Restaurant Longevity: Built To Last

Restaurant Longevity: Built To Last

Why do some restaurants stay open for decades while others fold within 12 months? Julie Sheppard goes in search of the materials that will ensure your business is still standing firm in 10 years time

Kids. Loads of energy, barely a thought for the future, filled with tonnes of wide-eyed excitement. A bit like opening a restaurant: it’s all adrenaline and ‘here and now’. But how exactly do you ensure that your time-consuming little baby grows up to become a well-adjusted, adult business?

As every restaurateur knows, it’s not a simple case of opening your doors and waiting for the crowds to come in year after year as you rake in the cash. So what is the secret to building a restaurant business that will really stand the test of time?

Ask Michel Roux Junior to explain why his restaruant Le Gavroche has been open since 1967 and he says: ‘It’s down to consistently high standards of cooking and service.’

Luke Tipping, chef director of another Michelin-starred success story, Simpsons, founded two decades ago, agrees that quality counts in large amounts. ‘We’re certainly not the cheapest restaurant
in Birmingham, but people will always buy quality,’ he says.

You don’t need Michelin stars to abide by the quality rule either. Emma Harvey, manager of neighbourhood restaurant Banner’s – which has been going for 20 years – says: ‘We just provide decent-sized, home-cooked food and try to cater to everyone’s tastes, keeping in with our local crowd of regulars.’

The site is right?

But simply providing good food that your customers want to eat isn’t necessarily enough to make your business a success. ‘If only it were just about quality,’ sighs Guy Dimond, a food writer for nearly two decades. ‘Of course there is a correlation, but I see a lot of good places fail, and rubbish ones succeed.’ Food and drink editor of weekly London guide Time Out for over 10 years, he explains: ‘I’ve reviewed hundreds of restaurants that I thought would have staying power, but they’ve subsequently closed.’

‘A great many places have defied my expectations and become longstanding successes’ Guy diamond

He puts this down to one key factor: ‘Location, location, location. A great many places have defied my expectations and become longstanding successes. I’m surprised Yo! Sushi does so well. Planet Hollywood remains a mystery. And the many inferior imitators of Angus Steak Houses seem to defy all the usual rules, apart from that really key one – location.’

However, having a prime site that attracts passing trade isn’t crucial for regional restaurants. ‘Location isn’t always a factor,’ says Liz Carter, consultant editor of The Good Food Guide, who has been reviewing restaurants for over 20 years, including stints working as as an inspector for Egon Ronay’s Guide and the AA Restaurant Guide. ‘Look at somewhere like Gidleigh Park, which is in the middle of nowhere but has been going for 30-odd years.’

Building blocks of success
Get these fundamentals right and you could be in for the long haul...

Have a clear vision of your product – and stick to it

Produce quality cooking

Employ happy, well-trained staff

Listen to your customers

Invest in maintaining the fabric of your building and equipment

React quickly to changes in the market

Service please!

Admittedly Gidleigh benefits from the reputation of its chef, Michael Caines, but Carter believes high-profile chefs don’t always guarantee success. ‘Getting a big name chef as a consultant is a huge waste of money,’ she says. For her, service is a far more important part of the picture. ‘Not all good chefs are good restaurateurs,’ she explains. ‘Very often they will decide to branch out on their own but have no idea about front of house. A good restaurant needs a friendly front of house.

‘It’s amazing how often service is forgotten,’ she continues. ‘I recently went to a country pub where it was obvious the owners had spent an absolute fortune doing it up. But they’d left an 18-year-old in charge of front of house!’

Unsurprisingly, service guru Fred Sirieix, GM of Galvin at Windows, agrees. ‘Places that do well are where people feel a sense of ownership; where the success of the business is their success. So recruiting, retaining and motivating the right kind of employees is crucial,’ he explains.

‘Happy staff will communicate that happiness to the customers,’ adds Paul Jenkins, purchasing director for D&D London, which operates more than 20 restaurants, including old-timers Le Pont de la Tour and Quaglino’s, opened in 1991 and 1994 respectively. Jenkins has worked for the group for 10 years and believes that as well as keeping the customers happy, staff are a crucial line of communication between the public and restaurant owners, giving the latter all-important feedback to ensure that standards are maintained.

Customer communication

‘The ongoing success of a restaurant depends on knowing your customers: who they are, where they come from, what they like and dislike. So we take customer feedback very seriously,’ says Jenkins. ‘We don’t do feedback forms though, so we rely on our staff asking how things were.

‘A really useful development over the last couple of years has been restaurant booking websites such as Top Table,’ he adds. ‘Feedback on these sites has been helpful, as customers won’t always tell
a waiter what they’re really thinking. But on an anonymous website they can be as brutal as they like.’

