Macnean House & Restaurant

bizzyb

I got Neven Maguire's Macnean House & Restaurant cookbook as a Christmas gift and i have to say he is very inspirational, a food business in the back of beyond only have to open there phone lines twice a year for bookings. But what is his recipe for success is it just down to the fact he is a well known celebrity chef. The reason i ask is could an ordinary Joe soap open a similar successful business in a rural area, now i know opening your phone lines twice a year is extraordinary but with quality food would the customers come.

jimmii

bizzyb wrote: »

I got Neven Maguire's Macnean House & Restaurant cookbook as a Christmas gift and i have to say he is very inspirational, a food business in the back of beyond only have to open there phone lines twice a year for bookings. But what is his recipe for success is it just down to the fact he is a well known celebrity chef. The reason i ask is could an ordinary Joe soap open a similar successful business in a rural area, now i know opening your phone lines twice a year is extraordinary but with quality food would the customers come.

No matter how good the food you will still need to let people know you are there. He worked in a number of Michelin starred places before he took over and there really aren't very many in Ireland so that would certainly have been a big head start over Joe Soap (who presumably doesn't have that experience). I would imagine poor Joe would need a miracle to survive in the back of beyond unless he was also taking over somewhere that was well know locally.

Peterdalkey

I suspect his business model has absolutely no relevance to other operators in the field. Heston Blumenthal, the Roux Brothers etc operate in the rarefied air of super desirable dining locations, Even at Restaurant P Guilbaud they have to man the phones every day!!

ironclaw

Great food will make people travel but it can take years for the word to get around. There are many fabulous places in this country both famous and not so much, but they have taken years to get to where they are. Rapid success would only be got from a "super star" chef taking over somewhere with a good deal of pomp / ceremony in my opinion, and even then, look at the high rate of failure for the likes of Ramsay (The Ritz) etc. Not a guaranteed recipe for success [Excuse the pun]