Non-payment of utility bills may be the proverbial straw that breaks the backs of some restaurants this year, forcing at least three to close their doors in 2012, predict hospitality bosses.Philip Barnett, owner of Island Restaurant Group and co-chair of the Restaurant Division within the Chamber of Commerce, says that there are some restaurants that are so deep in debt to suppliers that they will eventually be cut off.“I’ve been told that at least three restaurants will close down in the next three months because of that,” he said. “People can move from supplier to supplier in the case of liquor and food; however, the big one that you cannot move from supplier to supplier is the electricity and gas company. You can’t cook in the dark without gas. And, that is a very sad situation.”Teresa Chatfield, also a co-chair of the Chamber’s restaurant division and director of MEF Ltd, said that while it’s impossible to gauge how many restaurants may fall, 2012 will see restaurants facing their creditors.“So far, though, the business community has rallied together almost all landlords have been reasonable over rent reductions or freezes in their buildings, suppliers have worked to keep price increases at a minimum, banks have kept a healthy pressure on the industry but been reasonable in their actions to date,” she said. “But the start of 2012 may see some of that unravel: suppliers need to be paid, banks need their interest on their loans at the very least. The suppliers who tend to be the least sympathetic are the utilities; those establishments that have got to the stage of unpaid electricity or gas will be forced to shut.”The overall 2012 outlook for the restaurant industry is much as it was at the beginning of last year: bleak.“Bottom line, we took a deeper dive than anywhere else in the US they talk about ten percent drops,” said Mr Barnett, whose IRG runs four restaurants in Hamilton. “Here in Bermuda, fine dining, as an industry, took a minimum of a 40 percent drop from 2008 to 2009 and has really not recovered. It has sort of bumped along the bottom. From our point of view, we aren’t looking for any improvement through 2012.”Ms Chatfield sees much of the same.“Whilst we prepared for some of the impact of the recession, it has bitten much deeper and gone on much longer than we anticipated,” she said. “And the tunnel at the moment has little light in it.”But despite the grim predictions, it’s not all doom and gloom.New Year’s Eve business was strong across the board, ending a rough year on a positive note with New Year’s Day brunch business up over last year.More than 30 restaurants have partnered with the Department of Tourism to kick off the first-ever Restaurant Week on January 16, which will actually run for three weeks (see side bar). And, according to Mr Barnett, the recession has created a different mindset in the industry.“In a somewhat twisted way, this long hiccup, if that what it is, is a good thing for Bermuda because it’s forcing all of us to be that much more competitive, be that much more value oriented, deliver a global experience as to what our client base has become used to,” he said.Ms Chatfield agreed: “Gloom is not good for the hospitality business. The industry has to stay focused on looking after their customers and keeping them happy. The Restaurant Division of the Chamber is working closely together and is more active and more participatory than in the past: everyone realises what is at stake and that competition is fine but that working together as a group can bring synergy of action.”According to the restaurateurs, the long-term solution for the industry is a change in policy towards foreigners in Bermuda.One hundred expatriate families have left Bermuda in 2011, said Ms Chatfield, the impact of which has reverberated throughout the Island.“For the restaurant, bar, nightclub industry the loss of international company employees, as well as those in the sectors that service them has been significant,” she said. “The real impact of that on schools, housing, supermarkets, restaurants and even airlines is only just starting to be felt.”Shaving costs and even increasing the number of tourists to the Island won’t help the restaurant industry sustain itself, they say, stating that it’s the business and expat community that is the key to their recovery.“Bermuda is never going to survive just on tourist dollars alone, in fact, that really is just the icing, our cake is business people in Bermuda,” said Mr Barnett. “Feet on the ground, 365 days a year that are consuming our services not just for a one-week vacation but for 52 weeks, working, living, breathing, eating, getting their air-conditioners cleaned, lawns mowed, all of those things. Everyone has to recognise that those jobs and that money is the only way we will be able to continue forward.”Ms Chatfield echoed his thoughts: “For the future, cost cutting and managing declining revenues can only be sustained in the short term. In the medium term and longer term Bermuda needs to attract business and individuals back to its shores.“Government policy is key to that but not by changing in a grudging fashion; the Island has to wholeheartedly embrace the concept of foreigners on these shores as an integral part of the community. Not just as a golden goose for us to argue over and benefit from. Otherwise, the golden goose itself will emigrate, and we will all be the poorer in more ways than one.”