Caterer Stuart Gillies offers an unusual cocktail of the week: a delicious-looking Monte Cassino. But what does this have to do with the price of fish?
Everything, as it turns out. Gillies, who ran Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant empire for seven years, is using less popular alcoholic beverages to create something special on a creative menu with the goal of saving him and his diners money. And the same goes for food. Rising fish prices have led to the removal of salmon, cod and bream from the menu and the replacement of mackerel and hake.
He is one of the hundreds of chefs and restaurateurs from all over the country who, in the face of the paralyzing rise in the price of ingredients and the shortage of staff, are forced to rethink their menus and take other measures. cost savings before the summer holidays. Famous chefs such as Tom Kerridge, Mitch Tonks and Razak Helalat have told the Observer that they have to close their doors a few days a week, cut staff hours or change the key ingredients in their dishes.
“Our costs had gone up by 20%, so we were raising prices,” Gillies said. “It was crazy. We can’t keep going up. So I decided to lower the prices and make a zero waste policy.”
The bar of his restaurant, Bank House in Chislehurst, Kent, creates a new cocktail each week with spirits that people rarely drink: in the case of Monte Cassino, a Benedictine and yellow chartreuse. Open bottle wine is used for a tasting selection. Garnishes go in soups, sauces and cakes. And while the lobster and chateaubriand are still on the menu, other ingredients have been replaced and prices are back to 2019 levels.
Tom Kerridge: “We have a reduced menu. We have to reach the same level – it’s a two-Michelin-star restaurant – but we need to reduce the workload.” Photo: Chris Jackson / Getty Images
“The salmon was crazy money,” Gillies said. A smoked salmon salad has become a smoked mackerel salad. “It’s still a premium product. The cod and sea bream rations have gone up a lot. So for now we’re using hake.”
Gillies is not the only one. Kerridge has cut his menu at Marlow Hand and Flowers in Buckinghamshire, a two-Michelin-star pub, from six starters, main courses and desserts to four each, while Coach, his other selling point in Marlow , which has a star, is now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays due to lack of staff.
The hospitality industry is at the crossroads of all the crises affecting the UK: food shortages, worn-out supply chains, fuel-driven inflation, limitless energy prices, a shortage of workers , the debt of Covid loans and the hangover of customers after the blockage they do not. get out as much as before.
Thus, holidaymakers in the UK will have to control their expectations. Potato shops and gourmet pubs in Devon and Cornwall are removing cod from their menus, as well as more expensive restaurants like Mitch Tonks ’Rockfish chain. About 40% of UK cod is caught by Russian vessels, and sanctions applying a 35% tariff on Russian fish are also raising the cost of Norwegian supplies, Tonks said. “A plate of cod and chips would be £ 24,” he said. “I do not think it is right for consumers to bear this cost. It’s temporary, but in the meantime we have some amazing fish in Britain. “
Flour has doubled the price for restaurateurs, due to the shortage of cereals in Ukraine, and the lack of animal feed has forced the rise in prices of beef and dairy, while salmon is now at the highest price in history. Outbreaks of avian influenza have affected poultry, and even supplies of olive oil and other cooking oils have been disrupted.
Almost everyone is affected; for example, Coal Shed restaurants in Helalat add chicken to Sunday’s roast menu because beef is very expensive. McDonald’s has even warned customers for months that they expect ingredients to be missing, while Wetherspoon’s was in short supply last year, but has since recovered.
I can guarantee you that my sales would be 20% higher if we had more people to work with Mark Selby, Wahaca
Amid warnings that the UK is heading for recession as it is hit by 9% inflation, hotels and restaurants are also hampered by bureaucracy, according to Kate Nicholls, executive director of UK Hospitality. With 174,000 vacancies, up 83% from 2019, the UK loses £ 22 billion a year.
“About one in 10 jobs is not covered in the sector,” he said. “A quarter of shops are reducing hours, closing certain days or not selling their capacity. Hotels are refusing reservations. That’s about £ 7 billion for the Treasury. If we want to grow out of a difficult economic environment, not being able to access staff is a limitation we can’t afford. “
Kerridge’s flagship pub, Hand and Flowers, is a 24-hour operation that needs 75 people to run the restaurant and rooms, the Observer said.
“Everyone is working overtime or overtime,” he said. Hiring is very difficult, despite paying above average salaries. “The kitchen is the most affected, but we can’t make the decision to close for a few days, so we have a reduced menu. We have to reach the same level: it’s a restaurant with two Michelin stars, but we have to reduce the workload. “
On the road, the coach closes on Monday and Tuesday to make sure the staff has adequate rest. “Those were still pretty strong days,” Kerridge said. “We’re losing two days of revenue.” Restorers are facing a VAT hike and have yet to pay off loans to stay afloat during the Covid, he added.
The lack of staff is due in part to the fact that thousands of seniors retired early during the pandemic. But the lack of students arriving through catering schools and the absence of young European workers since Brexit came in 2021 are bigger problems.
Mark Selby, co-founder of Wahaca, a Mexican-themed network, said signs of growth before last Christmas had been stalled by Omicron and were still about 25 percent below 2019 levels.
“I can guarantee you that my sales would be 20% higher if we had more people to work with,” he said. “We have restaurants, but we can’t fill them. The government must recognize that there is a labor crisis, put aside Brexit and accept that we are close to full employment. Somewhere, whether it’s Europe, India or South Africa, we need to allow a workforce and welcome them.
“It seems to be getting worse every week and the government has its head in the sand. This is a national problem. In 12 years of operation, I have never had any problems where we would have been left with nothing. We now receive calls every day.”
UK Hospitality has advocated for a working holiday visa for students, which Nicholls said could be done by extending the EU trade agreement and moving forward with proposed agreements with Australia, New Zealand, India and Canada. “First, cut back on bureaucracy and the costs associated with the immigration regime, which means it is beyond the reach of most of our hospitality companies,” he said.
Liam Nelson, the co-founder of Pastaio in London, sponsored a U.S. chef. The process took several months and cost £ 2,000. “She probably spent about six weeks with us before deciding it wasn’t the right role for her, which isn’t so unusual for a chef, but it makes it a lot more frustrating when you’ve gone through that process,” he said. .
“Hospitality is an international industry, and people do it because they love it. It used to be an incredibly appealing solution that turned out to be an amazing career for many people. Without this flexibility, it is unsustainable. Eating out is a big part of British culture and we don’t have enough places to do it. “