Scotland's restaurants are having toughest time in 20 years. So forget the diet and dry January

Forget the diet and dry January, if you want to do something positive this New Year, my advice would be book a table at your favourite restaurant. Right now, the hospitality sector is going through its toughest time in 20 years with a swathe of closures across the land.

In Edinburgh, acclaimed restaurants The Lookout and Gardener’s Cottage both suddenly ceased trading last month. Just days ago, Cuckoo’s Bakery closed its three branches in the capital explaining “the current economy has proven too much”. ASKR in Leith has also shut, six months after opening, with backer Dean Banks admitting: “In the current climate, it is incredibly difficult for independent restaurants to survive, never mind thrive.”

And all that before the chill wind of January started to blow. According to accountancy firm Price Bailey, more than one in ten UK restaurants is at imminent risk of closure amid worsening financial problems.

Customers counting every penny

The perfect storm for the sector started with Covid closures, followed by rocketing energy bills, soaring ingredient costs, and the Budget decision to raise employers’ National Insurance contributions. Then there is the forthcoming rise in the national minimum wage which could cost hospitality nearly £2 billion.

All this might be fine in an economic boom but the cost-of-living crisis has left many consumers counting every penny and reviewing spending decisions. Anecdotally, restaurant owners report more customers ordering cheaper choices, choosing just one or two courses and ordering by the glass, not the bottle.

No one gets into the hospitality business to get rich. If making money is the main motivation, there are far easier ways than finding and fitting out premises, hiring chefs, buying produce, writing menus then hoping the fickle public will stop by. Even the most outwardly successful restaurant operates on margins that other business sectors would find laughable.

Meals turned occasions

So why do it? For most, it is about a passion, for food and for making people happy because that is what good restaurants do. They help us escape from the drudgery of daily cooking and washing up and transport us to places full of fun and laughter. From birthdays to anniversaries, from new jobs to that first time out after a baby is born, just think of all the meals restaurants have turned into occasions.

No business deserves to succeed just because it exists. A place serving something the public don’t want isn’t a restaurant, it’s an obsession. However right now, we are at risk of losing not just those oddities but also much more besides.

The closures so far at least ducked the dark days of January. Others will later falter after struggling through a month when most are not eating out ‘to watch their weight’ and when the quasi-religious fervour for dry January leaves beer in the kegs and wine in the bottle.

Everything in moderation is a far better idea because it avoids the body shock of abstinence after a period of indulgence but also because it’s what the hospitality sector really needs right now.

So if you can afford it, leave the sackcloth and ashes in the wardrobe, grab your coat and go and enjoy a meal in your favourite restaurant. In the dark days of January, you deserve a treat and if you don’t use them, you just might lose them.