How to run a restaurant

How to run a restaurant

Author: BBC World Service April 4, 2024 Duration: 26:18

These are tough times for restaurants. If the pandemic's rolling lockdowns were not bad enough, independent eateries now find themselves caught on a conveyor belt of crises: inflation, labour shortages and high rents. That is without mentioning the post-Covid agoraphobic “hermit consumer", who prefers to hunker down indoors than splash the cash on going out.

If the stats are to be believed 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, 80% after five. And yet despite the long odds many are still seduced by TV dramas like The Bear into turning their passion for cooking into a business. We hear from some of the best in the business for a steer on how to keep this labour of love alive.

David Reid speaks to leading restaurant critic Jay Rayner, culinary specialist Ashley Godfrey, top chef Joseph Otway and restaurant operations manager, Sam Wheatley as they lift the lid on the trade secrets they have accumulated from years on the restaurant front-line. The programme also asks what a world without independent restaurants would be like and what we as strapped consumers can do to save the flagging middle of the restaurant market from going under.

Presenter/producer: David Reid

(Image: A waitress lays a table in a restaurant. Credit: Getty Images)


There’s a story behind every meal, and The Food Chain from the BBC World Service goes out to find it. This isn’t just a series about recipes or restaurant reviews; it’s a deep and often surprising exploration of how food shapes our world. Each episode follows a single thread, whether it’s the economic forces that decide what grows in a field, the hidden science in your kitchen, or the profound cultural traditions carried in a family dish. You’ll hear from farmers, chefs, economists, historians, and scientists, all contributing pieces to a larger picture about our global relationship with what we eat. The conversations reveal the complex journey from source to table, unpacking the labor, innovation, and sometimes the controversy, involved in feeding communities. Tuning into this podcast feels like joining a well-reported global conversation, one that changes how you think about the next thing you’ll eat. It connects the personal act of eating to vast systems of business, culture, and science, making the everyday subject of food endlessly fascinating.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Food Chain
Podcast Episodes
What is 'super sweet' corn? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:34
Have you heard of ‘super sweet’ sweetcorn? If you’ve purchased fresh, frozen or tinned sweetcorn in the last few decades there’s a good chance its the super sweet variety. It’s an example of how our fruit and vegetables…
What Olympians eat [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:10
Three million bananas; 600-800 baguettes a day; 47,000 plates...as the world’s elite sportsmen and women arrive in Paris, a huge catering operation awaits them. Ruth Alexander finds out what it takes to keep the athletes…
Cooking is chemistry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:28
Why do we cook? To create flavour, to aid digestion and to release nutrients from our food. Every time we fry, steam, boil, or bake a series of chemical reactions take place that are key to a dish’s success. In this prog…
'Happy' cafes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
Of the tens of millions of people around the world with autism or down syndrome, only a tiny fraction is in paid employment. But cooking, making drinks and waiting tables is work where people with learning disabilities c…
Your taste is unique [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:26
Taste, it turns out, is not a matter of opinion. Scientists have discovered that your perception of taste is informed by your genetics. When we eat or drink something, we may be having an entirely different experience to…
How safe is the soil in our cities? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:28
More of us are living in cities and urban farming is on the rise. Can you be sure the city soil you’re growing in is clean enough? Industry and traffic can contaminate land, but there are ways to deal with the problem. R…
Food double-acts: Couples [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:29
What’s it like spending 24 hours a day together? Ruth Alexander speaks to couples who run restaurants. She hears how they met, what they argue about and why being a couple might be good for business. Ruth visits Andrea F…
The bakers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:26
In a world where ingredients cost more due to war and inflation how is easy is it to make and sell our daily bread? Ruth Alexander speaks to three bakers about how they started in the industry, the highs and lows and eco…
Taking weight-loss drugs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:58
Ruth Alexander speaks to patients about their experiences of weight-loss drugs. The new class of drugs impact appetite, making you feel full sooner, and slowing the rate at which your stomach empties. Known as GLP-1 medi…
Eating in the heat [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:28
Devina Gupta takes a food tour of her home city of Delhi to see how people are adapting to rising summer temperatures. In May this year the city saw a record temperature of almost 50C, and knowing what to eat in such hea…