‘Tough economic headwinds’ sees The Fat Duck owner swing to a loss

SL6 Ltd, which owns Blumenthal's three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck restaurant and his one-star Hinds Head pub, both in Bray, cited the impact of inflation within the supply chain and recruitment challenges as contributing to the loss for the year ended 28 May 2023.

It comes after the group reported a return to profit of £2m in the previous year’s results​​ following two consecutive years of losses (2020: loss of £0.5m / 2021: loss of 30.9m) caused by the impact of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Turnover for the period fell to £9.5m from £11.5m the year before.

Writing in its accounts, director Ronald Lowenthal said the group had ‘invested in its customers by not passing on the entire inflation burden to them’ as it would ‘affect profitability’.

He continued that the business is ‘well placed to consolidate the business and ready to navigate future challenges’.

“The company will concentrate on the continued strengthening of its brands by focusing on delighting our customers and managing costs,” he added.