Over the years many people have recommended certain restaurants to me for the simple reason they offered lots of choice. Their reasoning being the exceedingly long “global” menu (it worries me when no single country seems to own something) would ensure I’d find plenty of things I’d want to eat. This always seemed rather odd to me. For one thing, I eat anything, so offering me loads of choice provides no particular appeal. Quite the opposite in fact – it sets alarm bells ringing. It’s impossible to be a jack of all trades so many of the options will likely be sub-par efforts, and there is also a worry about freshness and levels of waste.

 

I’ve always thought a stripped back menu with few options to be a thing of beauty. It will only consist of dishes that have been perfected by the chef, it will include only the freshest seasonal ingredients, there will be limited waste, and it is rather relaxing to not have to juggle myriad options around in your head when you just want to relax over dinner. The bottom line here is that I’m putting my trust in the chef. That’s why I chose to book a meal in their particular restaurant. I’d be absolutely fine with having no menu choices. And I’m clearly not alone otherwise we would not have seen the rise of the tasting menu. Such demand highlights a desire by diners to experience the skills of the kitchen through a variety of small dishes selected by the chef. No choices. 

 

It seems rather strange therefore there has been some dissenting voices over the decision by Michelin star restaurant Hibiscus to scrap the à la carte option and instead only provide a choice of two tasting menus. Their argument being hospitality is about giving the customer what they want – which includes dishes of their choosing. Surely the main decision diners make is where they choose to eat and with that they accept the dining options they are to then receive in that establishment. The rationale put forward by Hibiscus chef/owner Claude Bosi for his move is it helps cut down waste. This is true but also, if the demand from customers were not sufficiently high for his tasting menus, then he would not have taken this decision. It would be financial suicide.

 

The reality is Hibiscus, like other confident restaurants, has been heading down this route for some time. When dining there on a Friday night some years ago, the restaurant only offered two tasting menu options (short and long) on Friday and Saturday nights. It has merely extended this throughout the week for its evening service. This strategy would clearly not be applicable to all restaurants. It wholly depends on its proposition. Michelin-starred establishments that are often catering for diners celebrating special occasions can succeed in only offering tasting menus because it is such menus that provide the full-on experience that these customers demand.

 

Leaving your meal in the hands of the chef is not exactly new. Chinese restaurant Hunan in London long ago abandoned menus. They just deliver a procession of dishes. Likewise at Hedone in the capital’s Chiswick area, there are no options – just the decision of whether you want to spend £85 or £125. It follows a trend for restaurants to limit choice, which is not dissimilar to what happens in the retail sector, particularly at the top end of the fashion market where the customer is buying into the decisions made by the designer and so a very concise, edited range is de rigueur. Just like with food, it is based around seasons. To pile the showrooms high with lots of choice would completely denigrate the proposition.

 

But this is not just about the high-end of the market because there have been many moves in the restaurant sector towards specialisation, which by its very nature edits down the menu. Flat Iron restaurant offers a very limited choice – just the flat iron steak for £10 – and the sides you want to complement it. The fact it is on the expansion trail suggests it has been a rather popular eatery despite the lack of choice. It follows Le Relais de Venise “L’Entrecote” restaurant that has been opening up around the world – including London – offering its three-course meal of green salad with walnuts followed by steak frites. The only choice is how you would like your steak cooked. Dessert does involve a limited number of options for those who feel the need to exercise some control at the latter stage of the meal.

 

Even McDonald’s and Burger King have been going down the route of reducing choice. In their case it is down to the large amount of options increasing customer waiting times because of the complexity it adds to the dish construction. Whatever reasons the individual restaurants have for stripping down their menus, I for one am pleased to see such thinking being more widely adopted in the industry and will make my eating out choices accordingly.

 

Birmingham’s restaurant and bar trade is booming. Traditionally neglected by many large national operators, the second city’s food and hospitality sector is now attracting significant inward investment. Why the upturn – and can it continue?

 

 

In many ways 2015 was a watershed moment for Birmingham. The unveiling of the redeveloped New Street Station gave a fresh face to the city, with £750m spent on modernising the UK’s busiest railway hub outside London. The station’s new retail complex, Grand Central, ushered in a raft of restaurant chains keen to stake their claim in the city, including Spanish diner Tapas Revolution, Vietnamese eatery Pho and Tesco-owned global restaurant Giraffe.

 

For several, including healthy fast food operator Leon, this was their first (non-franchised) foray outside the capital. Grand Central now houses over 20 food and drink outlets and was recently acquired for £335m by property giant Hammerson. The £150m Resorts World complex also opened in autumn 2015, adding a new dining, retail and entertainment hub to serve Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre.

 

 

High-level investment has been matched by strong culinary credentials. Since 2005, Birmingham has racked up five Michelin-starred restaurants, with local chefs like Glynn Purnell gaining national prominence. In 2015, Carters of Moseley became the latest to receive the accolade, while this month saw Adam’s restaurant relocate to a larger 6,100 square foot space in Birmingham city centre. Meanwhile, the casual dining sector is thriving. Last year homegrown operators Lasan Group and Bitters ‘n’ Twisted both added new venues to their portfolios – lobster and burger concept Nosh and Quaff, and American barbecue joint Buffalo & Rye.

 

Popular street food events like the Digbeth Dining Club provide an incubator environment for small-scale traders to test the market: burger vendors Original Patty Men recently made the switch to a bricks-and-mortar site. Bristol-based Loungers opened a branch of The Cosy Club, and the trend of national chains entering the market looks set to continue in 2016. Cheshire’s Living Ventures Group has confirmed two sites totalling 10,000 square foot to bring its Gusto and The Alchemist brands to Birmingham, after successfully introducing The Botanist cocktail bar and restaurant in 2015.

