Tom Kerridge has said he would be ‘terrified’ to be reliant on twice-Michelin-starred pub The Hand and Flowers to make a living – after revealing its pricey menu ‘only just makes a profit’.

During an appearance on the business podcast The Rest Is Money last week, the celebrity chef told hosts Robert Peston and Steph McGovern that the last few years have been a “really difficult period” across the hospitality industry.

Kerridge spoke about his flagship pub The Hand and Flowers, which he founded in 2005 on West Street in Marlow, and which became the first in the world to be awarded two Michelin stars.

The 50-year-old, who has become a household name thanks to a number of presenting gigs and TV appearances, said he would be “absolutely terrified” to be solely reliant on one restaurant in the current economic climate.

He said even The Hand and Flowers – with its “weighty, punchy price point” – still just barely operates at a profit.

He also acknowledged the “fortunate position” he was in as a public figure and someone with “fingers in lots of pies”, including two other pubs in Marlow and a restaurant in the Corinthia Hotel, London.

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It was revealed last year that The Hand and Flowers saw its energy prices rise by seven times at the height of the energy crisis in July 2022.

The hospitality industry as a whole has also suffered from rising food costs impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kerridge raised the price of The Hand and Flowers’ a la carte menu by £20 last August – a decision that a spokesperson for the pub said had “not been taken lightly”.

They added: “The cost-of-living crisis has hit hospitality hard, and we have seen huge rises in the cost of food and ingredients which we are not prepared to compromise on, as well as energy, wage and rent increases.”

In an interview with The Times last autumn, Kerridge said the three-course Sunday lunch, which rose from £155 to £175 a head on September 1, only generated a take-home sum of around £17 after staff wages and bills had been considered.

“We have a staff of 80 for a pub with 40 covers and the annual payroll is about £2.5 million. It’s a beast.

“Believe me, if there was a lot of money in hospitality, you wouldn’t have 800 closures (last) year.”