As well as being a way of monitoring feedback from existing customers, the internet is also a useful tool for marketing yourself to new customers. ‘We have lots of regular customers, so in many ways Le Gavroche promotes itself, with lots of business coming through word of mouth,’ says Roux. ‘But we’re always looking to nurture relationships with the next generation of diners, so it’s important to have a strong online presence and to be included in the right guides.’

Fresh-faced

New customers have to be as impressed with your set-up as the first customers who walked through your doors all those years ago, meaning it pays to keep up appearances. ‘Any restaurant design has a lifespan of eight to 10 years,’ reckons Jenkins. ‘But you don’t have to do a wholesale rebranding – there are small ways to refresh your look. Just change the colour of the paint or the upholstery.’

He advises regular maintenance. ‘Look after the fabric of the buildings and continue to invest on an annual basis,’ he says. ‘Build in a budget each year to replace carpets and curtains, to reupholster and paint.’ It’s not just front-of-house that needs attention, either. ‘Make sure your chefs have got all the kit they need in the kitchens and reassess their needs regularly.’

The gaffer knows best
‘Nah, you don’t want to do it like that mate; you want to do it like this...’ Some words of wisdom from people in the know

‘Holding onto your core values is very important, but we have evolved over the years.’ Michel Roux Junior, Le Gavroche

‘A restaurant needs to get every aspect right – not just the food.’
Liz Carter, The Good Food Guide

‘It seems that people look at running a restaurant as something slightly romantic. In fact, to succeed in this business requires tenacity and that belief that you will succeed where many unfortunately fail.’ Denise Sollis, Coopers

‘Without passion a business – especially one in the service industry
– will struggle.’ Tomas Estes, Café Pacifico

‘Customers can never be bored with great cooking, friendly
service and a bill that they don’t resent paying.’
Guy Dimond, Time Out

‘Keep investing if you want longevity.’ Paul Jenkins, D&D London

As time goes by

Keeping up-to-date in a constantly changing market is a complex issue. Over time your business will be affected by a whole range of external factors outside your control; from annual rises in inflation and taxation to shifts in your client base – not to mention recession.

Take independent restaurant Coopers, which opened near London’s Fleet Street in 1995. ‘A defining point in our business was the move of newspapers out of Fleet Street into the Docklands,’ says co-owner Denise Sollis, who quickly had to find new customers to stay afloat. ‘We now have clients of many years standing from the London School of Economics, the Royal College of Surgeons and the many legal chambers within Lincoln’s Inn, who know that they will be welcomed as part of our family and spoken to on first-name terms.’

Sollis is stoic about the long-term realities of running a restaurant. ‘Dining out is no different from any other retail business. During the recession we have had to cut our cloth in terms of pricing, but still offer value for money,’ she says.

‘Business goes through cycles and you have to recognise when you are moving from one cycle to another,’ adds Jenkins. ‘Make changes quickly if you see that the market is changing,’ he advises.

The price is right

Carter has noticed many restaurants restructuring their prices as a result of the recession, but believes sensitivity to pricing should be an ongoing issue for restaurants thinking long-term. ‘Restaurants have to give deals; that’s a general principle. Use cheaper cuts of meat and unusual fish. Use those old-fashioned cooking skills!’ she admonishes.

‘it’s important to have a strong online presence and to be included in the right guides’ Michel Roux Junior

Keeping an eye on budgets and making sure your books are balanced provides the financial stability necessary for long-term growth. ‘Usually restaurants shut because they are bad at balance sheets, and not because they are bad restaurants,’ notes Time Out’s Dimond.

Tipping agrees and offers practical advice: ‘People come to your restaurant to experience ingredients that they wouldn’t normally get at home, which obviously come at a premium. But you’ve got to buy them, so watch the little things all the time and manage waste.’

He is also wary of slavishly following pricey food trends. ‘I do keep an eye on trends and in the early days we were doing different bits and bobs. But we found our style, so now we concentrate
on what we’re doing and don’t look at other restaurants,’ he says.

Roux agrees.’ Le Gavroche has remained so successful over the years because we have always stayed true to our classical French roots, without trying to become something that we’re not,’ he explains.

That dedication to your original vision – and continual enthusiasm and hard work to make it reality – is the driving force behind long-term success. ‘The question of longevity is one I have pondered a lot and I’ve come down to one pretty simple element: heart,’ says Tomas Estes, who has operated successful branches of Café Pacifico in Amsterdam (open for 34 years), Sydney (15 years to date) Paris (23 years to date) and London (29 years to date).

‘I’ve seen many bars and restaurants start up, become successful and then run down after a period of time. I attribute this to the owner and team losing interest, losing heart. Success in business is dependent on more than hard work, more than smart work; the most important element is inspired work.’

So then, all you need is top-quality cooking, clued-up staff, customers you understand, good looks, sound business sense and bags of inspiration. Well, we never said keeping your restaurant open for years to come was child’s play...

Editorial feature from Imbibe Magazine – January/February 2012