Latest news with #JeremyKing
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Steaks could cost more on weekend if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, restaurant chief says
Steaks could cost more expensive on weekends if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, a top restauranteur has warned. Jeremy King, whose establishments have included Le Caprice and The Wolseley, said that while he was personally 'really uncomfortable' with the practice, he admitted it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount of money. Dynamic pricing is the practice of changing the cost of a product or service depending on demand. It came under fire after Oasis tickets were sold under the practice, leading to a slew of complaints from customers who felt they were overcharged. King, 71, told the Go To Food podcast: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media. 'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair. 'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through. We've already seen it in the theatre.' Earlier this year, King gave diners who went to two of his restaurants, Arlington and The Park, a 25 per cent discount if they ate after 9pm in order to encourage later dining times. In February, Disney came under fire after it said that tickets to its American theme parks would jump with demand under a new dynamic pricing plan. Currently, entry to Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland near LA is priced based on pre-set peak and off-peak dates. Under the expected plan—already rolled out at Disneyland Paris—ticket prices at the US parks will fluctuate in real-time based on demand. The new scheme —which would cause huge variations in price —could be introduced by the the end of March, Richard Greenfield of closely-watched Wall Street researchers Lightshed Partners said on Friday. Disney fan Jasmin Guevara, who lives in LA and regularly visits Disneyland in nearby Anaheim, said: 'Does Disney have no shame? 'It has jacked up prices time and time again in the past few years. This will just be another way to squeeze even more money out of me and my family.' Greenfield, respected investor and analyst, explained the timing. He wrote: 'Given the early success of Disneyland Paris' pricing strategy shift, we expect Disney to announce it is moving to a similar airline-style, dynamic pricing plan in the US later in Q1 2025.'
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Steaks could cost more on weekend if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, Ivy restaurant chief says
Steaks could cost more expensive on weekends if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, the chief of the Ivy restaurant chain has warned. Jeremy King, who runs the dozens of Ivy restaurants across the country, said that while he was personally 'really uncomfortable' with the practice, he admitted it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount of money. Dynamic pricing is the practice of changing the cost of a product or service depending on demand. It came under fire after Oasis tickets were sold under the practice, leading to a slew of complaints from customers who felt they were overcharged. King, 71, told the Go To Food podcast: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media. 'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair. 'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through. We've already seen it in the theatre.' Earlier this year, King gave diners who went to two of his restaurants, Arlington and The Park, a 25% discount if they ate after 9pm in order to encourage later dining times. In February, Disney came under fire after it said that tickets to its American theme parks would jump with demand under a new dynamic pricing plan. Currently, entry to Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland near LA is priced based on pre-set peak and off-peak dates. Under the expected plan—already rolled out at Disneyland Paris—ticket prices at the US parks will fluctuate in real-time based on demand. The new scheme —which would cause huge variations in price —could be introduced by the the end of March, Richard Greenfield of closely-watched Wall Street researchers Lightshed Partners said on Friday. Disney fan Jasmin Guevara, who lives in LA and regularly visits Disneyland in nearby Anaheim, said: 'Does Disney have no shame? 'It has jacked up prices time and time again in the past few years. This will just be another way to squeeze even more money out of me and my family.' Greenfield, respected investor and analyst, explained the timing. He wrote: 'Given the early success of Disneyland Paris' pricing strategy shift, we expect Disney to announce it is moving to a similar airline-style, dynamic pricing plan in the US later in Q1 2025.'
Telegraph
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘Dynamic pricing' is coming to top tables, says leading restaurateur
'Dynamic pricing' is coming to British restaurants, Jeremy King has warned. The renowned restaurateur, whose establishments have included Le Caprice and The Wolseley, said he was 'really uncomfortable' with the idea of charging more for a steak on a Saturday than a Monday. However, he did say it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount to stop people ordering the 'absolute minimum' and spending the entire time taking pictures for social media. Dynamic pricing, commonly used for concerts and theatre shows, means the cost of something changes according to demand, with tickets for popular events shooting up the moment as go on sale and the public rushes to buy one. The practice came under fire when it was applied to fans trying to get tickets for the upcoming Oasis reunion. Speaking on the Go To Food podcast, Mr King, 71, said: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media. 'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair. 'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through. 'We've already seen it in the theatre, it widens the rich prosper and the poor are deprived.' Earlier this year, King himself introduced a 25 per cent discount at his two restaurants, Arlington and The Park, for diners eating after 9pm to encourage the public to 're-acquaint' themselves with eating late.
