Rick Stein’s famed restaurant and hospitality empire has plunged deeper into the red, warning that Rachel Reeves’s tax raid on employers is squeezing jobs and piling pressure on Cornwall’s largest private-sector businesses.
The TV chef’s group — which includes restaurants, hotels, shops, a cookery school and an e-commerce business — reported revenues of £18.9m at its flagship Seafood Restaurant (Padstow) last year, down £1.3m. Pre-tax losses widened to £459,000, more than double the previous year. Across the wider empire, sales fell 5.4% to £30.4m.
Directors said the outlook “remains challenging,” blaming Reeves’s decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions and cut the payment threshold. They warned that the “service-led nature” of hospitality meant the sector was being “severely impacted” by higher staffing costs, with nearly 90,000 hospitality jobs already lost nationwide since the October Budget.
The group employs 355 staff, making it one of Cornwall’s biggest private employers. In a recent interview Stein himself argued that the Chancellor’s strategy risked stifling spending: “Because the economy is not looking too good, people aren’t going out as much, so the one thing you don’t want to do is impose a heavy tax on the sorts of industries that are actually producing stuff.”
Despite adjusting menus and raising prices to offset soaring food, energy and commodity costs, Stein’s directors admitted falling customer numbers and the cost-of-living crisis continue to batter revenues.
Ian Fitzgerald, managing director at Seafood Restaurant (Padstow), urged Reeves to rethink her stance: “Hospitality is a people-first industry, and we are proud to employ so many talented professionals. The Chancellor needs to ease our financial pressures in the autumn Budget to prevent further job losses and support the recovery of the hospitality industry.”
Stein and his former wife Jill opened their first Padstow restaurant 50 years ago. Today the empire stretches across Cornwall, but its future depends on navigating an unforgiving mix of tax hikes, falling demand and rising costs.
