Vocal Voices

.... or cutting back.

Jamie's, Carluccio's, Byron and now Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia and a whole host of other restaurant chains.

These chains made their money selling cheap ingredients for top dollar in the good times, but never put anything away for the bad .... so now it's time to shut down before any losses creep in.

I feel sorry for the employees who will lose their jobs, but who were mostly on a pittance in order to line the pockets of their Venture Capitalist owners. However, if the VCs take a hit I will not shed a tear.

Hopefully, when all this washes out of the system, we will see a resurgence of one-off ressies selling food prepared on site from fresh ingredients, and sold at a fair price. Mind you it is going to take a lot of out-of-the-box thinking from councils and landlords to allow these independent start-ups to take off.

And while we are at it we need to redefine what "restaurant" means. Ken-Donald's King eateries are not it - the American description "Diner" just about fits - almost, perhaps, at a stretch.

Workingman wrote:Hopefully, when all this washes out of the system, we will see a resurgence of one-off ressies selling food prepared on site from fresh ingredients,

And I would add to that: sourced locally. There's more than a few cafes and restaurants round here that are making a marketing pitch out of that.

Mind you, down here in the sticks, I do sometimes pine for a good ole McD's Hash Brown …..

Part of me just wants it all to crash and burn, millions out of work and the economy in a shambles.

Because that is the Only way there is going to be a full dissection of just who did and said what on what evidence.

The other part of me wants us to protect businesses and jobs which are viable without the whole world taking their business case away and throwing it in the fire.

I'll wait and see how it goes.

I also have a decision to make. If I don't see work before the interest payments start on my business bounce back loan (12 months), I suspect I'll have to fold the company as a bankrupt. Not a situation I relish. Kind of makes the first part about crashing and burning into a rod for my own back.

Talk about conflicted...

Suff wrote:Part of me just wants it all to crash and burn, millions out of work and the economy in a shambles.

Don't we all?

Oh, hang on, no, some of us would like places to survive and to be able to continue to be there so we can frequent these businesses, whether the old or the emerging new.

But never mind us, we just want to take the current business case away. Except that .... go into any cafe or ressie during the day and who do you mostly find? Oh yes, that would be us old fogies with our teas and coffees and scones and cucumber sarnies. Without us these places would not exist for the casual dining crowd - the 'important' ones. We help keep them going during the day.

Do away with us in a free-for-all unlock and your brave new business protected world falls. Have a nice expensive, over-priced, expenses card paid gloop. Enjoy.

I went in Carluccio's in Leeds once.
It was absolutely rammed but they got the order wrong and the food was mediocre at best.
I did wonder what Antonio Carluccio would have said about the standard of the food on offer!
It was in trouble before the cv crisis and I'm not surprised. Same thing with Jamie Oliver's places - a big name over the door but very average inside.
Wakefield does have a couple of places that aren't like that. A local boy has a place called The Iris (named after his grandmother, who taught him how to cook) and there is a nice Polish place called Duchniak's.
One of the real eye openers for me were the queues that formed for places like KFC and Costa when their drives thrus reopened.
The queue for a Starbucks on one local retail park was so big it went back onto the dual carriageway and the police had to be called out to sort out the mess!
I really don't get that. You are so desperate for a second rate cup of coffee that you will sit in a queue in your car for one? Why??

Overall though I do feel for the small guy, many of whom will be wiped out by the crisis. It's not just restaurants, it's pubs. How many of them were shutting their doors for good even before this?

Incidentally the latest news in that Carluccio's has been bought out by the firm my daughter works for. It's owned by Mr Boparan, the chicken king. So who knows what Carluccio's will end up selling next!

WM, I didn't say which part of me was the bigger. I'd love full disclosure but I don't want to sacrifice everyone to get it.

So, because we won't sacrifice, we get the same old lukewarm mess that we have been living with since Vietnam ended. Everyone would like things to change but not enough will take the pain. Myself included.

cromwell wrote:Incidentally the latest news in that Carluccio's has been bought out by the firm my daughter works for. It's owned by Mr Boparan, the chicken king.

Boparan is toxic. Not just his products but his family. The name is mud in Sutton Coldfield where I used to live; I would not touch him or his products with a bargepole. Just sayin' Crommers, please no offence to your daughter ...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-b ... m-47481657
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41462549

No offence taken Os! I believe his son also glassed somebody in a barroom brawl. It was in the national papers.