 

 

The drinks industry has experienced a similar explosion, reflecting the national trends of booming craft beer and growing interest in premium spirits. Regional players Purity Brewing Co established beer and food concept Purecraft Bar and Kitchen in 2014, while BrewDog entered the market back in 2012. Now heritage brand Davenports has announced a series of new bar sites and a new product range aimed at the millennial craft beer market, following a £10m investment. Meanwhile, the annual Birmingham Beer Bash sees consumers flock to sample brews hailing from the region and the wider UK.

 

In the spirits category, gin is far and away the biggest success story, with consumers enjoying an annual sell-out festival, a choice of specialist gin bars and a year-round calendar of gin tasting events. Whisky is also a strong contender; the Whisky Birmingham festival is in its third year and draws exhibitors from the ranks of Pernod Ricard and Maxxium.

 

 

Birmingham attracted 38 million visitors in 2015, and hotel operators are cashing in on the growing market. Australian group Staywell is set to open Park Regis Birmingham, the company’s first European site, this spring. Luxury development The Grand Hotel has secured £6m to complete work this year, while at the other end of the market Easyhotel is set to open an 84-bed site by 2017.

 

 

What does the future hold for Birmingham’s hospitality sector? The influx of new outlets shows little sign of abating. This will put businesses under pressure to retain customer loyalty and market share amid the myriad options competing for attention. The city’s consumers are increasingly discerning and curious. The broad selection of venues creates a fertile market for the emerging restaurant delivery sector, driven by technology. Deliveroo – just named one of the UK’s most innovative start-ups by Bloomberg – is well established after a 2014 launch in Birmingham. We’re likely to see other delivery apps like Supper and EatFirst move in for a piece of the pie before long.

 

The city will continue to grow, with infrastructure developments in the pipeline including the HS2 railway line and its Curzon Street Station terminus. According to ONS figures, Birmingham is the most popular city for 30-something professionals and families moving away from London, adding numbers and spending power to its population of 1.1 million people. And with 46% of that population aged under 30, the future looks bright for restaurant and bar operators looking to gain a foothold in Birmingham.

 

There seems to be a sense of unease around the market place at the moment – a feeling the market is a bit fragile and could turn south any minute now. It’s nothing concrete, just a niggle in the back of the minds of some operators, which they can’t substantiate but are experiencing nevertheless.

 

After all, trading was exceptional for many of them over Xmas with double-digit growth in like-for-like sales not unusual. Many had 5%-plus like-for-like growth. Even those where sales growth may have been sub the 5% point, delivered double-digit profit growth. A lot of operators I have talked to are also experiencing really good growth in January and are somewhat stunned by it. Whilst the market norm now seems to be 50% off food for the whole of January, they are still outperforming last year on both top and bottom line.

 

So why the doubt about continued sales growth? There seems to be a number of reasons:

 

Interest rate rise: This is probably expected mid/late 2016. (Mark) Carney (Bank of England governor) made a speech on Monday where he said the time still wasn’t right so it won’t be soon and will depend on whether the US hikes rates up again. This will have an impact on household incomes (increases in mortgage payments for those on variable rates), bank lending (rates offered will increase in line with the base rate) and inflation (should reduce upwards pressure on prices as demand falls).

 

EU referendum: Brexit doesn’t feature in many conversations but with David Cameron due to complete his negotiations with Brussels on 18 February this is bound to feature more heavily on the news agenda from then on. There is considerable uncertainty with business leaders about which way the vote will go and the impact it will have. This in turn is most likely lead to lower investment in some degree beforehand. At the moment though the electorate seem to be deeply unconcerned about the latter issue (there is a great graph in today’s Telegraph comparing the electorate’s level of interest in Brexit vis-a-vis the Premier League and Strictly Come Dancing, which is illuminating).

 

National Living Wage: This will have a huge impact on the sector and is worrying many operators now. There may be some changes on the levels/timings but it looks certain to come in. There are also a large number of companies voluntarily implementing it early.

 

Terrorism: The impact of terrorism so close to home in Europe is unsettling and unnerving. It affects tourism numbers, which undoubtedly affects our sector. It makes consumers feel jittery so they cut back spending, stop going out quite as much and seek comfort and entertainment at home. London was definitely on edge post the Paris terrorism attacks.

 

The stock market: There are also deep concerns about the performance of the stock market and the implications that has on savings and pensions – a growing and positive stock market performance is invariably better for everyone.

 

Supply: The level of supply/oversupply is deeply concerning some chief executives. The impact of this supply is being seen directly on absolute per site sales. A good site that may have been opened five years ago doing £40,000 a week can now be delivering closer to £25,000 due to competition. It doesn’t make the site a bad site, or make the manager a bad manager – it’s just every competitor opening will have taken £2,000-£3,000 a week from that site and it’s very difficult to retain.

 

My sense is casual dining operators and pub restaurant operators are marginally more concerned than the independent, the upscale, the unique, the gastro or the fast-casual operators. No one can do very much about the macro scenarios and at the moment, I don’t see much slowdown in the expansion of new sites. So what, if anything, can operators do?

 

Put simply – encourage existing customers to return and encourage new customers to come in. That’s it really – as all operators know. Loyalty per se (as opposed to loyalty schemes) is dead. A restaurant/pub/ cafe/hotel is only as good as the last experience a customer has there and every part of the customer journey has to be brilliant. And the customer journey starts way before a customer pushes the door open and finishes way beyond the bill being paid. Marketing too has a key role to play. Operators who understand this are already one step ahead of their competitors in the battle versus uncertainty.