Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1019057
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 AUGUST 2018 INTERVIEW you want, you also need to see what works. Let's talk about pricing in Malta. Trip Advisor suggests that an average meal here, in this restaurant, would come to around 60 euro a head: which is on the upmarket side for Malta, but still nowhere near places like New York. Is there a ceiling on how much you can charge in Malta? Basically, yes. There is a ceil- ing to what you can charge. If you go to Mykonos, or Ibiza, or Montecarlo, you will find peo- ple willing to pay 300 or 400 eu- ros for a bottle of Champagne. The local market calls for a dif- ferent price range. To be fair, the average wages in places like Montecarlo don't compare with Malta either... But they have tourists there, too. Do you think the people buying Champagne at those prices in Montecarlo are locals? Forget about it. They are tour- ists who can afford to buy spe- cific products at specific prices. Out of curiosity, what percentage of your clientele here is actually local? Around 45%. I am pleased to say we have a solid local cus- tomer base here. Part of it is because, at the end of the day, we are not as expensive as we are projected to be. You've also opened a restaurant in Budapest, Hungary, which I imagine must be a very different culinary context. How do the restaurants scenes compare between the two countries? There are differences, but also similarities. Over here, for in- stance, it's difficult to source the right ingredients; but then, it's easier to get them delivered. In Hungary, being such a large country, nothing is central- ised. Things which are easy in Malta, become challenging in a much bigger country. But re- ally, whether you're running a restaurant in Malta, Budapest, or wherever, the challenges are always the same. The only dif- ference is that you need to do a lot more research to open a restaurant in a new place. This is where most people get it wrong. In Malta, I give peo- ple what they want. If there's a trend for a certain type of food, and it works on an island, that is what we will deliver. We don't do what 'we' want; we only do what we are called to do. You have to know the mar- ket; which is why research is so important when opening a res- taurant overseas. At the same time, new restaurants seem to be opening in Malta every day. Some last and get established; others close down within a few months. At the risk of voicing a personal opinion, even some of the ones that last tend to become inconsistent after a while. Do you agree with that assessment; and if so, how do you account for it? All those vying to open a res- taurant want to provide the best food, the best service, and so on. What they don't neces- sarily understand is how to make it profitable. At the end of the day, a restaurateur will only run a restaurant if he's making something out of it. If he's in it for the right reasons, that is. There are, after all, other reasons one might open a restaurant. Let's say someone opens a restaurant today. They will employ the best staff, a host, stock up on the best meat and fish available on the mar- ket; and they will be paying a fortune for it all. Once they realise that, after a year in business, they've lost €150,000, they will start cutting costs. So obviously, the stand- ards will go down. I think one of the main reasons for incon- sistency is that people underes- timate what's actually involved in running a restaurant. There are days, for instance, when we [my wife and I] don't sleep. You start in the morning, and God knows when your workday will be over: 2am, 3am... and by 8am the following day, you have to make sure your restau- rant is fully stocked for the day ahead. Especially if you want the best meat, the best fish, the best vegetables and so on. If you don't go early, you'll find nothing. Meanwhile, as Malta's food culture grows, people are becoming more 'food- literate', as it were. What sort of impact has this had on the local restaurant scene? I think the market is chang- ing, primarily because people are travelling more. They're getting exposed to food much more; and as a result, they're becoming more critical about it. We've seen a development locally: people often come here with specific orders in mind. A big percentage would have already Googled the menu, or consulted Trip Advisor and various other online platforms, to know what to expect before experimenting. Another thing is that the market itself has just exploded. In most village cores you will find new res- taurants opening today, where there were hardly any before. So there's been a big change in the market: people are exposed to food even without travel- ling. Social media also made a big difference. If people have a bad experience eating out – it could be that even a fly passed by your table: something you have no control over – they might judge your restaurant on that basis. Today, social media gives them a platform to make that sort of judgment. It's posi- tive, because it distinguishes between the good and the me- diocre. It can be negative, how- ever, in the sense that some- times, the judgement on what is 'good' and 'mediocre' might be taken for the wrong reasons. But on the whole, it's more pos- itive than negative. The market is growing; though I think the sustainability still has to be evaluated over the next two to three years, because it's getting a little out of hand. This seems to echo concerns raised by the MHRA recently, which suggest the idea of 'capping' the tourism sector. Do you share those concerns? I think that capping would be a bit of a problem, in the sense that... who am I to stop another entrepreneur from opening an outlet? It's their money, at the end of the day, and they can risk it as much as they like. But what I do think is a bit ridiculous is that, for example, in some places you will see one outlet, next door to another, next door to an- other... all offering the same concept. It is much more the regulatory aspect that I think needs to be controlled. Rath- er than limiting the number of restaurants, I think there should be more emphasis on the functionality, and the long-term sustainability at evaluation stage. But it is ul- timately up to the regulators. If people have a bad experience eating out – it could be that even a f ly passed by your table: something you have no control over – they might judge your restaurant on that basis PHOTO JAMES BIANCHI