Podcast: "30% - 40% of restaurants won't get through this" - Gunpowder founder
Speaking on BigHospitality's United We Stand podcast, the founder of highly-rated London Indian restaurant group Gunpowder says that landlords need to work more closely with single restaurants and smaller groups.
"Landlords aren't playing ball. We're being threatened with a winding up order at one of our two sites," he says.
"I'm worried people are looking at this like a pyramid, in that they only need to protect the top because someone will always make up the bottom of the pyramid. But what happens if landlords suddenly need to fill 30% of the commercial space in London?"
Baweja - who has Indian small plates restaurants in Spitalfields and Tower Bridge - has also questioned the Government's loan scheme.
"How can you offer loans to companies that have no revenue and no idea when they're going to re-open?"
"The last time we had an economic crisis they were happy to pump money into banks and take ownership, but when it comes to the small to medium enterprises they are keeping them at arm's length."
#UnitedWeStand has been created by William Reed hospitality titles BigHospitality, Restaurant magazine and Morning Advertiser and is supported by Arla Pro, Britvic, Coca-Cola European Partners, McCain and Unilever Food Solutions.
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