I often get concerened at the rentals that are charged in Marbella and Puerto Banus on sites that, at the high cost of the rent, are unlikely to succeed. I was looking for a premises the other day for a client in Puerto Banus (Plaza Antonio Banderas as opposed to Front Line) that wanted 12.000€ a month with an approximate  eight month business — if that! Also a restaurant in the port with an 18.000€ a month rent  — plus the terrace! This sort of rental is crippling which is why a trip around the port once a year — normally around March/April — will have you thinking, “What was there last year?!”

But if you think those rents are high spare a thought for Italian restaurant group Il Borro that is to open its first UK venue on the site to be vacated by Nobu next month in Mayfair, securing it at a record-high rent for a Mayfair restaurant. 

The group, with restaurants in Tuscany, Florence and Dubai, has taken the 11,000 sq ft unit in Berkeley Street on a 20-year lease at a price believed to be in excess of £200 per sq ft. The price tag puts the annual rent in the region of £2.2m.

It will serve authentic Italian dishes featuring produce sourced from its 700-hectare estate in Tuscany.

My calculations means a rent of over £6000 per day!!! In order to net that amount, after all expenses are paid, means a turnover of around £60.000 a day. With a spend of say £75 a head it would need around 750 people a day!! Only in London!

I recently did a consultancy job for a restaurant that was paying 120€ a day which needed a turnover of 35.000€ to generate that net figure. Something they will never be able to obtain for many reasons. There are two basic reasons that businesses fail (purely from a financial point of view as there are of course many other reasons!) wages costs and RENT!