Rick Stein's hospitality group posts loss after drop in visitors to Cornwall

Rick Stein’s hospitality empire swung to a loss in 2022 amid a decline in visitors to Cornwall and rising costs.

Accounts for the Seafood Restaurant (Padstow) Limited, which includes the Stein family’s restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, cookery school and online shop, said it had been “a challenging year for hospitality”.

The group posted a loss before tax of £347,000 for the 12 months to 1 January 2023, down from a £3.7m profit the previous year.

Director Ian Fitzgerald wrote in its accounts that the year had started off well, despite trade being impacted by the Omicron variant of coronavirus, but the start of the war in Ukraine had a “significant impact” on the business.

“The rapid increase in our supply chain costs caused by a volatile energy market was unprecedented,” Fitzgerald wrote.

“Fish and oil were amongst the most adversely affected commodities and resulted in an erosion of profit margin.”

He added that while overseas travel had resumed in 2022, visitor numbers to Cornwall had reduced by more than one million compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Stein’s group is one of the largest private sector employers in Cornwall and its average number of full-time employees rose from 382 to 412 during the year.

However, Fitzgerald said a shortage of hospitality workers had restricted the company’s ability to trade to capacity in 2022.

Turnover at the group dropped to £22.5m, down from £28.3m the previous year.

The group is aiming to grow its profits by investing in its restaurants and overnight bedrooms and has seen double digit revenue growth in both areas since 2019.

During the year, the company made charitable donations of £58,000 and total dividend of £100,000 was paid, though the directors did not recommend paying a final dividend.