The most beloved of restaurants I enjoy is in a veritable tiny slice of a building serving mind blowing Japanese food. Its chance of surviving in a socially distanced future are zero, and – given the slim margins most restaurants “enjoy” – I fear a similar fate for other of London’s idiosyncratic restaurants squeezed into tiny spaces.
Andrew McGee
4 years ago
Can someone please reconcile for me the following four facts? 1. Restaurant staff are generally poorly paid: 2. Most restaurant food is of no more thn mediocre quality, both in content and preparation; 3. Most restaurant food is absurdly overpriced (and they expect tips on top); These three facts together would suggest that someone is coining it in this sector. That someone would presumably be restaurant owners. Yet 4. There is a very high failure rate in this sector.
Rent and rates are very high. There is a lot of competition. Everyone has been in a restaurant and many people over-estimate how easy it is to run a restaurant and the time commitment involved.
You have omitted rent and regulatory compliance. Someone has to pay the landlords and the bloated index-linked pensions of the elf-n-safety bureaucrats.
Fred Dibnah
4 years ago
I could only identify 2 of the 3 great engines. Reformation and French Revolution. Could someone please tell me the third.
Alex Delszsen
3 years ago
I am sketchy on food history, but in Roman times (?) fuel was costly and cooking was left to street vendors. I also think about pasties made to keep hands warm, and then eaten for lunch by miners. (Tanya Gold I am not, so my historical references are cr*p.). That said, I often think I would like to see neighbours cooking pasties for neighbours, or stews and soups. One stop, for elderly folks, people in want, or for shift workers.
Yes, these are called take out restaurants, but wouldn’t it be lovely if they were more like co-ops, or truly hole-in-the-wall neighborhood charity level? Somewhere in the Middle East, or was it South America?, there is a bread store where you buy bread, and pay for a loaf for a needy person, who could come by for a free loaf.
Anyway, with health and safety regs., and the fear of lawsuits, one can’t just cook for your neighbours out of charity. Still, we holiday, or watch t.v.about developing nations, and feel the charm and hospitality.
We come back, and we want profit. What about this being a side gig, with some tax incentives, or lawsuit protection, so that we do these sorts of things? Yes, the middle classes don’t want their bakery filled with the homeless or addicts, but what about a pasty stand or bakery that makes room for its neighbours? There is all that empty downtown real estate in so many towns…
I wish the millionaires didn’t feel poor next to the billionaires. I wish the entertainers weren’t fixated on hair extensions and Bentleys. I wish there were more people who modeled themselves on Christians, maybe even becoming one in the process. Soup kitchens. Who was the punk princess? Yes, Gloria Von Thurn und Taxis…She runs a soup kitchen at her castle. Anyway, more of this, please.
And the weekend foodies, off to their wine tastings, or preparing their roasts—what about making a supper club for your ordinary, non-extreme anti-aging folks to age along with us, as a community? Long live neighborhood inclusive bakeries and such. But don’t fall into your same pseudo-,safe and middle class traps. Get Ancient. Get Third World. Get Christian. Let us stop living all Instagram-Ready and create lovely, humane villages. Please.
The most beloved of restaurants I enjoy is in a veritable tiny slice of a building serving mind blowing Japanese food. Its chance of surviving in a socially distanced future are zero, and – given the slim margins most restaurants “enjoy” – I fear a similar fate for other of London’s idiosyncratic restaurants squeezed into tiny spaces.
Can someone please reconcile for me the following four facts?
1. Restaurant staff are generally poorly paid:
2. Most restaurant food is of no more thn mediocre quality, both in content and preparation;
3. Most restaurant food is absurdly overpriced (and they expect tips on top);
These three facts together would suggest that someone is coining it in this sector. That someone would presumably be restaurant owners. Yet
4. There is a very high failure rate in this sector.
Rent and rates are very high.
There is a lot of competition.
Everyone has been in a restaurant and many people over-estimate how easy it is to run a restaurant and the time commitment involved.
One and four may be facts, two and three are more likely opinions. Perhaps you just live somewhere without a good local eatery?
You have omitted rent and regulatory compliance. Someone has to pay the landlords and the bloated index-linked pensions of the elf-n-safety bureaucrats.
I could only identify 2 of the 3 great engines. Reformation and French Revolution. Could someone please tell me the third.
I am sketchy on food history, but in Roman times (?) fuel was costly and cooking was left to street vendors. I also think about pasties made to keep hands warm, and then eaten for lunch by miners. (Tanya Gold I am not, so my historical references are cr*p.). That said, I often think I would like to see neighbours cooking pasties for neighbours, or stews and soups. One stop, for elderly folks, people in want, or for shift workers.
Yes, these are called take out restaurants, but wouldn’t it be lovely if they were more like co-ops, or truly hole-in-the-wall neighborhood charity level? Somewhere in the Middle East, or was it South America?, there is a bread store where you buy bread, and pay for a loaf for a needy person, who could come by for a free loaf.
Anyway, with health and safety regs., and the fear of lawsuits, one can’t just cook for your neighbours out of charity. Still, we holiday, or watch t.v.about developing nations, and feel the charm and hospitality.
We come back, and we want profit. What about this being a side gig, with some tax incentives, or lawsuit protection, so that we do these sorts of things? Yes, the middle classes don’t want their bakery filled with the homeless or addicts, but what about a pasty stand or bakery that makes room for its neighbours? There is all that empty downtown real estate in so many towns…
I wish the millionaires didn’t feel poor next to the billionaires. I wish the entertainers weren’t fixated on hair extensions and Bentleys. I wish there were more people who modeled themselves on Christians, maybe even becoming one in the process. Soup kitchens. Who was the punk princess? Yes, Gloria Von Thurn und Taxis…She runs a soup kitchen at her castle. Anyway, more of this, please.
And the weekend foodies, off to their wine tastings, or preparing their roasts—what about making a supper club for your ordinary, non-extreme anti-aging folks to age along with us, as a community? Long live neighborhood inclusive bakeries and such. But don’t fall into your same pseudo-,safe and middle class traps. Get Ancient. Get Third World. Get Christian. Let us stop living all Instagram-Ready and create lovely, humane villages. Please.