Gary Usher has revealed that his Wirral-based bistro Burnt Truffle closed its doors today, admitting he had “never been able to make it work”.
The chef, who owns a string of restaurants in and around Manchester, took to X to announce the “sad” news, explaining that the venue is “closed for good” after its ten-year lease expired.
The crowdfunded restaurant opened its doors in Wirral in July 2015 after raising £1,000,000 in one month from 891 donations, and received rave reviews from food critics including Jay Rayner, and won two Rosettes.
Usher, sometimes dubbed “Britain’s most controversial chef” thanks to his outspoken opinions, candidly explained that although the government made business “difficult”, in the end he “could never make it work”.
Despite regretting the loss, he explained that the decision was best for the business and that he paid all suppliers and staff through a loan, which he will pay back from the income from his five other restaurants, including Sticky Walnut in Hoole, Chester.
‘Some news,’ he said on X, and continued: ‘@BuRntTruffle is now closed. Thanks to the entire team and all the guests over the last 10 years.
‘Our lease has come to an end and we have decided to separate. All our bills are paid and all coupons will be redeemed. From all of us at Burnt Truffle, thank you and good night.’
Chef Gary Usher (pictured) revealed his bistro Burnt Truffle closed its doors today after 10 years.
Usher explained further in a video posted to the platform, saying, “I need to share some news with you and unfortunately, it’s not good news.” I’m sitting here at Burnt Truffle and we’re closed now. We are closed forever.
The chef continued: ‘So, Burnt Truffle, it had a ten-year lease and that lease has come to an end. I could have renewed that lease, but the truth is I’ve never been able to make it work here.
‘I’ve been quite vocal about how hard the government has made it over the last few years, but ultimately I’ve never been able to make it work here.
‘The best business decision for us is to close, which is why we will be closing Burnt Truffle starting today.
“I know there will be a lot of questions over the next few days and I will answer them all.”
Usher explained that vouchers purchased for Burnt Truffle can be redeemed or used at their other restaurants.
Burnt Truffle (pictured) in Wirral received rave reviews from several food critics and two rosettes.
Usher turned to
He added: “We have paid all our invoices, so VAT has been paid, all our suppliers have been paid, rent has been paid, unfortunately we have had to lay off people with the closure of this business and obviously we have been paid. Everyone has been paid.
‘I have a…loan that I took out during the pandemic, that I still have to pay, and will, through the business in general.
‘Other than that, it seems like everything is as locked down as closing a restaurant can be. It’s a sad day, it really is.
“When I think back to when we opened here, people like Jay Rayner and Lisa Markwell came and we also got two rosettes quite quickly. “We were the first crowdfunded restaurant in the UK with zero-investment crowdfunding, so that’s where our journey with crowdfunding began. .
‘So what does it mean for the business moving forward? Well, we keep going, we keep going, we keep trying and we keep innovating to get through these difficult times.’
Usher concluded: “Thank you to everyone who came, thank you to the whole team, thank you to all the guests… we loved being at Burnt Truffle, but that’s the end of it.”
In 2023, Gary caused a storm after responding to “ridiculous” complaints about a burger costing almost £20 at his restaurant.
Gary also made headlines in 2018 after a customer complained about Sticky Walnut’s lack of “customer skills” after staff were asked to go buy lemonade for a red wine spritzer.
Usher, known as “Britain’s most controversial” chef, owns five other restaurants, including The Sticky Walnut in Chester.
Gary brought the customer down saying; ‘We often sneak away to attend to people’s requests. It is part of great hospitality. We just don’t do it if you’re a rude bastard.
Gary starred in a Channel 4 documentary in 2019 called The Rebel Chef: My Restaurant Revolution.
The documentary followed the opening of one of his crowdfunded bistros, Pinion, in the Merseyside town of Prescot.
In 2020, Usher took aim at a negative review and slammed a customer who called their food at his restaurant a “rip-off” in a damning online review.
Emma said the £122 bill for her meal (a plate with drinks for two people) was “incredibly expensive” and the price was “really not worth it”.
Usher claimed that he had misunderstood the price and that they could have ordered a three-course set menu for just £39 each, claiming that Emma and her dining companion were “rude” and did not allow the manager to explain this to him at the time. . .
The outspoken chef also went viral in 2021 after hitting back at a customer who wrote a scathing two-star review on Tripadvisor.
In the review titled “Excellent food let down by Ryanair-style service”, the restaurant had criticized the manager for “not giving a damn” about customer service, which Usher vehemently denied.
The dissatisfied diner, known only as Rob V, wrote: “The good news is that the food here is very, very tasty and deserves a high rating.”
‘The bad news is that restaurant management doesn’t give a damn about the customer experience.
‘I ate here on July 9th and had a complaint which the manager treated so badly that I wrote to the owner.
‘A restaurant that aspires to offer an excellent dining experience but has lost the ability to empathize with customers and ignores them when they complain? That’s really a shame.”
Usher quickly responded with his own passionate article. He replied: ‘For God’s sake, Robert. I’m supposed to leave TwitAdvisor, so let’s not waste time. After all, you’ve waited 11 years since you joined Twitadvisor to write your first review.
‘Rob, you booked a table on a Friday night and agreed to a 1 hour 45 minute time slot. A standard practice, especially during busy periods, that is accepted by guests and restaurants around the world.
‘After your dessert course, the manager, who you said “doesn’t give a damn”, kindly reminded you that we would need the table back shortly. He ignored the manager and proceeded to order another round of drinks.
“Perhaps if your group had arrived at your reservation on time, this could have been avoided.”