With all eyes firmly set on 2016, Adam Hyman takes a look back at the past year to reflect on the return of big dining operations, the ongoing requirement for more staff in the sector, a need for transparency in the tipping debate and power being seized by cities outside London
As I sit down to write this on an overcast dreary December morning, I try to jog my memory by flicking back through the pages of my slightly dog-eared 2015 diary to see where I’ve recently eaten. Apart from meals during the past month in New York, Dublin and Paris, all the restaurants that I’ve visited in the past few weeks in London have one thing in common: size.
The past year has meant a lot of things for the hospitality industry, but the return of the large-scale dining room has been one of them. Alan Yau’s Park Chinois – a vast subterranean playground of dinner and dancing – on Berkeley Street, Richard Caring’s 200-cover Sexy Fish a few doors up, D&D’s 400-cover German Gymnasium in King’s Cross and Jeremy King and Chris Corbin’s 200-cover brasserie Bellanger in Islington, have all opened in the past month. These are all serious operations that not only require vast amounts of skill and expertise to open, but require bums on seats. Fortunately, it seems Londoners are dining out more than ever thanks to a change in lifestyle and attitude.
Branching out
It’s always a tricky topic discussing trends, especially predicting them (more of this later) but it also seems 2015 was the year that some of the ‘trendsetting’ restaurants in London have started to expand. Chains, or even worse, ‘roll out’, have always been deemed by a certain part of our industry, myself included, as dirty words. However, we clearly seem to be at a stage in the cycle when the quality brands – the ones we’d all be happy to eat in – are appearing in multiple locations in London and the regions.
The Ivy’s spin-off is opening at hefty speed across London and is rumoured to be opening its first sites outside of London early next year. And the cool independent groups such as Polpo and MEATliquor – that have been the ‘inspiration’ for many a new restaurant opening recently – are now really on the growth phase. As well as opening internationally, MEATliquor is now in Bristol, Leeds and Brighton, and Polpo has also set up home on the south coast and will do in Leeds next year. No doubt the private equity houses will soon be knocking on their respective front doors.
Drive for recruitment
Recruitment… if there was one issue that could topple our industry then this is it. We’re at breaking point when it comes to staffing in London – with every operator, no matter who they are, constantly looking for both front-of-house and back-of-house talent. The ultimate solution lies in the classrooms and university lecture theatres across the country. We need a dedicated initiative, supported by the Government, to attract school leavers and university graduates into the industry and make it clear to them, and their parents, that a career in hospitality is not only rewarding, but one that should not be deemed inferior to that of a doctor or lawyer.
The service charge shenanigans made the headlines this year and quite rightly so. Until there’s an actual law in place that states how much of the service charge goes to employees and there’s a transparency around the whole topic, for both the restaurants and the customers, then the situation is unlikely to ever improve across the industry. However, staff welfare seems to be of greater priority for many operators now. Corbin & King, The Zetter Group, Le Gavroche and Hedone have all implemented initiatives to allow their staff a greater work-life balance. And over in New York, Union Square Hospitality Group has just launched its Hospitality Included programme that sees Danny Meyer’s group of restaurants eliminate tipping, which, in turn, will allow him to pay his staff better wages. Eleven Madison Park, Crafted Hospitality and Huertas are all following suit.
Rise of secondary cities
Turning our thoughts to the year ahead, I have a feeling that 2016 will be the year for regional dining in the UK. Like in the States now, where the secondary cities of Charleston, Birmingham and New Orleans for example, are taking the focus away from the main cities of New York and San Francisco, the likes of Bristol, Brighton and Manchester are all witnessing a strong culinary renaissance, with restaurants from London coming to set up shop, as well as via local restaurateurs and chefs.
However, there does seem to be a hint of caution in the air from some restaurateurs with regard to 2016. It’s not so much a matter of if, but when interest rates go up. And there’s going to be some casualties in the restaurant sector. Nobody wants to see people or businesses suffer but 2016 may well be the year that we see some correction in the industry. Some of the rents and premiums that operators have paid, especially in London, are not sustainable and as soon as the normal customer on the street starts to feel a pinch in their wallet, some of the casual fast-food operators that only have a few sites may face tough trading.
Finally, I think we will continue to see more healthy and sustainable cooking and restaurants become the norm during the next 12 months. I think we’ll see more chefs focusing on vegetables, compared to meat and fish, like Alain Ducasse has done at the Plaza Athénée in Paris and Bruno Loubet at Grain Store, and restaurants working closer with suppliers and farmers. Healthy fast casual and fast food will continue to grow Stateside and will pick up momentum here, and apparently – so my bar sources tell me – it will also be the year of the non-
alcoholic cocktail.
Here’s to a healthy 2016!
