They’re already saying we may have measures brought in next winter if this rears its head again. I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as restaurants open, we go back to life as normal. I’ve tried to create a quality product in its own right. The project will continue until March but Adam hopes it has the legs to continue.
I’d be like, ‘God! Throw it away!’ If it doesn’t arrive when we say it’s going to, we tell people not to eat it and normally offer to replace it the week after or offer a gift voucher for the same value.” Every now and again I’d have somebody ring me up on a Tuesday and go, it’s just arrived. We put enough ice in to cover it for 48 hours so if it turns up on the Saturday it’s be ok but we try and get it there for the Friday. We'd ring the courier because a customer said it hadn't arrived and, if we could get through to somebody, we'd find it’s supposed to be in Middleton and it’s in Cannock. We'd get between a 10 and 20 percent failure on delivery. “Before Christmas, they were an absolute nightmare. The boxes have been extremely well-received, the only problem being the couriers.
You’ve got to do a bit of work yourself but the quality is ten times better. You’re not going to turn up with it in a bag, open up the plastic box and then eat it. It’s supposed to be like getting a special occasion takeaway for a Saturday night in. When I did the Saturday night one in November, I streamlined it. It’s like working with a thousand commis. It doesn’t sound too much on paper but in a domestic kitchen - I tried to explain to people, just use a pan then wash it out and use it for the next thing, but nobody does. You had to poach the fish, deep fry the fritter, cook the leeks and warm the sauce up. The fish dish - one of the simpler ones - is a prime example. Everything was prepped but there’s a certain amount of finishing that you can’t avoid. Because it was the Great British Menu, people were happy with that little bit of extra work. “I learned from doing the GBM menu in the summer. What we need in hospitality is clarity.”ĭid he worry about how home cooks would manage to prepare his menus? Rather than being pragmatic and realistic and going, ‘Look guys, you’ll probably be shut for 6-12 months’, they keep everybody hanging on. The Government and Boris are trying to stay positive and not give up hope. If you’re planning on opening before April, you’re a bit crazy. “You’ve got to plan for the worst-case scenario. The reopening of restaurants doesn’t look likely any time soon. Everybody that came absolutely loved it and then they closed everything again.” We’re a Four Rosette restaurant but it’s even more of an experience now. We’re already focused on doing fewer covers, higher quality, but now we’re a 20-cover restaurant midweek and 30 at the weekend.
Then we had a full month of really positive, brilliant business. We physically couldn’t open until October. For a restaurant like us, there’s only a certain amount of walking through a building site that people will accept. “We were planning to reopen The French in September but the hotel had started a massive refurb of the lounge and lobby and were so behind with contractors and suppliers. We dabbled with doing a few other options but with restaurants reopening in July, everybody thought the eat-at-home thing was done and dusted. The GBM box was an experience for people who follow the restaurant and what I’m up to. “I know it sounds flippant, but we saw people doing it and thought it’d be a great idea for people’s morale. While he wasn’t the first to launch a cook-at-home kit, he was the first in Manchester to go nationwide with delivery and his initial run sold out within minutes of going live. Adam’s Great British Menu box - with dishes from his appearance on the show - was launched back in June.