What a 1,000-year-old tapestry tells us about your margins

This week's briefing starts somewhere unexpected: a scene stitched into the Bayeux Tapestry showing Bishop Odo blessing a meal before the Battle of Hastings.

It turns out the two cost lines the Normans faced in 1066 - food prep and serving - are still the backbone of our sector's economics today. What's changed is everything piled on top of them.

From there, we run the numbers on the Hormuz blockade and what happens if food prices settle 10%, 20% or 50% higher. The results are counterintuitive: eating out could become better value relative to eating in - but only because operators are quietly absorbing the difference out of their own margin. At the top end, that means giving up the entire profit on a £15 dish just to hold the price line.

Read the full briefing.