From Instagram to Netflix, there’s no shortage of  content celebrating the creative side of the culinary world. Yet there’s precious little coverage of the dark side of the hospitality industry and, in particular, the mental health issues that many restaurant workers face. In fact, from burnout to suicide, substance abuse to toxic masculinity, the restaurant industry may well have more problems than most. Today, though, more and more people are trying to make a difference. From tackling...

Our guest this month has been described as “hospitality personified”. Sam Ward is the managing director of the Umbel Restaurant Group, a collection of restaurants launched by chef Simon Rogan, who’s considered one of the pioneers of the ‘farm-to-fork’ movement in the UK. The group’s holdings include one restaurant in London, three in Hong Kong, and three in the Lake District village of Cartmel — including the group’s flagship restaurant L’Enclume, which turned 20 earlier this year. Named...

Could you run a restaurant without a bin? That was the question that an environmental activist asked chef Douglas McMaster back in 2011 — and he's been trying to answer it ever since. Today, he's the chef-patron at restaurant Silo — the world's first zero-waste restaurant. Located in London, Silo was born out of a desire to create a sustainable restaurant that serves food made from scratch, using produce sourced from ethical growers — without generating any waste. Silo is now a big source...

The MAD Academy is a new type of school for food professionals. Conceived by Noma’s René Redzepi and based in Copenhagen, it wants to transform not only the hospitality industry but the entire food system. Indeed, the academy is born out of the belief that everyone who works in hospitality can and should dare to make a difference in the world. But who is the academy for and what exactly do its students learn? Who does the teaching, and what are their methods? How can the academy tell...

Today, Garrey Dylan Dawson is the general manager at Henne Kirkeby Kro — a Michelin-starred restaurant on the west coast of Denmark. But that scarcely scratches the surface of the former chef's long and illustrious career in the industry. His highlights reel includes a decade as the head chef at The Fat Duck — alongside Heston Blumenthal — when it won its three Michelin stars; a long-running stint on one of the UK’s best-loved food programmes, Ready, Steady Cook; and a move to Denmark, where...

Restaurant names are critical. A good one could be the difference between a diner taking a look at the menu — or moving on. So, in episode 5, we explore why names matter and how restaurants can choose the right one. First, we take a lighthearted look at how some top restaurants got their name — from the Latin American eatery that shares its name with a Kanye West album, to the pizzeria that found its name in the English-Esperanto dictionary. Then we talk to Amy Dennis, of the Nice...

Recent years have seen a number of sexual misconduct cases in the restaurant industry, from the allegations against Mario Batali to the litany of claims about the Danish hospitality scene. But while it’s vital to hold perpetrators to account and to illuminate the murkiest corners of the industry, it can sometimes feel like little is being done to fundamentally change things. Which is what makes the work of Sofia Bodovic Olsson so interesting. A decorated chef based in Gothenburg, Sofia...

For years, “restaurant brands” meant chains like McDonald’s or TGI Fridays. Not any more. In today’s fast-paced, hyper-digitalised world, every restaurant is a brand — whether it likes it or not. In episode 5 of The Recipe, we explore the consequences of this shift. We hear from a Danish brand director who says that any restaurant with a higher sense of purpose is a brand — and that it should be reflected in everything it does. We sit down with the creative director of one of Scandinavia’s...

Almost two-thirds of restaurants fail within their first year. The number one reason for their demise? Their address. That's right. Open any textbook about launching restaurants and one moth-eaten mantra for surefire success is location, location, location. The standard advice is to determine demographic factors such as the median age and income in a chosen neighbourhood. If only things were that simple. In this episode, we hear four very different stories about the luck, logic, and lore of...

The celebrity chef Bobby Flay once said that “everybody at some point in time has thought to themselves, 'I have a really great idea for a restaurant.’” The subtext being that not all of them are good ideas. But if there is a recipe for culinary success, then it surely begins with having a clever concept. For some, it might mean spotting a gap in the market. For others, it could be about putting a new twist on an old idea. And for others still, it might be about ignoring what everyone...

Launching a new restaurant isn’t for the faint of heart. “You stand on a cliff and you're scared,” says the Australian chef Beau Clugston. “Will the parachute open if I jump?” As metaphors go, it’s a pretty good one. After all, as one former Guardian restaurant critic once put it, “the economics of setting up a new restaurant are scary in good times and terrifying in bad ones”. And that was before the pandemic. So who on earth would open a restaurant right now — and why? Well, in episode 2,...

Buckle up — this may be one of the most inspirational conversations about restaurants you’ll ever hear. Three experienced restaurateurs share their thoughts on the state of the  industry. First, we hear from Matt Orlando, the chef and owner of the Copenhagen restaurant Amass. And he doesn’t mince his words. Matt reveals  the "deep underlying problem" in the restaurant industry, identifies its most  “irresponsible business owners”, and pinpoints the problem with awards and accolades. He...

The Recipe is a podcast about the new generation of restaurants and the people behind them. It launches on Sunday 31 October. In this show, we’ll take a look at some of the ingredients required to run a successful eatery. Along the way, we'll meet some of the food world’s most forward-thinking individuals — and find out how they think, how they work, and how they’re shaping the future of the industry. Brought to you by Superb, The Recipe is a show for anyone who’s ever had a great plate of...