These are tough times for restaurants. If the pandemic's rolling lockdowns were not bad enough, independent eateries now find themselves caught on a conveyor belt of crises: inflation, labour shortages and high rents. That is without mentioning the post-Covid agoraphobic “hermit consumer", who prefers to hunker down indoors than splash the cash on going out. If the stats are to be believed 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, 80% after five. And yet despite the long odds many are still seduced by TV dramas like The Bear into turning their passion for cooking into a business. We hear from some of the best in the business for a steer on how to keep this labour of love alive. David Reid speaks to leading restaurant critic Jay Rayner, culinary specialist Ashley Godfrey, top chef Joseph Otway and restaurant operations manager, Sam Wheatley as they lift the lid on the trade secrets they have accumulated from years on the restaurant front-line. The programme also asks what a world without independent restaurants would be like and what we as strapped consumers can do to save the flagging middle of the restaurant market from going under. Presenter/producer: David Reid (Image: A waitress lays a table in a restaurant. Credit: Getty Images)
This was an impregnable fortress.
The only way you got out was in a wooden box.
The controversial maximum security prison, impossible to escape from.
One of the duties of a political.
Prisoner is the escape the IRA inmates who found a way.
I'm Carlo Gabler and I'll be navigating a path through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in british and irish history.
The narrative that they want is that.
This is a big achievement by them.
Escape from.
From the maze.
Listen first on BBC Sounds.
The most important thing is atmosphere.
It's a room you want to be in.
We're not selling steaks and red wine, we're selling a room you want to be in.
That's at the heart of the restaurant business.
I've walked out of places before because you just don't get greeted.
You just stand there waiting until someone decides to come over and help you.
I definitely look back at my former self.
I think I was probably a bit of a jackass.
You're constantly replicating what you've been shown, how you've been treated, what you've already seen.