ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS - Essay Example

The River Caf in Hammersmith, is an expensive, utterly delicious example. London takes on Tuscany, in attractive if hard-to-reach surroundings. There is a little group of smart Italian restaurants growing up, associated with Giorgio Locatelli, who cooks at Zafferano, near Belgrave Square, with a startlingly original menu, well grounded in tradition. He has opened a couple of simple Italian places - Spiga on Wardour Street in Soho and La Spighetta in Mayfair that do wonderful thin-crust pizzas cooked in a woodfired oven.

London has always led the world in Indian restaurants, and today they are booming. Tamarind, in Mayfair's Queen Street, is a glitzy, principally North Indian restaurant with prices to match the elevated dcor. The only restaurant that has true Anglo-Indian dishes is Chutney Mary, down the King's Road at Lotts Road, worth for its collection of uncommon Indian regional dishes. The rooms, with their view over Regent Street, look handsomely understated by Indian restaurant standards and the management has simplified the whole business of ordering an Indian meal.

The overall picture of strong profit growth in the UK in the year 2007 was predominantly due to the London hotels in the sample that, on average, enjoyed an upswing in profit of 12.8 per cent to 64.04 per available room. With no change in occupancy, it was a 10.2 per cent increase in average room rate to 112.81, and a firm grip on payroll costs, that enabled London hoteliers to turn in a very healthy profit performance in 2007. even though the report is for 2007, it shows the healthy economic conditions of London hotels.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT A key sector in tourism, hotels have several key environmental impacts: energy consumption, water consumption, waste production, waste water management, chemical use and atmospheric contamination, purchasing/procurement, local community initiatives. Many restaurants are trying to become more eco-friendly and hence to keep up the good relation of the hygiene conscious customers. The Duke of Cambridge in Islington remains one of the best and most ethically run gastro pubs in London.

It has pioneered seasonal, organic British food, using local sourcing, careful monitoring of food miles, buying direct from the farmers, and even now the beers are still brewed locally and the wines and spirits are organic where viable. The water is purified on the premises, and they have installed wind and solar generated energy, along with strict recycling procedures and adherence to sustainable fish buying policies. This shows the environmental influence to restaurant operations. IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORSLondon's extraordinary social and cultural diversity is reflected in over 60 different cuisines provided in over 12,000 restaurants, which is more than half the nation's total.

This variety and vibrancy extends to London's food retail outlets, with exciting well-known markets like Borough and Walthamstow alongside major supermarkets and independent corner shops. 'Food tourism' is an increasingly vital element of London's attraction for visitors. It has many of the best restaurants in the