As the nation is increasingly starved of credit, our appetite for fine dining is greatly diminished. That's how the menu looks from the almost daily reports of restaurant closures, with staff laid off and businesses going bust.
News of Robbie Fox's string of outlets going into liquidation received blanket coverage recently, possibly because he was one restaurant owner whose businesses seemed recession-proof. But the collapse of his company, along with the closure of so many other high-profile places such as Mint in Ranelagh, Dublin, and Gary Rhodes D7, near Capel Street (it closed for a revamp and was due to reopen on St Patrick's Day but has not thus far), is a veritable cuisine crash on a par with the property crash.
Other household-name restaurants continue to trade, but have to contend with less business and higher costs. Eileen Dunne, co-owner with her husband Stefano of the successful Dunne & Crescenzi chain, is still reeling from the doubling of rent on one of her leases on South Frederick Street in Dublin.
From an annual rent of €42,000, her landlord (in this instance the Bank of Ireland) has increased it to €95,000. The restaurant is facing increases on the other two leases it has on the street by December. There are serious repercussions for the industry, and Dunne feels the government has to step in to protect small and medium-sized businesses.
"The total rent could exceed €250,000 by the end of the year, and there is no way I could pay that – I'm not doing that level of business. Every day, you hear of further casualties and you wonder why the government is standing back, considering the number of people going on the live register. And no one wants to talk about the increase in the minimum wage – I've even brought it up with a couple of politicians – but it's considered too controversial a subject to discuss.
"Under the JLC [Joint Labour Committee] agreement, the minimum wage in restaurants is €9.30 – the national minimum wage is €8.60. For us, with a staff of nearly 150, it's an additional €150,000 a year. That's in no one's interest, but what do you do? Do you let staff go?"
Dunne says it's not viable to pass increases on to the customer in the current market – business is down 25% on what it was a year ago, with the evening trade much quieter. Other restaurants offering cut-price menus are on the road to nowhere, she believes.
"I don't know how the restaurants which have dropped their prices drastically could possibly be making any profit – I would say they are just doing it to bring in some ready cash to pay creditors. There is a knock-on effect in terms of standards and everyone suffers when costs are being cut. One of our suppliers had begun to give us sub-standard goods because they were cutting corners and didn't want to risk over-stocking. I feel it's a very scary time, and the government really must step in to protect businesses and jobs."
Other restaurateurs such as Jay Bourke agree that the law is in serious need of reform if businesses are to stay open. Bourke, whose restaurants include the Market Bar and Café Bar Deli, says he has lobbied the government on the need to consolidate our 200-year-old licensing laws, and their near-200 statutes, but that successive ministers have ignored the matter and that he feels "dispirited" by the lack of competence in Fianna Fáil.
"Trade is down everywhere. Every single member of our staff has taken a reduction in wages just to keep going. The government has a duty to reduce rents, reduce energy costs, and most importantly, reduce the minimum wage. That's not a right-wing statement – it's just common sense."
In the case of Ronan Ryan, it wasn't the government, but a mystery investor who stepped in with €500,000 to help his Town Bar and Grill restaurant in Dublin to keep trading. The restaurateur says he has lost €1.35m of his own money. With his South Bar and Grill in Sandyford already closed, the more successful Kildare Street restaurant also had the unhappy prospect of shutting down within weeks until its last-minute financial reprieve.
Given the current frosty climate for business, is it madness for someone to open a restaurant right now? Not so, says Ross Golden Bannon, editor of Food and Wine magazine. "We have long shifted from a culture who 'dines out' to culture that 'eats out'. The reality is that people will still be eating out but they will be a lot more discerning, demanding value for money as well as more information on where their food comes from," he says. "This will be as much driven by a new interest in local food producers as it is by global food-contamination scares."
Nick Munier, the former maître d' on ITV's Hell's Kitchen, is launching Pichet, his café, bar and restaurant in the former Leon' premises on Trinity Street in Dublin in two weeks' time. Both he and head chef Stephen Gibson were formerly with l'Ecrivain and Munier has also been manager at Marco Pierre White's Belvedere Restaurant in London and the U2-owned Clarence Hotel. But will even those impeccable credentials be enough to ensure his restaurant will be a success?
