I remember first coming to this incredible city years ago, and in the past three decades I’ve seen many talented chefs carving out their reputations, open amazing restaurants — but now the industry is facing a bloodbath. I was 21 when I moved, and I’ve never seen it so bad. When I look ahead to April, when the Budget measures come in, I think those of us in hospitality are lambs to the slaughter.
Restaurants are already closing every other day. It devastates me because it seems no one in power is thinking ahead and considering where we’ll be in five years. We’re being suffocated. What’s happening to pubs is madness: there was already one shutting every day before these proposed rises in business rates and taxes. They’re being crippled. Restaurants aren’t faring much better — I live in Wandsworth and you can’t walk 10 metres without seeing another closure, another boarded-up front.
The changes in rates should be implemented much more carefully, with a much slower transition from what exists now to what the Government wants. The trouble is that the rises are coming in too quickly, at one of the worst possible moments. What the industry needs is more time to regenerate businesses and get into a cash-positive state. We want businesses to have growth, something none of us have had in the past five years. We’re barely standing. We need more oxygen — a reduction in rates of 20 or 25 per cent. That would give businesses a much-needed head start. I don’t think the Government has thought out its policy properly; it needs to be redone, revised, and ministers need to come back with a template for a much more supportive system.
Gordon Ramsay in Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High
Brian Bowen Smith for Gordon Ramsay Restaurants
It’s worth remembering it’s not long since the pandemic. There was incredible support with furlough, but everyone’s been treading water ever since — and so it’s turned into a ridiculous mess, because flat is now considered the new growth. It’s not just rates: the past few years have seen massive rises in utilities, ingredients and staff costs. Although I’m all for the rise in minimum wage, we deserve to be paid fairly. We don’t do 40-hour weeks; we don’t come in for seven-and-a-half hours a day with an hour off for lunch. We work hard. I’m not sure the Government realises how hard, to be honest.
That’s likely to be because it’s not working closely enough with us. I’ve lost confidence in its metrics because this has happened before. Look at what happened with the farmers, who brought London to a standstill over inheritance tax. Look at the U-turn the Government had to make — it had egg on its face. It happened because ministers thought out a plan without any proper involvement of anyone in the agricultural world. Here we are again, only this time with restaurants and pubs. Ministers are not working closely enough with us to get a proper handle on how things will fare if they insist on implementing these changes. It’s simply bad planning.
I don’t think the Government has thought out its policy properly; it needs to be redone, revised, and much more supportive
This is the worst I can remember things being, which is saying a lot. I remember September 2008, the Lehman Brothers going under and the financial crash. It wiped 35 per cent off our business overnight; corporate entertainment disappeared within 24 hours. No more ridiculous wine spends, no more private dining, no more chef’s tables. It made us pivot, reshape our menus and bounce back. And we did. Foot and mouth was another tough one: everyone was bloody terrified to step outside Heathrow. We weathered the storm there — but this is on a different level. Because it’s so soon after the pandemic, we’re already backed up. It wouldn’t be so bad if this was being implemented in a city that was hustling and bustling, but we’ve barely had a chance to stand up and now we’re back on our knees. With this business rate storm brewing, it’s going to be catastrophic.
Gordon Ramsay
Phil Conrad
A lost generation of chefs
The bigger problem is that, like us, customers are at their breaking point too. We have to tantalise guests — they vote with their feet — but there’s only so much we can keep adding on, and the rate and tax rises will only make things harder. When we opened Bread Street Kitchen in 2011, we encouraged families to come by saying that kids eat free. It’s something we’ve built our reputation on and we’re standing by it, but the Government is making it so much more difficult. It’s not just us. Even with fine dining, people don’t have £250 a head to spend; that’s £500 for two without any drink, for goodness’ sake. I saw Phil Howard’s Elystan Street is doing three courses for £26. That’s 1995 prices; they won’t be making a penny. We’ve got a three-course menu at Bread Street that’s £28 and we’re barely breaking even. With the increases coming, things like this are just not sustainable.
Such difficult trading conditions don’t just stifle a restaurant’s ambitions for growth, they’re stifling confidence in individuals too. Two weeks ago I spent a couple of hours with a group of 85 chefs who had come down from all over the UK. The younger generation now have no interest in setting up their own businesses because of the jeopardy and level of pressure that’s on their shoulders. Instead, they were talking about becoming private chefs, doing social media — and these are chefs who have been cooking for 10 years. We’re all going to miss out on a generation of independent chefs and independent restaurants. Everyone loses. The Government’s plans simply will not work, I promise you now.