The Most Destructive Phrase in Business: “We’ve Always Done It That Way”

“We’ve Always Done It That Way”

Every time I hear it, I know I’m looking at a business in trouble. It’s said with pride sometimes, with gritted teeth sometimes, nostalgia other times, but the effect is always the same: it stops progress dead in its tracks. That phrase closes doors to possibility. It kills innovation. It blocks agility. And most dangerously, it convinces you that comfort equals stability—when it flipping doesn’t.

Business in Ireland hasn’t just “gotten a bit tougher” over the last eight years; it has become brutally demanding for independent hospitality. In more recent time, from September 2023 to late 2024, 612 food-led hospitality businesses—restaurants, cafés, gastropubs and other food-serving venues—permanently closed their doors after the VAT hike from 9% to 13.5%. In early 2024 alone, more than 200 restaurants, cafés and other food-led businesses shut, with one report estimating that the closure of a single restaurant can cost the State over €1 million when you account for lost employment, tax, and local economic spend. If you are still clinging to the same menu, the same hours, the same service style and the same mindset you had in 2016, you are not holding the line—you are potentially standing on a cliff edge.

If you lead with that phrase, “we’ve always done it that way,” your business already has an expiry date stamped on it.

The Cost of Staying Comfortable

I’ve sat at tables with owners who are exhausted, scared, and still fiercely proud of what they’ve built. They show me their ESB bill, their wage sheet, their insurance renewal, and then tell me they “can’t” change the menu, “won’t” change the opening hours, and “don’t need” to look at their systems because “it’s always worked before.”

Here’s the reality behind that comfort. Between 2020 and 2024, restaurant and café prices in Ireland rose by around 20%, driven largely by surging input costs rather than greed. Over the same period, energy, food and labour costs have all climbed, while policy changes are pushing payroll up further; for small hospitality businesses, government-induced measures alone are projected to increased payroll costs by about 6.6% in 2024, rising towards nearly 20% by 2026. On top of that, the national minimum wage jumped by 12.4% at the start of 2024, bringing it to €12.70 per hour and making it the second highest statutory minimum wage in the EU.

So when a business says, “we’ve always done it that way,” what they’re really saying—without realising it—is: “We’re going to absorb 20–30% more cost with the same prices, the same systems, and the same mindset.” That is not loyalty to tradition; that is choosing slow decline.

How “We’ve Always Done It That Way” Kills Pivot, Innovation, Stability and Scale

Let’s unpack what happens when you stay married to that phrase.

1. It kills your ability to pivotPivoting is about moving quickly when conditions change—new costs, new customer behaviour, new regulations. When VAT jumps, energy spikes and wage bills swell, your old model may simply not work on paper anymore. If your response is, “we’ve always done it that way,” you block the essential conversations: changing opening hours, simplifying the menu, introducing pre-order, revisiting pricing, collaborating with other local businesses. Example: a café still insisting on being open seven days a week with a sprawling menu “because we always have been,” despite weekday mornings being nearly empty and staff costs soaring. They’re paying for comfort with their margin.

2. It strangles innovationInnovation in hospitality doesn’t always mean something flashy; it often means smarter. That might be:

   • Moving part of your ordering to digital to reduce wage pressure per customer served.

   • Creating a tight, seasonal core menu that reduces waste and labour.

   • Launching meal kits, subscriptions or click-and-collect to diversify revenue.

   While independent operators battle unprecedented cost pressures—higher VAT, labour-driven payroll increases, energy and food inflation—those willing to innovate can sometimes protect or even grow margin. Those who cling to “the way we’ve always done it” watch their costs rise and their options shrink.

3. It undermines stabilityStability does not come from sameness; it comes from sustainability. A business that refuses to modernise its systems—no costing, no stock control, no forecasting, no digital records—is building on sand. Government reports and industry analyses are crystal clear: tourism and hospitality are low-margin, labour-intensive sectors being hit hardest by layered cost increases. In that environment, “we always did it like this” is not a strategy; it is a refusal to manage reality. True stability comes from knowing your numbers, trimming what doesn’t work, doubling down on what does, and adjusting proactively—not waiting for the accountant to tell you it’s too late.

4. It blocks scalingYou cannot scale chaos. You cannot scale a business that only works when you’re physically on the floor, plugging every gap with your own energy and presence. Scaling—whether that’s a second site, a food truck, a retail line, or just a higher-volume, higher-margin version of what you do now—requires systems, delegation, and the courage to do things differently. In a climate where hundreds of food-led businesses are closing in a single year, growth will belong to those who can adapt their model, pricing, staffing and offering to the new reality. If you won’t change how you do things, you simply cannot grow sustainably.

Real-World Examples of “We’ve Always Done It That Way” Thinking

Here are three patterns I see again and again in Irish food businesses.

• The Menu That Never ChangesThe owner: “Our regulars love the classics; we can’t touch the menu.”The reality: input prices have risen, labour is more expensive, and a menu designed in 2018 doesn’t reflect 2026 costs or customer expectations. Dishes that were profitable then may be loss-makers now. Reviews quietly mention that the food feels “a bit dated.” Sales soften, waste creeps up, but nothing changes—until the cash flow snaps.

• The Opening Hours That No Longer Make SenseThe owner: “We’ve always opened from 8am to 5pm; that’s what we do.”The reality: midweek mornings are dead, staff are standing idle, and evenings could be an opportunity—pre-theatre menus, early bird, private events—but no one has tested it. Energy and staff are paid for, but revenue is not optimised. With rising wages and operating costs, this is the kind of blind spot that turns a viable business into a struggling one.

• The Refusal to Embrace DigitalThe owner: “Our customers like to talk to a person, we don’t need online ordering.”The reality: your ideal customer is now used to booking, ordering and paying from their phone. Digital doesn’t replace hospitality; it supports it. While others are capturing data, managing pre-orders, upselling online and offering click-and-collect, you are relying entirely on walk-ins and the hope that the weather plays ball. In a market where over 600 food-led businesses closed in a single year, hope is not a business model.

The New Phrase: “We’re Willing To Find a Better Way”

If you catch yourself or your team using that phrase—“we’ve always done it that way”—that’s your red flag. That’s your moment to pause and ask: Is “that way” still profitable? Is it still relevant? Is it still sustainable for the people who work here and the bills we have to pay?

Tradition is a beautiful part of Irish food culture. I will always champion our recipes, our producers, our stories. But tradition should sit at the heart of what you do, not around your neck as a weight. The reports, the closures, the economics—none of them are abstract anymore. Hundreds of businesses have already gone; policy-driven cost increases are still coming; and wages, energy and food will not magically drop back to 2016 levels.

The next few years will separate those who evolve from those who endure. Endurance alone is not success. If you keep leading your business with “we’ve always done it that way,” you’re not protecting your future—you’re placing a time limit on it.

So the next time you’re tempted to say, “We’ve always done it that way,” stop.Say instead: “We’ve always been willing to find a better way.”

That’s the mindset that will keep your doors open, your team employed, and your business worth fighting for.

Fully funded mentoring with me – whether you are in food, retail, or any independent sector – is about stepping out of the closure statistics and into the minority who not only survive but adapt and grow. At a time when thousands of independent businesses are closing, choosing not to use fully funded support is, in effect, choosing to stand in the most vulnerable group in the market.

Mentoring cannot guarantee success, but it dramatically improves your chances.

Sign up here and let’s get to work: https://www.traciedaly.com/funded-mentoring