Why Are Curry House Closing in the UK?
Check out an article by Chef Binod Baral.
Are you a curry lover? If yes, you may be wondering why curry businesses are closing at an alarming rate in UK. In fact, statistics has it that at least two curry businesses are getting closed weekly. Curry is an important component of the British culture and the news of curry houses closing is of much concern to British populace. This article explains the reasons why most curry houses are running out of business in UK.
Employing inappropriate business model
Success of any business depend to a great extent on its mode of operation. When a business get it right as far as its model is concerned, chances are that it will do well. Many British curry house businesses open for few hours a day (mostly in the evening and weekends) even after paying monthly rents and taxes. This way, most of the money these businesses spend on taxes and rents is never utilised maximally. Additionally, most curry businesses are finding it hard to stay afloat due to increased rent in prime business locations forcing them to close down. It no wonder to find many curry house businesses opting to relocate from their traditional and prime operating areas to other places where rents are more favourable. If curry house businesses are to survive, I suggest that business owners need to do an overhaul of their business operating models as well as come up with exceptional menu that will run throughout the day.
Poor costing and customer education
Proper customer education and costing is paramount to success of any business. Notably, most curry house business that used to do well like say 25 years ago are no longer making impressive profit nowadays. Reason being, the owners have poor information regarding their clients’ needs and taste. These business are doing things the same way they used to do 20 years ago. There is little innovation and the pricing is the same despite high cost of ingredients used in curry preparation.
Emergence of supermarkets
Curry businesses in UK are facing competition from British supermarkets unlike in the past where Indian curry was only sold in these curry houses. Today, you will find curry being sold in most British supermarkets. Amazingly, the kind of curry sold in these supermarkets is of high quality as compared to that found in traditional curry house businesses. Also, there are fast food shops and restaurant that are offering Indian food such as tikka wrap, carried soup and bowl food something that is making the competition even stiffer for traditional curry house businesses.
Saturated curry market
The fact that almost all food businesses are offering curry has made the curry market overcrowded. To navigate through this handle, curry house business need to be creative to come up with unique theme to remain competitive.
If curry house businesses are to survive drastic closers, things need to be done differently. Curry business owners need to do in depth market research as well as employ innovative measures unique from other food business in order to restore their lost glory.
