Stress and burnout: why so many hospitality business owners are fighting to stay afloat

Nearly four in five of hospitality small business owners felt the effects of burnout last year according to a report from Bionic.

In a new report detailing the challenges hospitality business owners are facing in 2025, ahead of the business rates relief reduction to 40% in April, the comparison company Bionic’s analysts found that 78% of hospitality business owners felt burnout to some extent in 2024.

Added to the stress, 30% of hospitality business owners admitted that they see the reduction of business rates relief as a “major concern” and four in 10 (44%) of hospitality business owners don’t even think their businesses will survive the year.

Describing the situation in Britain, Bionic senior content manager Les Roberts said: “The latest Budget was largely seen as a tough one for small business owners, especially those that employ staff.”

According to the data, more than half of hospitality business owners said that they “increased product prices/rates” to cut costs in 2024. Plus, the research revealed that just under half (48%) of business owners in the hospitality industry said they were impacted by late payments in 2024.

Roberts explained: “Not only will business owners need to account for an increase in the National Living Wage, those in the retail, leisure, and hospitality sector will need to contend with the decrease in business rates relief. Then there’s the higher National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to contend with. Many business owners will feel they came away from that Budget shouldering the biggest burden.”

Other findings highlighted how two in five of the business owners in the hospitality sector admitted that finding the right people and getting them to stick around was also becoming harder and lamented that “hiring & retaining talent” would be a challenge in 2025.

Roberts added: “It’s no doubt that the UK’s empty high streets are in serious need of help. The extension of business rate relief is a step in the right direction for protecting the small businesses that make up the UK economy, but it may not make much difference with other rising fixed costs for business owners.”

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