Marco Pierre White’s advice to top Aussie restaurants

MARCO Pierre White said a successful restaurant should always be booked out and too many local eateries weren’t.

FLASH Aussie restaurants should offer punters discounts to get more people through the door, according to one of the world’s hottest chefs.

Marco Pierre White said a successful restaurant should always be booked out and too many local eateries weren’t.

“I’m a big fan of Australian food and restaurants — but they aren’t full,” says Marco Pierre White. Picture: Martin Philbey

“Why open if you’re not going to fill it?” the one-time bad boy of British cooking told The Daily Telegraph’s Renata Gortan.

“I’ve been to many restaurants in Australia who do a very, very, very good job — because I’m a big fan of Australian food and restaurants — but they aren’t full.”

A 2015 Bankwest Food and Beverage Services Industry Report found the average profit for the Australian hospitality industry is just 7.9 per cent and White said restaurants can do better.

“A lot of (UK) restaurants make a 20 to 25 per cent profit margin,” White said.

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“The reason (Australian restaurants) are making less is because they don’t have the volume of clientele and that’s why they are getting low returns.”

White, who starred on Seven’s Hell’s Kitchen Australia, reckons he can combat the problem of empty tables with his new app Eat Club, which offers diners discounts of up to 50 per cent. “It’s about making yourself accessible to a broader market,” he said, likening the app to the same sort of discounts and sales offered by supermarkets and hotels.

Marco’s critical eye is well known.

“Restaurants are retailers, we are no different to a department store, we are no different to a shop,” he said.

Since launching in Sydney two weeks ago, Eat Club has seated more than 5000 diners, offering an average saving of 30 per cent, with 120 restaurants signing up.

Ze Pickle owner Adam Cheers said it had attracted “hundreds of new customers” to his Surry Hills restaurant.

“Initially I thought a discount model would devalue the brand but what it does is fill tables during quieter periods,” he said.