Heat is on at top restaurants

One More Thing:The RTÉ documentary The Pressure Cookerthis week gave us a glimpse of the stress involved in running a top restaurant as the programme makers followed Belfast chef Dylan McGrath on his quest for a Michelin star for Mint, his restaurant in Ranelagh, Dublin. McGrath won his star last month.

The programme also hinted at the financial pressures facing Michelin-starred restaurateurs. Things are also likely to get hotter in the kitchen as disposable incomes tighten.

Derry Clarke, chef at L'Ecrivain, the one-star restaurant on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin, told One More Thing that if a restaurant of a Michelin-star calibre is netting a profit margin of 5 per cent, then it's doing well.

Clarke's restaurant is considerably larger than McGrath's Mint, seating 100 people, and Michelin-star restaurants tend only to accommodate one sitting.

Clarke says his overheads, and particularly staff and food costs, have gone through the roof in recent years. When he opened in 1989, the restaurant's wages bill accounted for 16 per cent of turnover. The figure now stands at 37-38 per cent.

There are no set Michelin requirements on staff but the tyre company tends to reward restaurants which have one staff member for every two customers.

Clarke says that during times of recession Michelin restaurants tend to become largely three-day operations, opening oThursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Some open on Sundays if there is enough business. Corporate business also falls off as businesses try to entertain in-house.

Never mind house completions and GDP growth - corporate fat cats choosing canteens over high-class eateries could be a better indication of how the economy is faring this year.