The Megabytes Predictions

The Total Restaurant

Never mind the looming recession and the work-force cut backs. In 2002, we will eat out more than ever, as our increasing love affair with restaurants gathers ever more pace.

For many households today, there is simply an allotted sum of money each month which is spent on restaurant eating, perhaps on something as simple as a take-away from somewhere ace like the Bombay Pantry, maybe on a grand night out in The Strawberry Tree, or a few day's break in Assolas House.

The proof of this lies in the most extraordinary success story of 2001, Ranelagh's TriBeCa restaurant. The gossip around Ranelagh was that it only took 10 days from opening for Trevor Browne and Gerard Foote's smart room to be full, both for lunch and dinner.

The local gossip was wrong. It actually took a mere five days before TBC was packed. Five days. A decade ago, any and every restaurant had to struggle for at least a year before it had a customer base.

So, for 2002 it's simple: if restaurateurs give us what we want ­ good food, good fun and good value ­ then they are doomed to success, for we are conditioned now to eating out frequently, rather than just on special occasions. Think of these restaurants as Total Restaurants: they give us what we want, when we want it, how we want it, at a price we are happy to pay, and boy but we are happy to head back to them!