The big-name chef fighting back after terrible year for some of UK’s most famous names
By Jimmy Rice, Money blog editor
Jason Atherton is not getting much sleep.
Hardly a week has gone by this year without another big-name chef closing a restaurant amid rising costs, staff shortages and a sense the public isn’t willing to blow out on high-end food the way they used to.
Marco Pierre White, Michel Roux Jr, Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti, Simon Rimmer and Tom Brown have all announced closures, and yet it is openings that are keeping Atherton awake.
Five of them, all in London, in as many months.
“I’ve bet my whole life on this,” Atherton tells Money, already on his third coffee when we sit down at 10am with the intention, at least from the interviewer’s perspective, of answering one question: What does it take to succeed in hospitality in 2024?
“I’m no culinary messiah,” he says. “I’m not going to sit here and say come and follow me, I have the magic recipe. No one does.
“Hospitality is in a downturn, everyone knows it’s pretty tough out there, but in downturns there are also opportunities.
“If you are brave, believe in yourself, there are really good opportunities to work with landlords on failed sites, to get good rents.”
To cut costs further, Atherton has taken to renegotiating prices with his suppliers every week.
“It’s very time-consuming but that’s what it takes, every…
