A British Michelin-starred chef says he is opening restaurants abroad to subsidise his UK venues against a backdrop of high taxes and a struggling hospitality sector.
Jason Atherton is now in Forte dei Marmi, on the Tuscan coast in Italy, where he is preparing his newest opening, Maria’s, which will be in the Principessa hotel. The Sheffield-born chef now has restaurants all over the world, including in Dubai and St Moritz.
He said he was finding it easier to make a profit in countries with more forgiving policies towards restaurants, pubs and bars. “I am trying to sustain our business by opening abroad. We are opening one new restaurant in the UK but we are very cautious – we are certainly not gung ho like we were five or six years ago,” Atherton said from the kitchen at Maria’s.
The chef, 54, believes “restaurants will not survive” if high taxes continue. “If we didn’t have a global brand we would find it tough because the UK is tough,” he said. “I have restaurants that are losing money. We are not asking for handouts, we are asking for a fair chance to stay alive.”
Restaurants say they are struggling in the face of tough economic conditions. Business rates increased this year as Covid-era reliefs expired. The industry body UKHospitality has calculated that this will hit the average restaurant business with £32k of extra tax. Additionally, VAT, a consumption tax added to most goods and services, is at 20% for restaurants in the UK, the highest rate in Europe. In Italy, this is set at 10% for food sold in restaurants. The UK government has also increased employer contributions on national insurance for lower paid employees, leaving restaurants paying more tax for every person they hire. “All I know is that the tax on hospitality in the UK is the highest in Europe. Ireland VAT is 9% we are 20%, hospitality in Ireland is booming,” Atherton said.
Kate Nicholls, the chair of UKHospitality, believes it is harder to run a restaurant in the UK than in Europe. “The UK has one of the highest rates of VAT for hospitality in Europe, which puts our restaurants at a significant disadvantage to their competitors across the continent.”
Atherton has been awarded five Michelin stars throughout his career for his various restaurants. Row on 5, his Mayfair venue, was awarded a star seven weeks after opening, and was given two stars the following year. He initially worked with Gordon Ramsay, launching the Maze restaurant, before venturing out on his own, opening venues such as Pollen Street Social and Berners Tavern.
He is enjoying life in Italy, where he is working with executive chef Giorgio Cicero. “It is quite a personal project to me because we’ve been coming for 12 years as a family. I am having a lot of fun learning about Italian food,” Atherton said.
But is he nervous about being a Brit serving pasta to Italians? “I am a chef restaurateur who has been around the chopping block multiple times,” he said. “Giorgio, who has worked with me for eight years, is now back to his homeland and together, with me, he has written a menu.”
Although taxes and rising costs are keeping margins tight in the UK, Atherton thinks it is important to keep affordable options on the menu. The Michelin-starred chef has been determined to serve pints of beer for under a fiver, for example.
He said he saw a television news report that you cannot get a pint in London for under £7. “I thought is that right? I looked at the margins and decided to knock our pint down so people can come and have a pint. We also didn’t put the prices up at Row when we got two stars, they are the same as when we had one star.”
Atherton added that at his restaurant Three Darlings in Chelsea, the average lunchtime spend is £30. “The thing I look forward to the most is taking my family out for lunch or dinner on my one day off on a Sunday. It is one of the most enjoyable things you can do as a human. I think if we lose that or a part of it in the UK it is devastating on every level. If that becomes a massive luxury that’s terrible.”
