The £30 Charlie Bigham’s beef wellington is, by all accounts, the new benchmark for supermarket luxury. Beautifully packaged, cleverly marketed, and priced to make you feel you’ve just skipped the maître d’. But has luxury dining at home finally peaked?
Because once you’re spending £30 for a single-serve ready meal, you’re in the same territory as a proper night out.
At Blacklock, you can sit down to a plate of chops, sides and a glass of wine for roughly the same. Flat Iron will give you steak, salad and a cocktail - still with change from the Bigham’s. Even Dishoom, Bao, or Brasserie Zédel offer restaurant atmosphere, service, and satisfaction - often for less than what’s now being passed off as ‘fine dining for the oven tray’.
The post-lockdown rise of ‘luxury at home’ made perfect sense. Restaurants were closed, and consumers still craved the ritual - the plating, the indulgence, the sense of occasion. As inflation bit, the supermarkets seized on the idea that premium ready meals were an affordable treat - the smart alternative to eating out.
Supermarkets may keep trying to bottle the magic of eating out, but they’ll never match the emotional return - the the hum of a room, the small luxuries that can’t be microwave-timed
And for a while, it worked. The packaging became sleeker, the ingredients more indulgent, and the marketing told us we were saving money while treating ourselves.
But we’re now entering a new value equation. Consumers aren’t chasing cheap - they’re chasing worth. If £30 gets you a cardboard sleeve and a foil tray, or a night out where someone brings your food, pours your drink, and does the washing up - the choice starts to look obvious.
That’s the quiet win for restaurants right now. Smart operators like Blacklock, Flat Iron, Bancone, and Bouchon Racine have built entire followings on that sweet spot: affordable indulgence with soul.
Supermarkets may keep trying to bottle the magic of eating out, but they’ll never match the emotional return - the human connection, the hum of a room, the small luxuries that can’t be microwave-timed.
So perhaps the £30 beef wellington isn’t a warning sign for restaurants at all. It’s proof they’ve already won back the value argument.
Ted Schama is founder of advisory business One Voice Hospitality.