Wolfing it down

This week, The Bentley Group announced their new venue, Watermans at Barangaroo. So far, so client-lunch-on-the-company-credit-card.

But the latest venture had a key difference - no seating times and no limit on how long you can stay.

This probably shouldn’t feel revolutionary, but it unquestionably is. Pretty much every restaurant worth a visit now turns over two or three times a night, with strict rules as to how long you can stay. It’s not unusual to be informed the next group has arrived as you enjoy dessert and eye the remnants of a lovely drop. 

The reasons for such militance aren’t hard to find. Rents are blowing up and the cost of running an establishment is skyrocketing, while average spend per diner is down as younger generations steer clear of a boozy dinner. Volume is the only feasible answer.

Still, it poses a dilemma for budding restaurateurs. 

As food delivery explodes (hitting $17.6bn in 2024) and high-end grub becomes more available, the experience offered by a restaurant becomes its only differentiator. That experience feels a lot less special if you’re forced to challenge a Guinness World Record for speed eating half a dozen oysters. 

The alternative, however, is just as grim. Prior to opening Watermans at Barangaroo, The Bentley Group had pulled out of Brasserie 1930, closed Monopole, and sold Yellow. Restaurants with a more relaxed approach to time - such as the recently kinda closed Chinese Noodle House - often succumb to financial pressures.

The only way to make unlimited seating times work is to either charge exorbitant prices (not uncommon) or trust that diners will fill that time with ample quantities of high margin food and drink. On the latter, we can all do the local food scene a favour, and oblige.