The British restaurant industry can’t survive this crisis unscathed

Despite their desperate attempts to innovate, these are dark times for the world-leading British food and drink business, writes Emma Henderson

British restaurants and caterers are struggling to stay afloat through the coronavirus lockdown (Getty)

Carluccio’s was the first high street restaurant to go into administration during the coronavirus pandemic, at the end of last month. It’s no surprise as it teetered on the edge when Jamie’s Italian went under, and Byron and Prezzo were closing branches across the country in 2018. This was closely followed by chef Mark Hix’s five restaurants, which also went into administration earlier this week.

That’s only the beginning of what’s to come. How many other high street restaurants, mini chains and independents will fold during this time? The restaurant and hospitality industry is one of the hardest hit sectors in the country, relying on the 36 per cent of us who either ate out or bought takeaway food twice a week.

Their fortunes were not helped by the government initially announcing that people should not go to pubs and restaurants, yet stopping short of ordering them to close. Bookings decreased and reservations were cancelled; customers requested their deposits back but staff wages still had to be paid. Paul Ainsworth, a chef in Padstow with four restaurants, called it “the worst week of his life”, as he tried to prevent making any of his staff redundant.