Restaurateur Stuart Gillis offers an unusual cocktail of the week: the delicious-looking Monte Cassino. But what does this have to do with the price of fish?
Everything, as it turns out. Gillis, who ran Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant empire for seven years, used less popular spirits to create something special in a creative menu designed to save him and his visitors money. The same goes for food. Rising fish prices mean he has removed salmon, cod and bream from the menu and replaced them with mackerel and hake.
He is one of hundreds of chefs and restaurateurs across the country who are facing a crippling rise in ingredient prices and staff shortages, forced to rethink their menus and take other cost-saving measures before the summer holiday season. Well-known chefs, including Tom Kerridge, Mitch Tonks and Razak Helalat, told the Observer that they should either close their doors a few days a week, reduce staff working hours or exchange key ingredients in their meals.
“Our costs increased by 20%, so we set the prices,” Gillis said. “It was crazy. We can’t just keep going up. So I decided to cut prices and make a zero-waste policy. “
The bar at his Bank House restaurant in Chiselhurst, Kent, creates a new cocktail every week with spirits that people rarely drink: in the case of Monte Cassino, Benedictine and yellow Chartres. Wine from open bottles is used for tasting selection. Trimmings go into soups, sauces and pies. And while lobster and chateaubriand are still on the menu, other ingredients have been replaced and prices are returning to 2019 levels.
Tom Kerridge: “We have a reduced menu. We need to achieve the same standard – this is a two-Michelin-star restaurant – but we need to reduce the load. Photo: Chris Jackson / Getty Images
“Salmon was crazy money,” Gillis said. Smoked salmon salad has become smoked mackerel salad. “It’s still a first-class product. Portions of cod and bream have increased a lot. So we’re using hake instead now. “
Gillis is not the only one. Kerridge cut its menu at Hand and Flowers in Marlowe, Buckinghamshire, a two-Michelin-star pub, from six starters, main courses and desserts to four each, while Coach, his other one-star Marlowe store, is now closed at Monday and Tuesday due to staff shortages.
Hospitality is at the crossroads of all the crises affecting the UK – food shortages, worn-out fuel supply chains, unlimited energy prices, lack of workers, debt from Covid loans and a hangover after blocking customers who do not they do. come out as much as before.
So holidaymakers in the UK will have to keep their expectations under control. Chips shops and gastropubs in Devon and Cornwall eliminate cod from their menus, as do more expensive restaurants such as Mitch Tonks’ Rockfish chain. About 40 percent of British cod is caught by Russian boats, and sanctions imposing a 35 percent tariff on Russian fish also increase the cost of Norwegian supplies, Tonks said. “A plate of cod and chips would cost £ 24,” he said. “I do not think it is right for consumers to bear this price. It’s temporary, but in the meantime we have amazing fish in the UK.
Flour has doubled in price for restaurateurs due to a shortage of grain from Ukraine, and a lack of animal feed has forced prices for beef and dairy products to rise, while salmon is now at its highest price ever. Outbreaks of bird flu have affected poultry and even supplies of olive oil and other cooking oils have been cut off.
Almost everyone is affected – for example, Helalat’s Coal Shed restaurants add chicken to Sunday’s roast menu because beef is so expensive. Even McDonald’s has been warning customers for months to expect missing ingredients, while Wetherspoon’s had a shortage last year, but then recovered.
I can guarantee you that my sales would be 20% higher if we had more people to work for Mark Selby, Wahaka
Amid warnings that the UK is heading for a recession as it is hit by 9% inflation, hotels and restaurants are also hampered by bureaucracy, according to Kate Nichols, chief executive of UK Hospitality. With 174,000 vacancies, an increase of 83% since 2019, the United Kingdom is losing £ 22 billion a year.
“About one in 10 jobs are vacant in the sector,” she said. “A quarter of companies reduce their working hours, close on certain days or do not sell at full capacity. Hotels refuse reservations. That’s about £ 7 billion for the treasury. If you want to get out of a challenging economic environment, the lack of access to staff is a limitation we cannot afford. ”
Kerridge’s leading pub, Hand and Flowers, is a 24-hour operation that needs 75 employees to run the restaurant and dormitories, he told the Observer.
“Everyone is working extra or overtime,” he said. Recruitment is very difficult, although higher than average salaries are paid. “The kitchen has been hit the hardest, but we can’t just decide to close some days, so we have a reduced menu. We need to achieve the same standard – this is a two-Michelin-star restaurant – but we need to reduce the load. “
Down the road, the coach closes on Mondays and Tuesdays to make sure staff get a proper break. “Those were still pretty strong days,” Kerridge said. “We’re losing two days of revenue.” Restaurateurs are facing increased VAT and still have to repay loans taken to stay afloat during Covid, he added.
The lack of staff is partly due to the fact that thousands of older people retired earlier during the pandemic. But the lack of students coming through catering schools and the absence of young European workers after the Brexit strike of 2021 are bigger problems.
Mark Selby, co-founder of Wahaca, a Mexican-themed chain, said signs of growth before last Christmas had been halted by Omicron and were still about 25% below 2019 levels.
“I can guarantee you that my sales would be 20% higher if we had more people to work for,” he said. “We have restaurants, but we can’t fill them. The government must acknowledge that there is a labor crisis and put Brexit aside and accept that we are close to full employment. Somewhere – whether in Europe, India or South Africa – we need to allow the workforce to be here and welcome it.
“I feel like it’s getting worse every week and the government is in the sand. This is a nationwide problem. In 12 years of work, I have never had a problem in which we have done something. Now we get calls every day. ”
UK Hospitality is arguing for a student work visa, which Nichols says could be done by extending the EU’s trade agreement and continuing with proposals for agreements with Australia, New Zealand, India and Canada. “First and foremost, cutting red tape and the costs of the immigration regime, which means it is beyond the reach of most of our hotel businesses,” she said.
Liam Nelson, co-founder of Pastaio in London, is sponsoring a chef from the United States. The process took several months and cost £ 2,000. “She probably worked with us for about six weeks before deciding that this was not the right role for her, which is not uncommon for a chef, but it makes it much more frustrating when you go through this process,” he said. he.
“Hospitality is an international industry and people do it because they love it. It used to be an incredibly attractive stop, which has become an amazing career for many people. Without this flexibility it is unsustainable. Eating out is a huge part of British culture and we won’t have enough places to do it.
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