Nearly one in 10 hospitality and food services businesses closed in the past year, as cost pressures force Australians to rein in spending.
A record-high 9.4% of food service and hospitality businesses shut their doors in the year to March, as economy-wide insolvencies surged 17% year-on-year, according to CreditorWatch data.
Six of the seven industries with the highest closure rates were dependent on discretionary spending.
Administration businesses and the arts and recreation sector both had closure rates above 6%, while retail, construction and accommodation all had higher closure rates than the 5.3% industry average.