Award-winning restaurateurs fear for future of hospitality

The owners of an award-winning restaurant in south Belfast have said they still worry about what lies ahead for hospitality, despite lockdown restrictions continuing to ease.

Jenny Holland, who runs Bia Rebel alongside chef Brian Donnelly, told LCN: “The Covid situation is very worrying. Even now that things are looking up, I’m still very worried for the future of the industry.

“We are such a price-sensitive industry, we already had very small margins and high fixed costs. And all of us that are independent, we are very vulnerable to external factors. It’s a very uncertain future.”

Jenny, who opened the Ormeau Road premises with Brian in March 2018, also said that despite clinching an Observer food award and getting rave reviews from top critics, opening other ramen restaurants was not on the radar for now.

“Covid and lockdowns wiped out a lot of progress we had made,” she explained.

“Right now our expansion is focused on selling meal kits online. It’s definitely still a lot of work but at least we don’t have to worry about government decisions shutting us down again.”

‘Gamechanger’

Jenny also told LCN  how Observer Food Monthly Award and a glowing review from Guardian food critic Jay Rayner helped put Bia Rebel on the map.

“That was huge,” said Jenny. “It was a gamechanger. Everyone who gets a good review from Jay Rayner says the same thing. And winning that award was crazy – ­ it is voted on by the public and we were only open a few months when we won it. We really felt thankful to our customers for supporting us like that.”

Read more in the upcoming edition of LCN