The owners of a Chinese restaurant near Clitheroe have had to reduce their opening hours as the cost of ‘mock meats’ and energy bills have skyrocketed.

Choi Gan, in Cockerill Terrace, Barrow transformed into a vegetarian restaurant during the pandemic after the owner, Ying Tang, stopped eating meat for health reasons and wanted to reflect this in the menu.

The decision to go ‘full veggie’ was recently praised by a Clitheroe resident who said: “I just really appreciate the smile on my girlfriend’s face when she can choose almost everything on the menu” and even ranked the crispy chilli (mock) chicken as the ‘best he’s ever had’.

"I have to say the crispy chilli chicken (mock meat) I had was the best chilli chicken I’ve ever had…. Despite not being chicken. And the everything else we’ve had has been great," he said.

Unfortunately, the soaring costs of plant-based meat alternatives and energy has had a monumental impact on the business, as Ying and co-owner Simon have noticed a decline in customers as well as an increase in the cost of running the business.

Ying said: “Having a vegetarian restaurant is always something I’ve wanted to do but being in Ribble Valley, we are limited to what footfall and customers we can get.

"If we moved to the city then maybe we’d have a better chance but not here.

“Also, whether we have customers or not we have to leave the equipment on and everything is run by gas and electric.

"It’s not like we can turn it off when we’ve not got orders so it’s becoming quite costly because we’re not getting the customers in.

“With the vegetarian menu being quite new to the area the problem is just breaking even. The prices of everything, from mock meats to vegetable seasoning, everything has gone up but I want to keep ticking over.

"As long as we can just pay the bills and have something to do, I’m willing to do it but it’s getting quite hard now.”

A study conducted by insure4sports found the majority (65 per cent) of vegan products were more expensive than their meat equivalent and amid the cost-of-living crisis, food prices have soared to a record annual rate of 11.6 per cent in October.

Simon and Ying have had the business for more than 20 years but have only been running it as a vegetarian and vegan restaurant since 2020.

Speaking on how they’re attempting to manage the cost of running the business, Simon said: “We’ve made the decision to close the restaurant for a couple of days a week just because we can’t afford to run it as much as we do.”

The restaurant used to be open from Wednesday to Sunday from 5pm to 11pm but will now be open from 5pm to 9pm Thursday to Sunday.

The family also runs Kong San Chinese restaurant in York Street, Clitheroe, which reopened in November after closing during lockdown.

Unfortunately, Simon says that Kong San is also struggling to stay afloat amid the cost-of-living crunch.