If it was up to accountants and bookkeepers, much-loved takeaway shop Little Theo's wouldn't be open.
Six months ago owner Anthony Ferraro had to break the news to his wife Aimee that the business - which has been at Carleton Street shops in Kambah since 1979 - was losing money. They were in a $25,000 hole and needed to work a way out.
"Anyone who's in finance will tell you that when you can see what's happening in the economic climate, and there's losses, it's time to cut your losses," Mr Ferraro said.
"Whereas my wife said, no, the community supported us when we first started, they've been supporting us up until now. Let's back ourselves and see if they're going to come back to us.
"So that's what we've been doing. Now, I've been very fortunate to be in that position; a lot of people aren't.
"But I don't want to give up because I love what I do."
Since then, they've had to cut down on staff hours - with the couple working more than 130 hours, combined, a week to make up the difference - and they've paused their community initiatives to help combat declining customer numbers and rising operational costs.
For Little Theo's, electricity has risen $1500 a quarter, insurances cost about $25,000 a year - a 22 per cent increase from 2023 - and even things like package and dairy have risen about 30 per cent in price.
"A lot of people go, 'Little Theo's - they've been there since 1979. They've been there forever'. Yeah, but we're still down 32 per cent," Mr Ferraro said.
"Over the last eight months, my wife and I have pumped back into the business in excess of $30,000. I don't know how much longer we can do that."
Little Theo's is not alone. According to the Canberra Business Chamber Business Beat survey, 65 per cent of respondents reported that their businesses did not meet targets in the first three months of 2024 - an increase of 49 per cent since the last quarter of 2023.
The Canberra hospitality industry has the additional factor of being in competition with "the new shiny thing".
While there are always new eateries attracting business, as the cost of living has risen, Mr Ferraro said the "old faithful" gets forgotten as people cut back on dining options.
"If you go back 24 months, the old faithful was the one that was there, that kept everybody fed," he said.
"I think people are a bit tired of going to the old faithfuls. And I totally get that because there's only so many times you can keep visiting the same places; you want something new.
"But what's happening is everybody's taking whatever disposable incomes they have to the new place; they're forgetting about old faithful.
"Unfortunately old faithful doesn't have the backing of investors like newer, bigger places do.
"We can't afford to not see you. And that's really what's happening."
For Mr Ferraro, it's not about sharing a sob story about a struggling business, but rather a reminder to Canberrans that the cost of living crisis is affecting family-run businesses as well.
"What I've gone through in the last six months, even though it's been coming close to rock bottom, I still love waking up and coming to work," he said.
"I wanted this place to be like Cheers, the TV show. A place where you walk in and they know who you are, where you've come from and whether you've had a good day or a bad day. And I think I've created that here.
"I'm on a first-name basis with 80 per cent of my customers because that's what family-run businesses do. We need to still be here and we need people to help us do that because otherwise we're not going to make it another 12 months."
