Hanging up his apron: Why Manu Feildel is giving up on restaurants

French-Australian chef and former My Kitchen Rules host Manu Feildel is sitting in Botany, weighing up his future. It might be a new television program or spending more time watching his son play rugby, but there’s one thing it won’t be: launching a new restaurant.

“Never say never, but I think my wife would kill me if I did,” he says. “A lot of things would have to change in Australia for me to get back into a restaurant because it’s a very fickle business. The margins are so small nowadays that you have a lot of work that you have to do to be successful.”

“Staff are getting paid better every year, the food prices are getting higher every year”: celebrity chef Manu Feildel.Credit: Janie Barrett

It’s far from what the 47-year-old Feildel might have said a decade ago. The restaurateur, who made his name hosting the Seven Network’s popular cooking show My Kitchen Rules with controversial chef Pete Evans until it was axed last year, has tried several times to launch his own restaurant. One of his more infamous endeavours was with former Masterchef Australia judge George Calombaris in Melbourne. Their Le Grand Cirque in South Yarra closed four months after opening following several bad reviews.

“We didn’t have anything to fall back on,” Feildel says. “That was a slap in the head. That was a wake up call.” The closure sent the chef into to a period of depression. But he says that will never happen again.

“There’s no point. You only go through the depression because you feel like you need to prove yourself to the world. If you’re satisfied with who you are, that’s when depression doesn’t exist.”

Feildel says he is no longer afraid of failure, but the business model for running a restaurant has made it difficult for chefs to make a profit.

“The rents going up three per cent every year ... staff are getting paid better every year, the food prices are getting higher every year because of fires, droughts and so on,” he says. “When you ask the customer to pay $40 or $50 for a main course they go ‘pfft’, because they can’t afford it. You have to spend at least $100 minimum per head and not everyone can afford that.

“It’s about why you’re doing it – to be successful in your mind or having a good bank account? At the moment, I’ve got mortgages I’ve got a family, I’ve got kids in private school and that’s what I care about.”

Feildel has been contracted to Kerry Stokes’ Seven Network since the inception of MKR in 2010. The program was “rested” after last year’s season due to a decline in ratings. At its peak it was averaging 1.9 million viewers an episode, according to OzTAM ratings.

Feildel, who claims he missed out on becoming a Masterchef Australia host and almost missed an opportunity for MKR because of his French accent, says he still eager to host a TV program. But what that looks like remains to be seen.

“I’m at a time of my life now where I’m at the crossroad,” says Feildel, who is exploring other TV options.Credit: Janie Barrett

His contract with Seven expires at the end of this month and he is currently talking with other television networks and production companies about future opportunities. Among the proposed ideas are concepts that involve a combination of travelling and cooking.

“That’s the type of TV I want to do,” Feildel says. “There are smaller production companies not necessarily attached to a network that approached me for a few different ideas. They’re great ideas and I want to be involved with them but, again, it’s having the idea, producing it and then selling it that’s the trick.”

The 47-year-old is yet to have his COVID-19 vaccination but knows it will be necessarily for him to be able to travel again.

This masthead reported last month that Seven was talking to several production houses about relaunching the format next year. Feildel concedes MKR wasn’t working, but says he would be eager to take part in a revamped format.

“If it was to come back, I would be obviously happy to be part of it. I’ve been part of it for from the beginning, but I think we should have a new version. It needs to be rethought. It’s like recipes, you can’t do the same thing everyday.”

Manu Fiedel was a judge on My Kitchen Rules with controversial chef Pete Evans.

Feildel is sitting in his latest place of work, La Botanique – a transformed warehouse in Sydney’s industrial Botany. It has a commercial kitchen and a factory kitchen, an event space and office. Feildel has used it for sponsored content on his Instagram, while advertising and fashion shoots have also taken place on site. He hopes it will eventually be used for special events too.

“It’s my life under one roof,” he says.

As for his future: “I’m at a time of my life now where I’m at the crossroad. Either TV is going to stop and I’m going to keep on going with my businesses that I’ve had or television is going to change its course. I’m at peace with whatever happens to me.”

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.