Cafes & coffee shops in Ireland

2026-08-07

The single-use plastic ban is 2030. Here is what actually lands on your cafe this month

Your cup, lid and sleeve is one of the few costs in a cafe that moves with every single drink you sell, and from this month a new EU rulebook starts deciding who chooses it. Good news first: nothing about your prices or your margin changes on 12 August 2026, and the single-use plastic ban you keep reading about is not 2026, it is 2030. What you get instead is three dated duties, one of which is live in five days, and a rule from February 2027 that pushes cost out of your business rather than into it. Here is each date, in the order it reaches you.

2026-07-11

Ireland just cut hospitality VAT to 9%. Whether it reaches your profit is one decision you make

Most tax news costs you money. This one can hand some back. On 1 July 2026 the VAT on the food and coffee you sell dropped from 13.5% to 9%. But here is the catch almost no owner gets right: the cut does not automatically become profit. Whether a single euro of it reaches your bottom line comes down to one decision, and the government is quietly hoping you make the opposite one.