Mike's Minute: There are more good news, than bad, hospo stories

A small tip on news coverage. 

The media can go some small way to redeeming its reputation by asking more questions. 

One of the current obsessions is the closure of hospitality outlets. 

A café only needs to announce their closing, and the media can't swoop fast enough with a doom and gloom headline. 

To be fair, The Hospitality Association doesn’t help. They roll out no shortage of misery stories. 

Ruby in Auckland got headlines the other day after they announced they were leaving downtown Auckland. Now, Ruby isn't hospitality, but the same fetish for bad headlines applies. 

Get into the detail and, yes, the Auckland vibe isn't what it might once have been, but the real reason they were leaving is the space didn’t suit them anymore. They were off elsewhere and days later their original space was snapped up by a business that was keen to expand. 

Fast forward to this week and it’s the Rice Bowl Burger Bar in Wellington. 

Cue the Stuff headline: "Another Wellington hospo business announces closure". 

Here is what I know: every story has a story. It is not always the economy. In fact, often it isn't the economy. In some cases, it's wrong place i.e. they took the car parks away, or sometimes it's bad luck i.e. they built the CRL around you and didn’t compensate you. 

Sometimes it's because you aren't very good at your job i.e. your food is crap and there are better places down the road. 

Sometimes it's about migration. Hospo is an easy way to buy work for you and the family, but that doesn't mean you're any good or understand the culture. But it is a ticket to work and a visa. 

The evidence, for those who want to look at it, shows hospo for those who work hard, offer good food and good service, does well. The country, sadly, is over hospo-ed. 

And irony of ironies, despite the closure and woe and misery headlines, we actually have more hospo outlets than we ever have. 

One closes, but at least another one, if not more, open. But they don’t write about the start-ups. 

Because that would be just a bit too upbeat, wouldn't it? 

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