Lucinda O'Sullivan's Ireland

Friday 14 November 2014

Today I am talking to another group of people who survived the recession. This time it is the restaurant industry. I ask how they did it? How they coped with the challenges thrown at them when the bubble burst? All three are at the top of their game, some of our best known and respected restaurateurs, but that in itself brings problems because they all employ a lot of people, have enormous expenses and high customer expectations to satisfy.

The Michelin-starred Chapter One was founded in 1992 by Ross Lewis and Martin Corbett. They proved a dynamic duo and it is one of the best known restaurants in Ireland. Ross told me that when the recession hit, while obviously there was a decrease in the number of people coming through, the biggest factor was that the spend was going down. People who might previously have bought a €45/€60 bottle of wine were now choosing wines at €30/€35 and turnover slumped in the first and second years of the recession.

"As a mature restaurant in the market place, we had a very strong demand to get in, it wasn't as if we were in our first five years where you would have this huge capital spend and you are under pressure from the banks, so most of the demand was still there but we felt people were looking for better value.

"What was very clear was that the expectation on us was massive. So, if somebody 'signed the contract' to come and have a meal in Chapter One and paid €120 with wine, you had better deliver, and you had better deliver the finest quality and service. So we really needed to be better than ever before."

Ross says he was faced with a couple of routes, one being to keep his workforce or lay off some people.

"I decided to invest in them rather than letting them go. So, I said to them, 'I am going to keep you all on, we are not going to let eight or ten of you go, but really what I am looking for is 150pc'. I thought there was possibly an opportunity also to steal a bit more of a march on standards. Some other restaurants were letting people go and that does lead sometimes to a standard that is varying and I just thought, if we were to stay here and charge the same prices, then we had better be very, very good.

"Having said that, we haven't put the lunch menu up for about seven to eight years, the pre-theatre menu hasn't been put up for seven to eight years and we went to a la carte format of a four-course meal instead of the three-course and we charged €65 for that at the time we brought it in three years ago.

"We felt we were offering three-courses plus petit fours and all that sort of thing, so it was a fuller choice of dishes and flavours on offer, so really we had to kind of dazzle them.

"That essentially is what we did. We also had a lock-down on expenses to make sure we were getting the best value we could from all our services, from table cloths to changing electrical and gas supplier to make sure it was the best competitive rate and all the infrastructure, making sure you were cutting down your use of energy and really to make sure your margins were bang in line. That really was the cut and thrust of our thinking."

Ross says that having come out the other end of the recession successfully he is happy that they went down the right road. "I thought that really strengthening the brand at a cost of really making nothing for the first two years was the right strategy and it was."

They have always engaged in upgrading, thinking ahead and moving on. "It's always been a big part of how we stay alive. The industry is extremely competitive now and unless you move on, you are going to fall aside because it is almost now not what's good but what's new and happening.

"There's a younger generation who are extremely informed through the internet and food blogging. They have the palates, they are eating things their parents didn't. When I first went into business you needed protein on a plate, a sauce and veg on the side. It has changed totally. You have to appeal to these people and going forward it's very important for a restaurant like ours to look to the next ten years, and who are the customers of the next ten years. We take on projects all the time, we did the Chapter One book last year, so we reinvest all the time."

Ross says the early signs are that people are spending a little bit more so that is all good.

Asheesh Dewan owns the Jaipur Group of Indian restaurants, which has branches in Dublin's South Great George's Street, Dalkey, Malahide, Ongar and also includes Chakra in Greystones and Ananda in Dundrum, which has won Best Restaurant and Best Chef in Ireland Awards.

"I'm blessed with a parameter that stretches from one end of the city to the next and 2009 was a nice year. But the first response we got to the recession was in early 2010 in Dalkey. Our clientele there was more mature and experienced than elsewhere and, like good mussels when bad water is coming through, they said, 'let's shut for a little while'."

So they became more cautious in their spending. Asheesh compliments his manager in Dalkey saying he was very experienced, he had seen this globally and was saying to him, he thought the tide was turning and they'd better do something about the whole thing. He had also just opened Ananda in 2008.

"Was it the best time to open a restaurant? The initial response was tremendous, but you could see from the peripheries that people were holding back and at the end of December 2009 - early 2010 - we came to a grinding halt. The bottles of wine were squeezed out, people were eating but they didn't want to be seen spending or be seen having a good time. Suddenly we all got disciplined and regimented; trying to squeeze margins. We just changed our gait, the swagger was gone."

Asheesh said they had to do their sums, but still run a business with the same level of service because people expect nothing to change.

"You can't cut your staff down. There are seventy families eating out of the Jaipur Group, so it's a huge responsibility. We had to chase customers and give them a great time. People say Jaipur has a great name, but you still have to go out and put bums on seats just like anyone else."

"The mood has got better and for the past 12/14 months I am seeing very happy customers, there is a buzz again. We've all changed the way things are done. The recession has also thrown open opportunities, it has made us re-think our businesses. The one thing the recession has taught me is that if you want things to stay the same, you need to change. It's the little things in life now that mean the most, that's what the recession has done for us."

Roly's Bistro in Ballsbridge opened in 1992 and is owned by John and Angela O'Sullivan. It is one of the most popular restaurants in the city. Chef de cuisine Paul Cartwright said that in 2008 they had noticed that lunch was trailing off a bit.

"We used to use both floors, upstairs and downstairs, so we went from being open six days a week on two floors to maybe five days a week and then it became two floors for lunch on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

"We had been thinking of opening a cafe in the area so we decided then to open one on the ground floor operating from 7.30am to 4.30pm offering a more casual lunch. All the corporate lunches went down by 50pc.

"We turned it back into the restaurant in the evenings from Wednesday to Saturday, but we made the decision then in summer 2009 to open it as the cafe in the evening as well because there was a demand for it."

Paul says that rather than seeing the customers disappearing or dropping off, what they experienced was the same as both Ross and Asheesh.

"We found that they weren't spending as much money. They'd still come but instead of having a €35 bottle of wine they'd have a €22 bottle, or maybe not have a drink before or after dinner. That's what we found more than anything, or they'd have the early bird or set menu, things like that. Up until 2007/8 we hadn't done early bird menus, everyone dined a la carte but after that they were looking for early birds so, obviously, if people wanted it, we did it.

"Set menus were a big thing, particularly for families or groups, because they would know exactly what they were going to spend, that if they were having a starter, main course and dessert, that it was going to cost €25 or €30. We didn't reduce our prices in the restaurant, but we would have cheaper specials on the menu and we gave the option of the cafe also.

"We had to change a lot of our staff rostering and, to be fair to all the staff, they were all very co-operative and helpful. The workers in the country have suffered as well and our staff were brilliant and willing to help."

Paul says that most people would say there isn't a huge pick up yet; most people are still spending less money.

"The 9pc VAT has been a huge help to us. People say it has created 30,000/40,000 more jobs but it has also probably saved twice that number of jobs."

Roly's also do take-out options from the cafe. "After Christmas we are expanding our take-out options - more ready meals and things."

They do ready meals from €6-€9 such as coq au vin, beef stroganoff, chicken korma, lamb pie and so on and you can also get two mains and a bottle of wine for €21. "

"We will also be doing hot sandwiches and BBQ chicken and so on. Further on in the year we will be doing a lot more seafood such as oysters, scampi, crab claws and things like that at prices that offer very good value."

See: chapteronerestaurant.com; jaipur.ie; rolysbistro.ie

First published in IRISH LIFE the Sunday Independent