Tetsuya’s executive chef Josh Raine has called time on his six-year stint at the Sydney fine diner, joining a spate of high-profile kitchen departures across the city. Many of the chefs, Raine included, are ready to open their own restaurants, but does this group have the same opportunities as the generation before them?

High rents, rising costs and an oversupply of restaurants make launching a restaurant as daunting as getting on the Sydney residential property ladder. Throw in consumer demand dampened by rising interest rates, and Raine says you need to be creative to get your foot in the door.

“All chefs would love to have a 15-seater, but it’s not going to make you money,” he says.

“There are still gaps in the market, people want to eat out, but they don’t always have two to three hours,” he says. Raine’s solution is two-pronged: he’s currently eyeing CBD spaces where he can open an accessible “pub-style” eatery alongside a “relaxed fine diner”.

Corey Costelloe, formerly culinary director for Rockpool Bar & Grill, is among recent departures at the pointy end of Sydney dining (Rhys Connell has also left The Gantry at Walsh Bay). Costelloe will open his own restaurant, but it’s unlikely to be near his old stomping ground at the northern end of the CBD.

“It’s saturated,” Costelloe says of the precinct, pointing to the recent announcement that House Made Hospitality is set to open four new venues on Phillip Street. He will likely dip his toe in with a pop-up on fertile turf outside the CBD.

QT Sydney executive chef James Kidman is another high-profile departure. His experience running the kitchens at Cafe Sydney, Otto Ristorante and The National Gallery in Canberra has convinced him that size does matter.

“It’s easier to make money consistently in bigger venues,” Kidman says, highlighting advantages both big and small, from the ability to more easily cover absent staff to buying power. “Even if you’re buying produce at 5 per cent less [than your competitors], it adds up.”

While he’s still weighing up his next professional move, Kidman knows what it won’t be. “The only thing Sydney doesn’t need is another French bistro,” he says.