TO MOST restaurateurs, it is the ultimate accolade. But for some, the cost of chasing and keeping a chef's hat in the Good Food Guide is just too high.
So claimed high-profile foodie Greg Doyle this week when he announced he was giving back the three hats awarded by The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide to his Rose Bay eatery, Quay.
''I don't want the intensity of it any more … the level of attention to detail it requires, the constant development of new dishes, staffing levels and the cost of maintaining a three-hat restaurant.''
Warrnambool restaurateur Peter McLauchlan knows how he feels.
The owner of Pippies by the Bay, which has been in The Age Good Food Guide since 2004, has asked to be excluded from the coming edition.
''Being in the guide is a lovely pat on the back, but it sets the expectations of the customer too high,'' he said yesterday.
Mr McLauchlan has twice been awarded a hat in The Age's guide, first as a chef at the Port Fairy restaurant the Stag, then at Pippies in 2004.
''I got a hat two months after opening Pippies, and I spent six months working like buggery to get rid of it,'' he said.
''Chef-hat tourism is a very small percentage of the market, and for everyone else it just created the impression that the restaurant would be too expensive, with food they didn't like. The word 'posh' kept coming up, which was devastating.''
According to restaurant consultant Tony Eldred, we can expect to see more restaurants viewing hats as a mixed blessing as economic uncertainty and a taste for more casual dining take their toll.
''Operators at the high end are dropping their offering from a two or three-hat level to a one-hat level, and it's quite deliberate,'' Mr Eldred said.
''The loss of hats always bothers the ego, but it rarely harms the business.''
Making a decent profit at the top end of the market was ''unbelievably difficult'', he said.
''There's an old saying in the industry - that if you feed the rich, you go home poor, but if you feed the poor, you go home rich. Right now, if you're doing fine dining, you might as well stand on the footpath throwing $100 notes in the air.''
Good Food Guide editor Janne Apelgren confirmed the trend away from high-end dining in Victoria but said ''it would be a shame if we didn't recognise those establishments, chefs and restaurateurs that shoot for the highest possible levels attainable in their industry''.
Ms Apelgren said: ''The hats recognise the extraordinary work, dedication, investment and consistency that goes into achieving them.
''They also set a standard for the rest of our industry, locally, which is a great thing for Victorian diners.''
