The impact of the economic downturn has been felt by the restaurant trade across the Island but restaurateurs have reason to be positive, with the new tourist season just around the corner.

Leading the way is The Fairmont Southampton's Ocean Club restaurant, which reopened for the season over the Easter weekend with a culinary team newly-headed by Escoffier Cup 2008-winning Chef Sanjay Leeme. The Ocean Club also launched an updated menu and new dessert menu, offering reduced pricing for diners.

Meanwhile, the likes of MEF Enterprises Ltd. and Greg's Steakhouse have been coming up with their own new and innovative ways to overcome the financial turmoil.

Leetroy Walker, director of food and beverage for The Fairmont Southampton, said the hotel was fully focused on the economic downturn and was working closely with its suppliers to make sure it got the best price possible and to pass those savings onto its customers/guests.

He said the hotel had looked at all of its restaurant openings and decided which markets to target.

"We are driven by getting as many guests in our doors as possible," he said. "And we will be offering them incentives to do so."

All of the hotel's restaurants reopened for Easter, with the Newport Room, opening this week, through to the end of the season in October/November, said Mr. Walker.

The hotel has reduced its restaurant staff from 125 to 130 down to 90 to 100 due to the economic downturn, he said.

The hotel, as a whole, has been feeling the economic pinch, announcing 35 job cuts in January, followed by a further 13 in the stewarding department (including waiting staff) last month, and said it would close half of its guest rooms until April and shut its restaurants on a rotating basis depending on occupancy rates, up to the summer season.

Teresa Chatfield, director of finance at MEF, said there was no doubt that the economic downturn has had a drastic effect on Bermuda, with severe reductions in hotel business, particularly conventions, and a significant downturn in exempt company expenditure and staffing.

"The effect of this on many local businesses in the second half of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 was dramatic and restaurants were not immune," she said.

"The higher end restaurants and sales of more expensive wines were impacted first, but those like La Trattoria or the delis held up well and showed resilience."

Ms Chatfield said the trend over the past 20 years had been increasingly to eat ready-made food or to dine out, adding that those habits were unlikely to change dramatically. So the immediate response was to continue eating out, but to cut back on how much was spent, while individuals also find it cheaper to buy prepared food than to cook for themselves and prefer to dine at places where they can be less solitary than at home.

Ms Chatfield, whose company has been planning for the predicted downturn since June 2008, said it reviewed all its plans for the restaurants, for renovations and staffing and by late November had already scaled down in anticipation, by reducing the number of work permit renewals and not replacing employees when they left.

She said MEF had not laid off any of its employees and for the summer of 2009 its staffing levels would not be dissimilar to last year after it opened Cafe 4 in the centre of Hamilton and 'The Point' restaurant at the newly-launched Tucker's Point Hotel.

Elsewhere, Ms Chatfield said the company's quota of summer students is expected to increase, in part making up for the lower numbers of seasonal workers employed from overseas, but she admitted that in peak weeks it may be faced with staffing shortages due to the tight local labour market and the time lag for bringing in workers from abroad, with the intention of keeping employee levels at a minimum until the worst of the economic crisis is over.

"Our primary focus in response to the downturn has been to provide more value to the customers, introduce new products and ideas and keep service and food at even higher levels than before," she said.

"We began our annual 'fork-out' or dine-around in October rather than November and kept the price at the same level. It proved even more successful than in previous years and we have extended it for another two weeks to the end of April so that all the vouchers can be used by customers." Ms Chatfield said that each restaurant in the group was offering new products, several of which have an emphasis on afforability for the customer. The Lido Complex at Elbow Beach is expanding its terrace this summer to provide more outdoor dining on a custom deck at The Seabreeze Lounge, increasing availability by about 100 diners. Mickey's re-opened last week for lunch and dinner and its menu is being further adapted to provide a free service to the Sea Breeze Lounge.

Little Venice's wine bar is offering new selections of wines at substantially lower prices, made possible by the help of the wine importers who have been working closely with the restaurant to minimise costs, aided partly by the lower euro.

Blu has redone its menu and wine list focusing on wines from areas which represent good value and were outside the euro zone and less subject to the vagaries of exchange rates.

Furthermore, she said that LVs Lounge on Bermudiana Road had introduced some special prices and Happy Hours with specific theme nights on different evenings.

During the winter, Fourways had a number of different specials on offer including three nights for the price of two at its cottages, while La Trattoria lowered some of its prices. At Cafe Boulevard, airport employees have also been offered special reduced prices.

"The specials, any promotions and any price cuts have been made possible because local businesses have recognised that we all have to work together to provide a better product at a better price," she said.

"Food and beverage importers, service providers for air-conditioning, IT, and other areas have worked with us to lower their own prices and improve their service and that joint effort ultimately is what will help Bermuda not only survive, but outstrip our competitors."

Colin Lloyd, business partner and executive chef at Greg's Steakhouse, which just opened a new seafood restaurant this week, said now was the time for Bermuda's restaurant trade to step up to the plate more than ever.

"With the situation we all find ourselves in economically, you either sink or swim and we are swimmers," Mr. Lloyd said. "Everybody here is trying to come up with ways to be creative and it pushes everybody's business to a new level and new ideas spring from that."

You can either wallow in it or you can just dust yourself down and come up with new concepts, as we have with the new seafood restaurant, which we are very excited about."

Mr. Lloyd said that no business could claim it had not been affected by the economic crisis - likewise their consumers.

"People are feeling down, so when you feel down you do not want to spend or go out and do the things that you usually do when you feel good," he said.

"We have definitely seen it, but what we also see is opportunity because you find that most people shrink and I think when they are doing that you want to be visible in business and you want to do things that alleviate the problem."

He said his restaurant had taken a number of steps to overcome the issue, by coming up with new and innovative ideas to make its customers feel better, from cutting prices to improving its service.

"When things get slower you are supposed to get better and really sharpen up," he said.

"There is always something you can do whether it is sharpening up your service skills or coming up with new ways of doing things."