A Liverpool city centre restaurant owner says he had to make a ‘really hard decision’ due to the ongoing cost of living crisis.
The Monro on Duke Street, which is well known across the city and renowned for its Sunday roasts, recently shared that a number of changes had taken place at the restaurant. According to owner Will Lyons, the venue had “gone Greek” after 20 years as a gastropub.
Moving away from its usual gastropub grub towards more exotic tastes The Monro’s menu now features Greek Meze, loaded fries, souvlaki and more. There’s even an extensive cocktails menu that’s already proving popular.
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According to Will, the changes ultimately boil down to the cost of living and keeping The Monro open and thriving. The team at the restaurant actually launched a Greek street food truck at the Albert Dock last year, so the move wasn’t completely out of the blue.
In fact, Will says he’d been mulling over the possibility since November 2021 after realising that “rapid, rampant inflation” happening all over the country wasn’t slowing down. The cost of buying certain ingredients had doubled in price and the venue’s gas bill “doubled overnight” earlier this year, so he knew something had to be done.
According to Will, the decision was “really hard” and the restaurant’s chefs “worried it would be a disaster”, but he noticed that after the coronavirus pandemic there was a “huge market shift in the industry” as people were used to staying home and may still have concerns about visiting restaurants.
He also said there was increasing competition from the likes of supermarket meal deals and delivery services such as Deliveroo and UberEats. To tackle this, The Monro will be joining Deliveroo and offering local deliveries - with Will doing the driving himself.
Will said: “I knew we had to do something, we had to take a step back and think ‘what is it people want? We need to survive’.” Will decided to make the switch to serving Greek food in order to combat the ongoing issues the business is facing due to the cost of living crisis.
Will explained that the benefit of serving up Greek food is that the raw materials cost less and that the food takes less gas to cook it, which is a definite plus considering the rapid increase in gas prices over the last few months. Now, Will said, the machines that used to be on “constantly” in order to cook dishes can be turned off as soon as the food is ready.
He said that the restaurant is “using half the gas” it was previously so due to the doubled gas bill, it has “gone back to the same position” it was before. He added that the turn to Greek food is “a line in the sand, this is a big change for The Monro”.
While it hasn’t all been smooth sailing - in fact, a number of chefs left the business because of it, leaving Will and his partner ended up heading into the kitchen. However, Will said the switch was “an oh my God moment” for The Monro as the staff rallied around, getting to see another side of their bosses who were “knee deep” in the kitchen and ensuring the venue stayed open.
Since launching the new Greek menu, Will said there has been “some kickback” but that the feedback from customers has been mostly positive. He added: “The amount of love that came back was truly overwhelming and emotional because it's easy to focus on the negative.
“There’s been some kickback but at the end of the day we’re a business and the numbers are up. The Greek food is resonating with people, it’s made with love. You can’t beat that.”
According to Will, The Monro is “out of the war footing” and he now feels he can relax a little, though “not with time but emotionally”.
The Monro is open from 12-pm - 11.30pm Wednesday and Thursday, 12pm - 12am Friday and Saturday and 12pm - 10pm on Sundays.
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