(CNN) –After 26 years in business, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Belfast, Northern Ireland, closed its doors because costs became too high for both customers and the restaurant itself.
Deanes EIPIC, the flagship fine dining establishment of an empire founded in the 1990s by Northern Irish chef Michael Deane, received its first Michelin star just a year after opening as Deanes in 1997.
However, the company announced this month that Deanes EIPIC will close at the end of 2023 due to increased customer price sensitivity, the impact of Covid-19, Brexit and the cost of living crisis. A relaunch with a new “value for money” approach is planned.
Chef Alex Greene, a finalist on Britain’s Great British Menu, told CNN Travel that he sees the move as symptomatic of a growing trend in the hospitality industry.
“Costs are out of control”
“EIPIC as a whole wasn’t a restaurant that was dying,” Greene said, but “people have expectations when they walk in the door. The cost of meeting those expectations has doubled since the shutdown, and the costs are out of control.” “And we can’t double the price.”
The tasting menus at EIPIC cost £100 each, about $123, so they’re not at the extreme end of the price scale, but as a small city, Belfast doesn’t have the influx of well-heeled diners you’d expect. can be found in cities like London or Paris.
Michelin-starred chefs Alex Greene and Michael Deane from Deanes Group, Northern Ireland.
EIPIC follows the classic model of haute cuisine, which has earned it many Michelin stars in Europe and other continents. However, says Greene, “the more luxurious aspect of dining with white linen tablecloths, service, etc. seems to be fading into history.”
Modern Michelin-level restaurants are “simpler,” he adds. The passion, commitment and quality of the food is still there, but “you don’t have the white linen tablecloth, you don’t have the same level of service” and it’s “more economical to deliver it to the customer.” While there is still a market for good old-fashioned food, it is shrinking.
And the tensions plaguing British industry are also reflected in labor shortages. “It’s about finding the right staff with the right level of commitment, knowledge, everything,” Greene says. “It’s very hard to find and very expensive to get.”
More fasteners with Michelin stars
Bronagh McCormick, EIPIC managing director of Greene and Deanes, will leave the city in 2024 to open a new food business in the Morne countryside, south of Belfast. While it was once difficult to find quality food and drink in rural Northern Ireland, here, like other parts of rural Britain, there has been a post-Covid-19 boom.
“Take Belfast as an example,” Greene said. “This year there have been further interest rate rises, home insurance has gone up, everything in the city has gone up.” The Morne region, famous for its mountains and sea, was recently named a UNESCO World Geopark and next year the coastal city of Newcastle will host of the Irish Open golf tournament. According to Greene, “People are willing to travel from the city or elsewhere to enjoy good food and good accommodation. And the costs for this are significantly lower in the country than in the city.”
Deane’s EIPIC is the latest in a series of high-profile restaurant closures. In January, one of the world’s most famous restaurants, Noma in Copenhagen, announced it was closing. Owner René Redzepi told the New York Times that the gourmet dining business model is “unsustainable.” And in August, famed Anglo-French chef Michel Roux Jr. announced he would be closing his two-Michelin-star London restaurant Le Gavroche next January to “make time for a better work-life balance.”