases in NIC, a 15% discount on VAT on a burger at Alton Towers is the least of their problems.
Rather than trying, badly, to play to the gallery, how about the Government wakes up and provides a blanket VAT break across all hospitality - that will help stimulate growth and employment and allow those parents the chance to earn money to pay for those kids meals.
This Government needs to stop fiddling round the edges and provide some meaningful changes which have a real impact.