The Australian Restaurant & Café Association said the wage hike would ultimately mean higher prices for customers. “This wage increase is disconnected from the economic reality facing restaurants and cafés across Australia,” said CEO Wes Lambert. “Inflation is moderating, productivity is in decline, and venues are barely breaking even – yet they’ve just been handed another cost increase they simply cannot absorb. “Wage hikes without productivity growth are unsustainable. This will force venues to raise prices at a time when customers are already pulling back.”

While we know the Government has backed a rise bigger than 2.4%, which is around the inflation rate, it hasn’t told us what it wants. On the other side, the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association supports a minimum wage rise of 2%, which the ACTU says would mean a real wage cut for workers on the minimum wage.

Australian music licensing organisation OneMusic collects valuable insights from successful brands such as Young Henrys, industry experts and partners like Fine Food and the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association. As well as issuing licences to play music in hospitality spaces, it has a selection of in-depth and informative resources on how using music can improve the consumer experience.