Mr. Mark McGowan:

To be frank, it is very difficult and stressful as a business owner at the minute. In my day-to-day life, I work and have a family and two kids. I find myself working 60 to 70 hours a week on any given week. It is quite difficult. That reflects the entire industry in terms of independent business owners with families. It is very difficult. It is tough mentally for all of our business owners.

On the ground, we are being squeezed left, right and centre. I spoke earlier on about how many of our members heading upwards towards 40% labour costs. If you were in college back in the day and were told your labour cost was going to be 40%, there is no way, as a business owner, you would want to go into the industry to begin with. It is very difficult. In addition, there is the rise in energy costs and the costs of doing business in general. Obviously, the situation in Ukraine is devastating. It is increasing the cost of supply. We are having massive issues in terms of rising prices of meat – chicken, in particular - which comes down to the price of feed. It is causing all kinds of problems. We are being squeezed left, right and centre. It is extremely difficult. Most businesses are considering closing one or perhaps two days per week simply to facilitate time off, both for their staff and for themselves and their own mental health, which is obviously a huge issue at the moment.