Australian cafes, restaurants, and pubs are being urged to add a five per cent surcharge as hospitality leaders seek to offset the ripple effect of rising fuel prices on the industry.

Fuel prices have surged significantly since conflict broke out in the Middle East, with some service stations charging nearly $3 a litre.

Australian Restaurant and Café Association (ARCA) chief executive Wes Lambert has urged cafes, restaurants and pubs to uniformly introduce a five per cent surcharge in order to offset the financial damage to the industry.

“The association is calling on the industry to join together and rather than absorb the cost burden – introduce a fuel surcharge,” he said.

“This is not about raising prices permanently.

“It is about keeping doors open, keeping staff employed and giving small hospitality businesses a fair chance.”

Mr Lambert said if the government is unwilling to support the already-struggling sector in the fuel crisis, venues may need to take matters into their own hands.

“If government won’t stabilise costs, businesses must be allowed to survive them,” he said.

“We have such low profit margins as it is – 2.6 per cent for cafes and 2.8 per cent for restaurants, which keep on absorbing the world’s problems.”

He added the Middle East conflict is exacerbating the industry’s pre-existing challenges by driving up costs across transport, freight, refrigeration, supplier delivery, utilities and waste collection.

“The temporary fuel levy surcharge is designed as a transparent survival mechanism to help small businesses manage extraordinary supply chain cost pressure while maintaining jobs and service levels.

“Fuel touches everything in hospitality – every delivery, every supplier, every ingredient and every collection truck that pulls up behind a venue.”

Mr Lambert said many hospitality venues are already being charged a fuel levy on deliveries, as suppliers attempt to offset their own rising costs.

“This is happening rapidly, as petrol stations around Victoria and NSW begin to run out of diesel,” Mr Lambert said. 

“What we’re hearing from restaurants, cafes and some pubs around the country is that they are now being hit with a fuel surcharge.”