In a stark warning to the government, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has accused the UK of cooking up a “kitchen nightmare” for the restaurant industry with impending tax changes. Ramsay, whose company operates 34 restaurants across the country, says the hospitality sector is facing a “bloodbath” as businesses close daily due to rising costs.
“When I look ahead to April, when the budget measures come in, I think those of us in hospitality are lambs to the slaughter,” Ramsay told the Standard news site. He cited increasing business rates, energy, staffing and ingredient prices, combined with lacklustre consumer spending, as the perfect storm threatening the industry.
Ramsay’s comments come after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this month she was considering measures to support pubs, following criticism of changes to business rates that replaced generous COVID support with new lower discounts. However, Reeves told the World Economic Forum in Davos that her planned assistance package would not cover the wider hospitality sector.
The trade body UKHospitality has forecast that increased rates bills will lead to the closure of an estimated 963 restaurants, 574 hotels and 540 pubs this year, if the government does not introduce sector-wide aid. Ramsay said the rises were “coming in too quickly, at one of the worst possible moments” for an industry still recovering from pandemic lockdowns.
“We’re being suffocated,” the restaurateur said. “We need more oxygen – a reduction in rates of 20% or 25%.” He warned the government’s plans “simply will not work” and called for more industry consultation to understand the impact of their actions.
Ramsay said the difficult business conditions were also discouraging entrepreneurial chefs from opening new restaurants, robbing the UK of a “generation of independent chefs and independent restaurants.” He added: “Everyone loses.”
With households tightening their belts amid the cost-of-living crisis, Ramsay said customers were also “at their breaking point” when it came to absorbing higher prices. “It’s a perfect storm,” he concluded.
