The Federation of Bangladeshi Caterers (FoBC) and the Asian Caterers Federation (ACF) have thrown their considerable weight behind the hospitality industry’s campaign to cut VAT on restaurant bills from 20% to 5%.
The FoBC is the voice of the country’s c12,000 Bangladeshi restaurateurs and takeaway owners. The ACF represents a community of 23,000 pan Asian establishments. ACF members are primarily Chinese in origin, but encompass pan-Asian establishments, including Indian, Thai, Malaysian and Japanese. There are 5,000 Chinese eat in and a further 10,000 takeaways in the UK. There are also over 8,000 south- and south-east Asian establishments in the UK. The combined totals number some 35,000.
A campaigning organisation, The FoBC has been petitioning Government on a host of issues from immigration, skills shortages, education and unemployment since it was founded in 2008, and the FoBC Chairman, Yawar Khan, first raised the VAT issue with Chancellor George Osborne at a meeting in February 2012. He highlighted how the Bangladeshi community, many of whom run small business, were being damaged by the recession and rise in VAT.
“Restaurant customers don’t always realise that the Chancellor is taking a huge slice every time they settle their bill,” said Khan adding, “Apart from the £10 VAT on every £50, restaurateurs are paying National Insurance, corporation and income tax on any profit that’s left – not to mention local council rates and excise duty.”
To support its campaign the FoBC has posted a petition on www.Change.org in the hope that restaurant owners, their staff, suppliers and customers will help achieve the target of 100,000 signatories required to spark a debate on the floor of the House of Commons.
Federation of Bangladeshi Caterers. The “voice of the curry industry” is a nationwide non-profit making and non-political organisation, led by the Westminster Press and Parliamentary office – which lobbies on MPs, Government and Whitehall, promoting and protecting the interests of the curry industry in Britain.
Asian Catering Federation. Uniting the Asian Food Industry, ACF is a sister organisation with similar objectives representing restaurateurs outside the Bangladeshi community across the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, with members drawn from the Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Burmese, Korean, Singaporean and India.