Supporting independent restaurants

Let’s be clear from the outset, I am not saying that the growth in mass market chain restaurants is a bad thing! However we need to be careful what we wish for! Much like the growth in supermarkets over the last two decades who gave us convenience and low prices, we now all seem to lament the passing of the corner shop and the personal service that came with it. Perhaps this explains why we all adopted the Farm Shop so readily.

So my concern is the same risk facing the independent restaurant market. As an independent restaurateur the challenge today is ever harder to keep our business viable. Our market is constantly under attack from the bland corporate restaurants that are creeping across cities in the UK offering the same product in 20 different outlets. Their success is more driven by the quality of their marketing than the quality of their food! The adoption of the Ryanair price model in these restaurants enticing customers in on low headline prices, whilst charging for every last additional extra from bread to olives is anathema to the independent owned and run establishment where quality, service, value for money and heritage lie at the heart of the business rather than shareholder return.

We run the risk in a city like Bath that if guests do not get behind their independent restaurants and favour the branded corporate chains instead for perceived low cost, then very soon the market will become bland and homogenised and lose the interest and appeal that we all enjoy. This year we have seen 7 restaurants leave the market, one who had served our community for 47 years. These are difficult times for sure, but beware what we may end up with if we continue to sit idly by.

Laurence Beere
Independent Owner, The Olive Tree, Bath.
olivetreebath.co.uk

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