Friday Five: the week's top news
- Chef restaurateur Kenny Tutt has closed his Worthing flagship Pitch citing rapidly rising costs. Speaking to Restaurant, Tutt – who founded the 90-cover restaurant in 2019 after winning MasterChef the previous year - said that Pitch had been 'treading water' since the pandemic, with the more recent rises in utilities, food costs and wages combining to create a perfect storm. A slowdown in demand has also been a factor. “We got a big whoosh of support after Covid. Then things went back to normal, and shortly after things dropped to minus normal,” Tutt said. The combination of rising costs, lower demand and the extra burden of a Covid Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) have seen Tutt make changes to the business, including trying different opening hours and menus and adjusting staffing levels and service style. “We have tried everything. But at the end of the day I don’t want to compromise on the food and the service here and there are some costs that I just didn’t want to pass on to the customer.”
- Spencer Metzger has announced he is moving on from The Ritz after 13 years cooking at the high-profile London hotel’s flagship restaurant. In a statement posted to Instagram, Metzger, who first worked in The Ritz kitchen when he was just 15 and rose through the ranks to eventually become head chef, described it as the ‘end of an era’ and hinted that he would be sharing news of his next role very soon. He said: “After 13 years of working The Ritz my time has come to move on from the amazing establishment I’ve been privileged to call home for so long. “A journey which I will never forget, a journey which has taught me so much not only about cooking, but about true hospitality. “As one door closes, another opens, and I look forward to sharing my next move very soon.”
- McDonald’s is developing a small-format spinoff restaurant chain called CosMc’s, which it plans to test in a handful of sites in early 2024. The fast-food giant shared details about the new concept during its second-quarter earnings call. “CosMc’s is a small format concept with all the DNA of McDonald’s, but with its own unique personality,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said. The name for the new brand comes from CosMc, a McDonald mascot who appeared in advertisements in the late 1980s and early 1990s and takes the form of an alien from outer space who craves McDonald’s food. Kempczinski said the company will test the concept in a handful of sites in ‘a limited geography’ in early 2024 and will share more details about those plans at its investor day in December.
- UKHospitality has warned that the latest interest rates rise will further exacerbate the sector’s financial challenges after the cost of borrowing rose to its highest level in 15 years. Earlier this week, the Bank of England raised interest rates for the 14th consecutive time, from 5% to 5.25%. During the announcement, the Bank signalled for the first time that interest rates would remain higher until it got UK inflation - the rate at which prices rise - under control, saying it would make sure rates are ‘sufficiently restrictive for sufficiently long’. Responding to the Bank’s comments, Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality warned that another rise in interest rates ‘only exacerbates the financial challenges many are grappling with’. “Hospitality businesses are particularly exposed to further rate rises, due mainly to the Covid loans many were forced to take out during the pandemic,” she said. “Yet another rise in interest rates only exacerbates the financial challenges many are grappling with, alongside high energy costs, food and drink inflation and labour shortages.”
- Dishoom’s forthcoming Brighton site will feature an ‘all-new offering’ from the group and open under a new name taken from the bars found in every one of its restaurants. The Permit Room is expected to open at 31a and 32 East Street in The Lanes later this year and will mark the Indian restaurant group’s first regional opening in the south of the country. While details remain thin on the ground, it is understood the Permit Room will be conceptually closer to a bar than a restaurant. The name is taken from the unofficial moniker given to rooms in Bombay where liquor can be sold and imbibed and relates to the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, which is still in force today and requires people to carry a personal permit by law in order to purchase, possess, consume or serve liquor. Dishoom currently uses the Permit Room name on its ready-to-drink cocktails that are sold via its website and on its restaurant's drinks menus.
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