The cost to make a flat white, one of the most popular Australian coffee orders, jumped by nearly one-fifth. The result is smaller profits, a shrinking pool of regular customers and business owners heading for the exit. Before COVID-19, hospitality venues were about one-third of Australian small businesses advertised for sale. It paused in July but warned it may resume hiking if inflation, still running at 7%, fails to slow. "Some of my regulars I used to have will still come and get coffee and say, 'We had to bring lunch.

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Persons: Jack Hanna, Hanna, Damian Krigstein, Peter Meredith, Guy Cooper, insolvencies, Patrick Coghlan, that's, David Cox, Cox, Byron Kaye, Lewis Jackson, Praveen Menon, Sonali Paul Organizations: Reuters, SBS Business, Link Business Sales Australasia, Australian Securities and Investments, Thomson Locations: SYDNEY, Europe, Sydney, Ukraine, Sydney's