MAN ON MISSION DEAN BANKS

As for energy costs he tells DRAM, “ HAAR with Rooms has faced an energy bill increase from £2000 to £11,000 pounds, creating a dilemma, ”We would have to charge everyone £7 or £8 more just to cover the electricity price rise. And that doesn’t begin to address the rising food prices. It’s difficult when you’re at the top end of the market. If prices rise as much as they should, we’d scare the customers away.”

And he is not afraid of doing things differently, which has led him to make a bold announcement which has raised eyebrows with some hospitality insiders. During April he reduced his tasting menu prices - HAAR with Rooms, St Andrews was priced at £49, down from £82.50, the

Pompadour menu, was reduced to £59, down from £110 and at Dulse he charged £35 on Tuesdays and Sundays. He explains this was a calculated risk, “I would rather have busy venues than empty seats. Our hope is we still have busy restaurants that balance the books for us, covering our increased costs.”

Dean understands that the cost of living price increases affect how often people go out, saying of his own behaviour, “I love fine dining, but how often do I eat at fine dining restaurants? Only on special occasions. I prefer being in nice pubs, or seafood restaurants, which is why Dulse and Forager were created as a casual dining experience, where you can afford to go out more often. I’m breaking into different average spends in restaurants so I’m covering my bases because I don’t know where we’re going to go, or where this is going to end. But now I’ve got fingers in different pots.” He’s pictured behind the bar at The Forager with a pint of Belhaven Best. He says, “The reason I love Belhaven is my grandfather. I was never a beer drinker until coming home after turning eighteen when my granddad gave me a Best, that’s the reason I love Belhaven Best. It’s not like I’ve teamed up with them it was literally, I like it because my granddad loves Best. We use it in our ‘Best’ Steak Pie at Forager as well.

“My grandfather is still kicking about in Carnoustie, an avid golfer all his days and my middle name is Leslie after my granddad”

Dean told DRAM that he also harbours a dream to own a 150-bedroom hotel. Many people may dismiss that idea, but he firmly believes it, “If I tell myself over and over, that I’m doing something, it just always seems to happen. I think people will laugh at me for this, but people laughed at me in the past and I enjoy people when they laugh and say you’re big-headed and call me names, but something like The Old Course in St Andrews would be the ultimate, with the seaside and beach right there. It’s a famous town, it’s got students, and it is the area where I grew up.”

But he is also a realist and knows this might take time, “It might take ten, twenty, maybe thirty years, I don’t know… to get finance from a venture firm or a bank or someone to help achieve that goal. Right now it’s impossible, I don’t have the funding for it. I don’t have the right management group for it. I don’t even know how we would start with it.”

So the main focus of his business partner, Ruairi Mitchell (operations director) and the rest of his operational team, is to grow the business naturally with a strong foundation. The revenue target for this year is to hit £10 million, last year’s goal was to consistently hit £100,000 every week. Dean explains the benefits of being a group, “I can focus more on one, and push one site more, which can support the other sites during hard times. And if, for example, one site is quiet some of the staff are happy to go to another site and help out there, having that flexibility is definitely working for us.”

He is looking for new sites for Dulse and Forager, adding, “I think this year we will have three new sites open.” And he exclusively tells Dram Scotland that he is opening a new beef steak venue in central Edinburgh named, ‘Haunch’ in June.

He knows his businesses cannot afford to stand still, he said, “We have to keep on our toes and diversify all the time, and it’s about being able to act quickly, then we’ll get through it. “

So watch this space, if Dean keeps focusing on his hospitality dreams then who knows what he can achieve? Time will tell if his price-cutting gamble has paid off.