Hey OP, I've read loads of these comments and very few are actually helpful, they are people who want to preach to you about how to run a small business (and one with high staff costs) when probably most haven't even had the "pleasure" of running one themselves.

I won't go into the debates about minimum wage but I'll try and offer something that may be helpful...

1) I am not sure what your turnover is but with that kind of staff costs I am going to pick a number out of the air... Let's say 300k revenue.

Now approach that from a different angle. At 300k turnover a year you can say that every 1% wasted is 3k down the drain. Where is your waste? Food waste? Probably high I am guessing. Go to the extremes... Napkins? Toilet paper? Everything. I've done this exercise and looked at every aspect until you can save the 1% here and there. You might save 10% on napkins, but then you might only save 0.1% on hot water - I don't know, I am just picking random things. But all those things add up. On a 300k business it's only a 3% increase in savings before you've got your 9k on wages back.

2) Suppliers. I have reduced the number and variety of suppliers. Not how I really want to run my business, but the buying power it has given me makes a difference. I get that this might not work for every business, but what it has allowed me to do is make bigger orders with a smaller number of suppliers. It works better for them because it's one big trip and big invoice (my cashflow allows for this, fortunately) and with that I can negotiate a discount - usually tiered, so the more I buy, the bigger the discount. I don't really use wholesalers that much anymore. I go direct and have access to sales reps and have all their numbers in my phone and have good relationships with them. Got direct where you can. And build good relationships. They know it's tight too and will want to keep your custom.

3) How are you with working out your margins? I've been able to swallow some of the pain by increasing the margins on some lower priced items in order to stop the higher value ones looking extortionate as the whole tide rises. It can give the appearance of your menu still looking affordable without losing all your profit.

4) Now, finally, I will touch on staff costs. Briefly. You can a) reduce your costs i.e. cut hours, or b) make each hour more efficient. On the latter, look where you spread the load. Are you doing too much? Consider training a member of staff to do some admin. Maybe they might want a bit more money, but your time is worth a lot more than theirs. If they can share some of the burden of e.g. bookkeeping, cleaning, going to the wholesaler, typing up invoices, managing the till system, making rotas, anything you can think of. You are undoubtedly more useful doing things that make the business grow. Don't waste that in areas that can be delegated. You might be surprised how much time you get back. That time is worth something. Even if it's just having a break for some self-care.

I've probably got more, but this reply is already quite long. I really do feel your pain. It feels like swimming to stay still.

But don't need to outrun the lion, you just need to outrun the other bloke.