More voices must join the chorus
We are entering a season of new restaurant openings. Gordon Ramsay has officially moved in at Claridge's; the Greenhouse has reopened with a £300,000 refurbishment after a two-and-a-half-month closure; Rowley Leigh has unveiled his new venture, West Street; Peter Gordon has returned to London, following a short sojourn in his native New Zealand, with the opening of the Providores in Marylebone; and Giorgio Locatelli will shortly be back at the stove when he launches Locande Locatelli at the Churchill hotel next spring.
Outside London, former Caterer Adopted Business Dermott's is relocating to larger premises in Swansea; 2000 ITV Chef of the Year Tony Singh is opening Oloroso with wine connoisseur James Sankey in Edinburgh; and, having closed its doors to the paying public for 10 months, L'Ortolan in Shinfield, Berkshire, is once again up and running as a restaurant.
Each individual opening is an exciting story in its own right, but there is more happening here than a string of evolutionary developments. All these businesses have something in common.
They are independent restaurants and they are run by entrepreneurs who many in the industry look up to. They represent the razzmatazz that makes this sector of the hospitality industry more than just "service".
It is a sector that employs 26% of the industry's workforce - that's at least 458,000 people. It is a sector that is growing; a sector that is proving its resilience; a sector that continues to strengthen the attraction of the UK as a tourist destination.
London and some of the regions may be facing a short-term downturn in business because of recent events overseas, but the underlying message is that these openings prove that the restaurant scene in the UK continues to be a dominant force on the world stage.
Accepting this to be true, however, leads to another question. Why are restaurants, in the main, being ignored in the representations that go to Government?
The launch of the new Tourism Alliance by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport at the end of this month is a welcome initiative for the industry. Unfortunately, it includes only certain areas of the industry - namely tour operators, visitor attractions, holiday homes and parks, hotels, pubs and a few of the big restaurant chains.
Where does that leave the independent, entrepreneurial restaurateur? It is a serious omission.
Ian McKerracher, chief executive of the Restaurant Association, argues that if small restaurants don't fit with tourism and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, perhaps they should be knocking at the door of the Department of Trade & Industry. He may be right in the long term, but it is probably wishful thinking at the moment.
The important thing is to look at what is happening now. It is absurd to suggest that the small restaurant sector is not part of tourism. Restaurants attract visitors and, if restaurants are opening, it means that the sector is strong.
What should be opening as well are the doors to any alliance that represents tourism as a whole. If that doesn't happen, the hospitality industry will continue to fragment just at a time when it needs to speak with one voice.
by Amanda Afiya
