Higher overheads saw profits at one of Ireland’s most celebrated restaurants, Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud, cut in half last year.
Chef patron Patrick Guilbaud said 2023 was “a tough year because of the increase in overheads” as profits after tax at his Becklock business were reported at €167,554 in the year to end-August 2023, down from €344,600 the previous year. “Everything is more expensive and we can’t pass everything on to the customer so the margin is smaller,” he said.
Mr Guilbaud said the business – beside the five-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin – could not afford to pass on the additional costs to the customer “as I do not want to lose my customer base”.
“They have been good to us for the last 40 years plus and I want to carry on,” he said, adding that costs would likely be passed on slowly to customers in the years to come.
The lunch menu at the two Michelin star Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud costs €95 per person, while à la carte ranges from €120 to €170 and an eight-course tasting menu costs €260 per person.
Mr Guilbaud said that compared to two-star Michelin restaurants in the likes of Paris and New York City “we are quite inexpensive”. He said that two-star Michelin restaurants in those cities would be 25 per cent more expensive.
On the current year Mr Guilbaud said “business is good. We are full all the time apart from early in the week. Overall it is good, but we have to manage our overheads a bit better.”
The annual return shows that Mr Guilbaud no longer has a controlling stake in Becklock after transferring almost half of his share to his son Charles, who is part of the management team. Charles now has a 24 per cent share in the business. “We try slowly to make sure that we have continuity in the business and it is so far, so good,” Mr Guilbaud said.
Staff costs last year increased from €1.63 million to €1.7 million, with the numbers employed rising by two to 38. Directors’ pay decreased by 18 per cent to €439,448, made up of emoluments of €271,022 and pension contributions of €168,426.
At the end of August last, Becklock Ltd’s accumulated profits stood at €2.39 million.
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