Australian venues fear a perfect storm of escalating alcohol excise and soaring war-driven costs could push the price of a pint to $15.

Surging fuel prices as a result of the war in the Middle East have caused a ripple effect through the hospitality industry. Venues are battling increased fuel levy surcharges and surging costs for transport, freight, refrigeration, supplier delivery, utilities and waste collection.

Solotel COO Ben Stephens told The Australian $3.50 surcharges had been added to delivery invoices for the hospitality group’s venues across Sydney and Brisbane over the past two weeks. 

“The price of a pint could get up to $15 in the next few months,” he said.

Night-time Industries Association chief executive Mick Gibb said: “What I’ve heard from a number of operators is they’re seeing their invoices now have a specific line item for freight surcharges.

“They’re already working on razor thin margins. I think a lot of operators will be considering whether they can absorb this or need to pass it on to the consumer … (and) independent smaller operators don’t have room to move on that.”

The Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association (ARCA) has advised cafes, restaurants and pubs to introduce a fuel levy surcharge of up to 5% “as a transparent survival mechanism”.

Chief executive Wes Lambert told the ABC the surcharge should be implemented on “a case-by-case basis”, well-communicated to customers and subject to guidelines set by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Last month, both Lion and Asahi confirmed beer prices would be increasing due to rising labour, transport and material costs, with venues set to pass on the higher prices to customers.

Lion told Yahoo Finance that it had made the “difficult decision” to raise prices on some tap beers, with an average increase of 4.3%.

“Despite a welcome pause in excise rises for tap beer, the brewing and hospitality industries have continued to experience cost inflation over the last couple of years, and market conditions remain difficult,” a Lion spokesperson said.

“Lion is committed to striking the right balance between competitive pricing and recovering some of the costs passed onto us from our suppliers in a stubbornly high inflation environment.”

Asahi said it had increased its tap beer prices to just under 3.8%.

“Our recent annual rise in keg prices reflects our rising costs, including labour, transport, and materials,” a spokesperson said.