‘We have to work 10 times harder now to get success’

Opening restaurants is far from a new concept for Michelin-starred TV chef Jason Atherton.

But given the challenges facing the hospitality industry right now, the 53-year-old admits the past few months have been “pretty stressful”, adding: “There’s a lot on the line.”

In truth, even in brighter financial climates, the scale of Jason’s recent undertaking would have been testing.

This week marks the fifth new restaurant Jason has opened in London during 2024.

Following Hotdogs and Mary’s earlier in the year, the past couple of months have seen Sael and Three Darlings open their doors, before Row on 5 welcomed guests for the first time this week.

“What should have been a three to four-year project has been condensed into six months, which has put a lot of stress onto the company, onto everything in general,” Jason told The Staff Canteen.

“It's been pretty tough. It's absolutely nerve-racking. Of course it is, because there's a lot on the line. You don't just open up a £2-3million fit out and then just expect things to fall in line.

“As many restaurants open, many restaurants close. Our very livelihoods are at stake here.”

Asked what has led to such a spate of new openings in a short space of time, Jason explained: “Just building delays, planning delays, that type of stuff and it’s just been condensed into where it was.

“You can find a site, you can negotiate with the landlords, get it up and running quite quickly, or some things just take longer.

“Like Savile Row was a really, really long process. In total it's been about three years because it's in a very difficult location to get planning. So that one was very tricky.

“We took Sael on at the last minute. Through the process of negotiating with The Crown Estate, who were fantastic, it probably took about six months to get the negotiations done. And then four months later, we were open. So that one was quite quick.

“It just depends really on how much building work there is to be done, what there is and so forth.”

Jason now owns 17 restaurants across the world, including in Dubai and China. His Dubai restaurant Row on 45 this year earned two Michelin stars.

Asked how challenging he finds it to divide his time, the former Gordon Ramsay group chef said: “The sites don't depend on me, per se. They depend on the team that are there.

“One thing I'm very careful not to do is everything's not by Jason Atherton, right? Each restaurant has its own name, its own brand, its own everything. If you look at Zuma, there's maybe 40 Zumas now globally. Rainer Becker was the inventor of it, but Rainer Becker’s not cooking at every Zuma.

“Long gone are the days where customers expect a named chef to be in a restaurant. You go to the restaurant off the merits of the reviews, the reputation it has and the offering it's having. If you put the right offering there and people want it, then they'll come. That’s how it is.”

Each of Jason’s new openings offer something different. Row is a high-end, fine dining restaurant, similar to his Dubai establishment. Sael in Piccadilly is a tribute to British heritage, while Jason’s wife Irha has played a key role in Three Darlings, a neighbourhood bistro in Chelsea, named after the couple’s three daughters.

“It's got really beautiful décor. It is very female friendly,” Jason said of Three Darlings.

“My wife did a great job with the branding. It's a personal project for her. She's very attached to it. We all are, to be honest, the fact that we named it after our daughters. Because we don't live too far away, in Wandsworth, it is a personal project for us, so we're very determined to make sure it works.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Row on 5 (@rowon5london)

Working alongside him at Row will be Spencer Metzger, winner of the 2019 Roux Scholarship.

“Spencer is going to be the chef de cuisine there, alongside myself as chef patron,” Jason explained.

“We’re excited for what’s going to come, but by no means is it a home run. We've got a lot of work to do ahead of us.

“Opening one restaurant is one thing, but making it sustainable over a longer period of time is another. We've got to wait and see what comes our way.”

He added: “Row is a small, personal project. It's exciting. We’re really thrilled to have won the two Michelin stars in Dubai. It was sort of a dream come true really.

“With London we're very excited, but also extremely nervous, because the economics of London at the moment is tough. We know that not everyone's looking for fine dining, so we're going to have to make sure we absolutely deliver on all levels.

“We’ll see where it goes. But by no means are we sitting here thinking that everything is a home run, because that's not the case.

“We’re having to work 10 times as hard today to get any sort of success than we did 10 years ago. London's a very tough market.”

Given much of his time now is as a restaurateur, rather than solely a chef, what is it that provides Jason with the most joy – being in the kitchen, or seeing his businesses thrive?

He said: “I think all of it really. It’s very rewarding to see the new generation coming through and watching them thrive, giving young talent opportunities and just watching them take it, run with it and be successful.

“Of course we want to run successful businesses, that's number one, because without that we can't stay open. That's a fact.”

Asked what drives him to keep going, Jason said: “I'm not an accolade chaser, that's for sure. I’ve had no desire to retire as the most decorated chef or anything like that. That's not the plan here.

“The plan is to build something which is sustainable for the long term. To make sure that the projects we've got are sustainable, doing well and we're making sure that we are absolutely on the right levels with what's going on out there, with all the new concepts, what's happening, what people are looking for.

“It's no good me running six restaurants in London that no-one wants to go and dine in, purely because that's the type of food I want to cook. If they're not relevant, then there's no point doing them, right?

“It was purely just keeping up with the times, keeping up with what customers are looking for, making sure attracting the new generation of diners and building something sustainable for the future.”