Spectator
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
The lost art of late dining
One of the most memorable dinners I ever had was about 20 years ago, at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Fitzrovia called Pied à Terre. It's still going, and indeed remains a stalwart of the city's fine dining scene, but what I especially remember, rather than the food or wine, was how deliciously louche an experience it was. I couldn't get a booking before 9 p.m., and by the hour that I turned up, it was packed to the rafters with well-heeled diners. My guest and I were kept happy with complimentary champagne until we finally sat down for dinner sometime after 10 p.m. In my (admittedly hazy) recollection, we didn't finally leave the restaurant until well after 1 a.m. As we were staggering out, I asked our waitress whether she minded being kept out so late. 'I'm from Barcelona,' she replied. 'This is what eating out ought to be like.' I often think of her remarks, but I was reminded of it recently when I read an interview in the Times with arguably London's greatest – and certainly most courteous – restaurateur, Jeremy King. When he began his career in the hospitality industry in the 1970s, last orders were at 1 a.m. Things have changed. As King lamented: 'Now, it's almost impossible to get anything [to eat] after 10 p.m. I don't fully understand why it happened but I'm determined to redress the situation.' To this end, diners at King's establishments the Park and Arlington now receive a 25 per cent discount if they make a reservation after 9.45 p.m. Forget the miserable, hurried experience of bolting down an early evening prix fixe menu before going to the theatre or to a concert. Instead, have a pre-prandial glass of wine and nibble on something tapas-shaped, and save yourself (and your appetite) for a proper repast afterwards. At least, that's what the discerning man or woman about town ought to be doing. The late-night dinner is a distinctly endangered species, thanks to a combination of increasing puritanism, Westminster City Council (and others) refusing to grant anything but the most basic drinks licences, and society's apparent need to be tucked up in bed by 11 p.m. And this, as any night owl or barfly will tell you, is a tragedy. Granted, there'll always be somewhere to get a drink at pretty much any hour of the night, although you can't guarantee that it'll be up to much past 3 a.m. And there are a few all-night establishments of varying quality, too. Duck & Waffle in the City is the pick of the bunch, but Vingt-Quatre in Chelsea and the Polo Bar in Liverpool Street have their bleary-eyed admirers as well. But they are a distinct minority, and notable by their (often endangered) existence. New York is, famously, the city that never sleeps. Judging by the lack of late-night dining offerings, London is the city that goes to bed early. That said, I'm sympathetic to the wisdom of the old saying that nothing good has ever happened at four in the morning, and I don't think there should be a surge in all-night establishments. All I want is a restaurant that doesn't quietly start closing at half nine, one that revels the excitement brought about by an adventurous crowd, popping by for a late supper. Because eating late it is more fun. There is something thrilling about being ensconced somewhere that you shouldn't be, perhaps in company that you shouldn't be in, and seeing where the rest of the evening is going to take you. Yes, you may have a head on you the next day, and one's digestive system is going to regret the intake of particularly spicy or heavy food at a late hour. But set against this, the feeling of delicious transgression makes the whole experience positively European. Visit Barcelona, Paris or Rome, and you see the streets filled with young (and not so young) people having fun and enjoying the experience for the delightful, life-affirming thing that it is. If you do find yourself leaving a restaurant well after the last Tube, and the only way home is via the night bus or, heaven forfend, a rickshaw driver, then perhaps it's time to remember the immortal words of Lord Byron: 'Let us have wine and woman, mirth and laughter / Sermons and soda-water the day after.'
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
The 10.30pm dinner: is British food culture becoming more Spanish?
Name: 10.30pm dinners. Age: Previously unheard of. Appearance: The new face of UK nightlife. I'm sorry, you must have tried to access a Spanish publication by mistake. No, this is a new British trend. Do keep up. The only way a British person will eat their dinner at 10.30pm is if a) they have been drinking and b) that dinner takes the form of a kebab in a polystyrene tray. I hate to burst your bubble but, according to the Times, a number of upmarket London restaurants have started to embrace late-night dining. But that's so late. Don't be a wimp. Mountain in Soho now has a latest reservation slot of 10.30pm. At weekends, Speedboat Bar (also in Soho) is open until 1am. And Noodle and Beer in Chinatown stays open until 4am from Thursday to Saturday. OK, but why? Well, there are a couple of possible explanations. One is that this is a sign of our continuing Covid bounce back; a hint that we might tentatively be returning to our dining habits of old. I never ate at 10.30pm in the first place. Then how's this? London's nightlife has all but died. Pubs close early and there are fewer and fewer places to go out dancing. If people want to stay out late, eating is all they have left to do. That isn't much of an incentive. Well then, how's this? Jeremy King, who operates Arlington and The Park, has offered diners a 25% discount if they eat after 9.15pm at The Park and 9.45pm at Arlington. A late-bird special! Now you're talking my language. Exactly! Get on board. Spain's entire dining culture happens late at night, and they love it. That depends on who you ask. Last year Spain's labour minister said that eating late was a result of the country's gruelling work hours, and that those hours directly contributed to poor mental health. But still! Are there any other health issues to consider? Oh yes, three years ago Harvard Medical School ran a study about eating late. It found that those who ate late at night experienced drops in the hormone leptin, which signals satiety, and they burned off calories more slowly. In simple terms, please? Eat late, put on weight. So this is silly. No, it's great! Nobody is saying eat at 10.30 every night. But live a little! Go out into the world and enjoy all it has to offer! Can I be back in time for the end of Newsnight, though? Sure, but you might need to skip pudding. Do say: 'Dining is the new big night out.' Don't say:'Mate, last night I got absolutely off my face on gazpacho.'
