Despite being considered one of the worst places to eat in the capital, Nusr-Et London reportedly made £7million in sales between opening last September and year-end.
Photo credit: Instagram user nusr_et
Propel reports that the chic steakhouse posted a weekly pre-tax profit of £170,000 on sales of £540,000 during that period. Total profit before tax was £2.2m.
A statement from restaurant group Nusr-Et said its fourth-quarter 2021 results were “higher than expected”: “… directors believe that based on earnings generated during the fiscal year, the company will be able to to continue trading for the foreseeable future and management by reviewing cash flow.”
It takes more than just a pinch of salt and gold leaf to make a successful restaurant. But with social media becoming an increasingly integral part of marketing, Nusret Gökçe (who has more than 47 million Instagram followers) has capitalized on the passion and built an international empire with restaurants in seven countries.
Likewise, the opening of the restaurant drew a lot of publicity, and while many of the reviews were scathing, the only thing worse than being talked about was not having been talked about. Much of the criticism was down to the pricing, which included a £50 cappuccino, £65 house wine and £830 gilded tomahawk steak, although clearly such items sold well enough. Other British restaurants have since taken a gold leaf from Salt Bae’s book.
Observer-critic Jay Rayner, who called the Knightsbridge establishment “ridiculous” and chose to eat a kebab outside rather than visit, tweeted in response to the phenomenal numbers: “I don’t know why the fuck I’m reading those.” trouble.”
Jonathan Nunn, editor of popular London food newsletter Vittles, argued last year that the restaurant is actually providing some kind of service: “London restaurants are scams, but at least its audience is on board.”
However, Salt Bae has left the building and only stayed in London until early November when he opened another venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Since then, his team has been responsible for the obligatory irrigation.
The results come at a time when most other UK restaurants are struggling with staff shortages, inflation and the loss of trading months during the pandemic. Last week it emerged that 64% of the UK’s top 100 restaurant companies are now making losses.
