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 Launched on a shoestring by entrepreneur Monika Linton 28
years ago, Brindisa now employs 300 people in five London
restaurants, two shops and a warehouse.
It is part of a sector that encompasses more than 27,500
businesses in London, generating an annual turnover above 14
billion pounds (17 billion). Food and wine is one of the city's
most vibrant service industries but also one of the most exposed
to the process of leaving the EU, known as Brexit.
"In terms of Brexit we're probably almost the government's least
favorite company because we ship everything in and we employ a
lot of non-British people," Linton told Reuters at her shop in
Borough Market, a foodie's paradise south of the Thames.
The plunge in the value of the pound against the euro following
the vote yanked up the cost of the artisan cheeses, fine hams
and other products Brindisa gets from all over Spain.
"We've had to increase prices," said Linton. "The valuation has
tumbled so far that we couldn't sustain our margin."
The import and distribution arm of Brindisa buys 11 million
euros a year to purchase goods in Spain, so the pound's
post-referendum plunge could cost the business about 2 million
pounds compared with the exchange rate this time last year.
"EXCEEDINGLY WORRIED"
For small firms, which dominate the food and drinks sector,
weathering a currency shock can be all-consuming, because they
do not have enough staff to divert to contingency planning.
"It takes all our attention," said Giles Budibent, co-owner with
his brother of wine importer and distributor Barton Brownsdon &
Sadler (BBS). "We only have so much. We can't be running around
looking for new business."
The firm imports from EU members France, Italy and Spain, as
well as from Chile, South Africa and Australia. It developed a
more sophisticated approach to currency hedging after the 2008
global financial crisis, softening the initial Brexit blow, but
in October it too had to raise prices.
It would be a major challenge for BBS and Brindisa if the deal
Britain eventually negotiates with the 27 remaining EU members
involves a return of trade barriers.
"We're exceedingly worried about that. It's just so easy at the
moment. You want to import something from Europe, you just go on
and do it," said Budibent.
Brindisa imports a lot of short-life products such as young
farmhouse cheeses and fresh meat. "We might end up where we were
before, where you've got masses of paperwork but you've also got
the risk of things getting held up on the border," said Linton.
She was also worried about what would happen to rules about
labelling, food traceability, product safety and authenticity.
"If Britain is going to have to set up its own rules, all the
suppliers are going to have to have labels for Britain instead
of labels for Europe, which is a really expensive and slow
process," she said.
But the number one concern for Linton and the rest of the
industry is that Brexit will bring restrictions on immigration,
shrinking the pool of cheap foreign labor on which it relies.
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"The restaurant trade is an immigrants' trade," said Peter Harden,
co-founder of Harden's London Restaurants, a respected annual guide
now in its 26th year, during an interview in the elegant dining room
of Michelin-starred restaurant Chez Bruce.
There are no official statistics on the proportion of foreign
workers in London's food and drinks trade, but some in the industry
estimate it is well over half, or even two thirds. Londoners are
accustomed to hearing a wide variety of accents whenever they dine
out, buy take-away food or go to a cafe.
NOT JUST ROCKET SCIENTISTS
While the government has not revealed exactly how it wants to manage
immigration post-Brexit, the broad thrust of policy seems to be
tougher restrictions on unskilled labor, with more avenues for
skilled workers. This greatly concerns Harden.
"Yes, we do all agree that we'd love as many rocket scientists and
brain surgeons to move to the UK as possible but the hospitality and
tourism trade is incredibly important too. And in general, it's
reliant on unskilled labor," he said.
"It's a hard topic to broach because the second you do, it's very
easy for you to be attacked and for people to say that you're
somehow doing down the local labor force."
The median wage of waiters and waitresses in London is 7.33 pounds
per hour, just above the legal minimum wage of 7.20 for people aged
25 and over, according to official statistics.
Bruce Poole, proprietor of Chez Bruce and two other London
restaurants, said his business would simply not manage without
foreign workers, notably from the EU.
"Most of the staff of the dining room tend to be from France, Italy,
Spain, Germany, what have you," he said during an interview in the
kitchen at Chez Bruce, amid the clattering of pans and the aroma of
freshly baked brioche.
"It's been my job to try and reassure them as far as I can, but of
course I don't know what's going to happen either."
Poole said foreign workers had been crucial to the transformation of
Britain's food culture, which a few decades ago was the butt of
jokes by European neighbors but is now one of the most varied and
innovative in the world.
"You'll hear people talk about the revolution in restaurants in the
UK, particularly London, in the last 20 years," he said. "That is
absolutely down to the people who work in the industry here ... We
employ people from all over the place and that's definitely added to
the diverse culture of our food."
($1 = 0.8027 pounds)
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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