Melbourne restaurants Smith & Daughters, Noir reinvent themselves with cheaper prices

Change. It’s one of the few constants in our restaurant industry, which is currently reeling from a surge in restaurant closures. As economic pressures mount, already thin profit margins are further squeezed and the cost of living crisis continues to impact restaurant spending.

But more and more experienced operators are finding that their restaurants are not attracting the same customers as before, so they are transforming existing restaurants into brand new ones. In most cases, this means that the restaurant will be remodeled to attract more customers and lower prices.

For Melbourne The First Hat Vegetarian Restaurant Smith and her daughters said, “This year has been the worst year we have ever experienced.”

Martinez opened the restaurant on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy ten years ago. Move to a bigger place The restaurant, which opened in Collingwood in 2021, was fully booked.

“We had 30 people on a Friday night and they were spending half as much as they used to. They were having a glass instead of a bottle. I get it. Everything is too expensive … I haven’t paid myself since JobKeeper.”

Something had to give. The success of pasta night — a far cry from the $95-per-person set menu — led to its transformation into Smith + Daughters Social Club.

This is a more casual restaurant that focuses on crowd-pleasing snacks (think plant-based corn dogs and sauerkraut pastries) and cocktails, and most importantly, the prices are crowd-pleasing.

Since reopening last week, Martinez said, “The energy here is like another world… We realized it wasn’t the restaurant’s fault at all. It was just the prices.”

Chef Peter Roddy has seen a similar increase in business since transforming the 13-year-old French brasserie Noir, which diners classify as a restaurant for special occasions, into a relaxed Pastarami restaurant more suited to individual diners on Richmond’s Swan Street.

Since the changes were made in June, “the number of seats has at least doubled … and the ticket prices have been cut in half,” Roddy said. “We have great regulars, but they only come every three months.”

The restaurant is brighter and lighter after the renovations. The menu is also less formal, with pasta dishes starting at $20, which means fewer fixed seats so you can easily change seats.

Staff retention also plays a role, with former Noir chef Jonno Phillips now a partner at Pastarami. “We can’t train a new group of people with the same intensity,” Roddy said. “Once you lose an employee, you lose business.”

Chef Aaron Turner echoed the sentiment; closure Due to a drop in bookings, Geelong fine-dining restaurant Igni, which won two hats, was replaced by Northern Thai barbecue Songbird from Igni chef Nathan Lancaster (formerly of San Francisco’s now-closed Hawker Fare).

“When a restaurant goes from run-and-gun to walk-and-run, (employees) see the severity of it and start leaving,” Turner said. “It’s a skilled workforce that we can’t replace.”

The change also gave Turner and business partner Joanna Smith time to breathe. “I was in the kitchen 50 hours a week,” Turner said. “A small restaurant, a small team, working with small producers…it takes up every minute of your life.”

Songbird opened to great fanfare in January, with Igni’s sophisticated contemporary tasting menu making way for a more flexible, fire-powered à la carte menu, served in a more colourful setting.

But winter has been tough. “Spending habits have definitely changed,” said Mr Turner, who owns several restaurants in Geelong. “The first things to go are usually the simple indulgences, like midweek dinners.”

Still, he remains confident in Songbird’s concept. “What I keep telling everybody is that we’re still here, so we must be doing something right.”

Restaurateur Kirbie Tate is also concerned about longevity. Last year, a friend asked her what her South Melbourne restaurant James with hat Would it still be there 20 years from now, she realized the answer was no.

On August 31, she will close James restaurant and plans to reopen it in September as Kirbie, an all-day European bistro that she thinks will hold up.

“Over the winter, our lunch business was down 40 percent from the same time last year,” she said. “In the last 12 months, our lunch business has been down to almost nothing.”

The Korean and Australian flavours that remain on the menu will be replaced by more sustainable, lovingly crafted home-cooked dishes that can be enjoyed over and over again.

By “dramatically” reducing prices and becoming more flexible, Tate hopes it can become a trusted local, spontaneous dining venue rather than a destination restaurant.