Wolverhampton restaurant still keen to welcome guests despite feeling bite of cost of living

Staff at Rodeos in Wolverhampton say they have been working through the current crisis to support the community and find ways to bring in customers.

This has included food and drink promotions and days where children under a certain age eat for free, with owner Simon Parton saying he wanted to keep the restaurant on the canalside as family-friendly and affordable as possible.

Mr Parton said his business, like others in the region, has experienced rising costs in ingredients and has had to be imaginative in order to attempt to keep prices down for customers.

He said: "We've just introduced a full midweek package where we have got different offers on. We're always looking for people to come in and the kids eating free initiative has been massive for us as we did it over the summer holidays and we pride ourselves on being a family-friendly venue that people can come to any time.

"We're constantly comparing ourselves to other restaurants to be affordable and I would say that food costs have increased around 20 per cent.

"People are certainly feeling the pinch and I think eating out has become one of those luxuries that gets left out as people look at being able to afford things at home.

"We have a number of staff who come in and they have ever increasing bills, which we're conscious of and try to support as much as we can by giving them the hours they want so that they have a little bit more money in their paycheck at the end of the week."

Mr Parton said it had been a tough time running the restaurant, which was opened in 2021 while Covid restrictions were still in place, but said it had battled on and was looking to do more to help the community.

He said: "It's been tough, but I've had some great support from the staff who have done their best, even when people have had to call in sick through Covid, and having a team like this has been really important.

"We do a lot of work supporting the local community and support charities through donations of food and meal giveaways for raffles, plus we have special nights such as ones riding the bull where we give away prizes.

"We also try to do our bit for the local economy as we source all of our food locally, apart from the brisket, which comes from America."

Mr Parton said he wanted to keep filling the restaurant during the week, saying that Fridays and weekends were very busy, and said that whenever people are able to come, he wanted them to have the best time.

He said: "We don't want to put extra pressure on people to come to us if they can't afford to do so, but we will do everything we can to create a nice atmosphere for them and want families to spend time together.

"We've had bookings of 10 to 20 people, with three or four generations of people coming in, and they will sit there for hours and we're happy to have them there and won't try to push them out.

"As long as they want to stay, we will accommodate them and give them a great meal and it's lovely to see granny enjoying time with the grandchildren and seeing her put on a cowboy hat."