"Really, it's never a good time to open a restaurant – it's like having a baby, you just hope it all goes well and grows up to be a success. If you read too much of the bad news, of course you can become nervous. But we have great support, and a great location and crucially, we have the price point to suit the current market." But how easy is it to keep prices down and yet promote a degree of exclusivity?
"Certainly reducing prices has its problems, and service can also suffer – a restaurant manager who would formerly have earned €50,000 upwards is now doing well if they're on €35,000 and it's difficult to get experienced staff. Many of the big restaurants have got rid of their sommeliers and again that impacts on service.
"But because Dublin is experiencing something of a coffee-shop boom again, I feel that our modern take on the classic bistro should appeal to those looking for a less formal, less expensive evening out."
Green Nineteen on Dublin's Camden Street is one example of a restaurant in tune with diners' wallets and appetites. Based on the café-bar concept, none of the main courses exceed €10 – the eatery is packed every night and it has received rave reviews. Colin Dickson, one of the owners and the front-of-house manager says that the idea had been in the pipeline for a couple of years and it was coincidence that they opened last year, just as the recession kicked in.
"The whole idea we wanted to go for was really good-quality casual dining. Having been abroad where you could eat out several nights a week and cheaply, we didn't see that over here at all so it was something we were keen to offer to people in the neighbourhood," he says.
The €10 price-point is slightly gimmicky in some ways, he admits, but says: "If you're living in town on your own and you want to eat out a couple of times a week instead of at home on your own, that's the sort of price we thought that people should be paying."
It remains to be seen if new and existing restaurants can last the course but Steve Wynne Jones, features editor of Hospitality Ireland, the food service/drinks dedicated magazine, believes we have turned the corner.
"The first quarter of the year was pretty bad for everybody but people are getting over it – people are going to restaurants again. There's a recovery there – it's not what it was – but there are certainly signs of recovery."
He also believes that the credit crunch has its culinary advantages for diners. "There's more creativity in a recession. For far too long you've had the obligatory fillet steak but chefs can't afford to get fillet steak every day so they're bringing in pork belly and mackerel – dishes you don't see that often – and being more creative and delivering something new.
Food and Wine's Ross Golden Bannon agrees that the customer's the winner, especially in relation to the lunch deals now being offered by many fine dining establishments. "If you are a foodie, now is the time to go to all those Michelin-starred restaurants you've always wanted to visit," he says.
Worshipping false gods? How the era of celebrity chefdom may be drawing to a close
For some time now we've been in the thrall of Nigella, Gordon, Jamie, Heston et al. We've even been seduced by their progeny – chefs Angela Harnett and Marcus Wareing in the case of Ramsay, and chef Toby Puttock and wine expert Matt Skinner in relation to Oliver.
Aside from the TV shows and books, their brand-enhancing commercial ventures seemed limitless – pots and pans (Nigella Lawson, Neven McGuire and Jamie Oliver to name but a few); food products (Oliver again, Lloyd Grossman, Ainsley Harriott), magazines (Oliver yet again, Martha Stewart); aprons (yes, Jamie Oliver has designed some, Clodagh McKenna) and endorsements (once again, Jamie Oliver for Sainsburys, Marco Pierre White for Knorr stockpots). But is the golden era of celebrity chefdom drawing to a close?
A dietary committee recently attacked chefs like Rick Stein, Gordon Ramsay, as well as his wife Tana and Nigella Lawson for creating dishes high in saturated fat. Heston Blumenthal, the darling of molecular cuisine, was dealt a serious blow when his restaurant, The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, was closed after 400 customers were taken ill after eating in the three Michelin-starred restaurant.
But it is the famously foul-mouthed Gordon Ramsay who has racked up the worst year ever. Firstly there was the allegation that he'd had an affair for seven years with 'professional mistress' Sarah Symonds. Next came news of his financial difficulties, with the chef and his business partner Chris Hutcheson having to pump £5m into their firm Gordon Ramsay Holdings and Ramsay selling his Ferrari.
Recent weeks saw his nadir however, when he became embroiled in a row in Australia after insulting TV reporter Tracy Grimshaw, comparing her to a pig, which resulted in outrage from feminist groups and even the Australian prime minister wading in, describing Ramsay as a 'lowlife'. No doubt Ramsay has plenty of
F-words to say about his current predicament.
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