The 'eat out to help out' scheme is 'a real shot in the arm for the industry'

Hesitant about heading out for a meal? Perhaps a 50 per cent discount on your food could persuade you. At least, that’s what the Government is hoping after announcing a new ‘eat out to help out’ scheme, offering half-price meals every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in August in a bid to kickstart the hospitality industry. But what do the restaurant owners think?

The scheme is due to start on Monday August 1 and will run up to August 31, with restaurant owners having to register their participation from Monday July 13. The scheme will offer 50 per cent off up to £10 per head, meaning an £80 food bill for a family of four would be halved to £40, while a £25 food bill for a table of two would be reduced to £10. Alcohol is not included in the discount, making calculating the cost of your G&T worthy of a question in a GCSE maths paper.

“I will be taking part in the scheme. I think it will encourage people to enjoy high-end dining, and further it’s a nice token,” says Jason Atherton, owner of several restaurants including the Michelin-starred Social Eating House in London. “I think it’s definitely more suited to the high-street offerings, but anything that helps the economy kick-start has to be a good thing. If you look at the lunch menus of Social Eating House, you can get a three-course meal for £25. Under the scheme, that’s a Michelin-star lunch for £15.”

“I firmly believe the Chancellor’s comments today are brilliant,” comments Alasdair Elwick, General Manager at The Forest Side in The Lake District. “It shows that the Government recognises the importance of hospitality in the UK. We want to get back to what we love doing, and doing our bit to support the economic recovery.”

"Today's measures are a real shot in the arm for restaurants and those working in the hospitality industry," agrees Ian Churchill, Operations Director at Crockers in Henley. Churchill believes the additional cut in VAT proposed by the Government will have an "immediate and positive impact."

Eroshan Meewella, owner of new Sri Lankan restaurant Kolamba in Soho, believes the scheme will provide a much-needed boost for lunchtime trade, where often restaurants offer discounted set menus. “£10 per head would greatly help the lunch trade, which seems to be the worst-hit - especially for us in Soho, due to the number of people working from home. For this scheme to work, though, the Government needs to encourage people to come out more, return to work and to town centres and not to encourage them to stay at home.”

Though Pizza Express, forever a failsafe for the voucher-savvy among us, is yet to announce whether it will be joining the scheme, MD Zoe Bowley has also expressed her support for the Government’s actions: “we welcome the Chancellor’s announcement yesterday, which will provide much-needed support at an incredibly difficult time. We are hopeful that these measures will encourage people to eat out again as we reopen our doors in the coming weeks.” An American Hot would be reduced from £14.50 to £7.25 under the scheme.

Not all restaurants are convinced of the scheme’s benefits, though. Gem Simmonite, owner of all-day cafe Gastrono-me in Bury St Edmunds, believes there might be better ways to support the industry. “Discounting has been partly responsible for the death of chains. They devalued their product and allowed poor food to become more acceptable as it was seen as cheap.

"It’s generous but poorly thought out. It’s treating every business from McDonald’s to The Fat Duck, and every kind of restaurant in between, the same. If it were a designated amount that we had to spend - we estimate for us, judging by our weekday covers from Monday to Wednesday in August, that this amount is around £15,000 - we could’ve better used it for things like outdoor seating, payment apps or even employing a driver." Simmonite will be joining the scheme, but "begrudgingly".

Brendan Padfield, owner of The Unruly Pig in Suffolk, has concerns for the logistical implications of the scheme. “I’m guessing the devil will be in the detail as to how the scheme will work in practice. My reservation is the work that may be involved in making claims for hundreds of individual transactions each week.” Restaurants and pubs will have to claim the discounts back from the Government in order to be reimbursed, adding a significant amount of paperwork to the workload of restaurant owners.

For this reason, many restaurants and pubs have said they will not be signing up to the scheme. “It will probably benefit large chain restaurants, but I can’t see it working for us, though I acknowledge that it’s a good creative measure,” says Piers Baker, owner of the The Sun Inn in Dedham, Suffolk, which will not be part of the scheme. Likewise, James Rix, owner of The Fox and Hounds in Hertfordshire, has deemed the scheme “too complicated” to implement in his pub.

Though questions still arise regarding everything from tapas and sharing plate restaurants to establishments that already have vouchers in circulation, it seems the scheme has been acknowledged as a step in the right direction, recognising the vital part that hospitality plays in the UK economy, and the need to support it as it slowly emerges from its pandemic-induced hibernation.