Espresso: Tom Kerridge - You'd be Crazy to Open a Restaurant (Without Knowing This..)

Espresso: Tom Kerridge - You'd be Crazy to Open a Restaurant (Without Knowing This..)

From HUNGRY. by Dan Pope

April 9, 2026 · 15 min

About this episode

Tom Kerridge discusses the harsh realities of running a restaurant in today's economy.

Full episode here! 👉🏻 https://youtu.be/cVG8TqtxJQE After 20 years running The Hand & Flowers and 35 years in kitchens, Tom Kerridge says something most chefs won’t: restaurants don’t make money anymore. In this clip, Kerridge breaks down why margins have been wiped out, why being “busy” means nothing, and why opening a restaurant today can actually be the worst financial decision you make. It’s a brutally honest look at hospitality — from pricing, staffing and VAT, to the hard leadership calls that come with ownership. This isn’t about food. It’s about business reality, risk, and the uncomfortable decisions that keep companies alive. =============== 📱 ON THE MENU =============== 🍽️ Why packed restaurants still lose money 📉 How margins in hospitality were quietly eradicated 🤔 Why opening a restaurant now makes less sense than ever ⚖️ Separating emotion from business decisions 🚪 Closing sites, letting people go, and radical transparency 🧠 The shift from reactive chef to strategic operator 🔥 Why Kerridge thrives on risk — but hates being a passenger 🧩 What COVID taught him about control and problem-solving

People in this episode

Host: Dan Pope

Guest: Tom Kerridge

Topics covered

  • restaurant business
  • hospitality industry
  • financial decisions
  • risk management
  • leadership
  • business strategy

Keywords

  • restaurant
  • margins
  • hospitality
  • business decisions
  • leadership
  • risk
  • COVID
  • staffing
  • pricing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Hand & Flowers

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