The Menu 's ending brings the dark satire to an unexpected conclusion. Slowik's dinner guests soon discover he may have invited them for something far more sinister than gourmet cuisine.
At the end of The Menu , it's explained why Chef Slowik, along with what remains of his staff, burns down Hawthorn with all the guests — save Margot — still inside.
Margot escapes, watching as Hawthorn goes up in flames with Tyler and the other guests trapped within — punished for their excessive wealth and self-indulgence by Slowik. The spectacle of the scene is a talking point in and of itself, but it's the mystery and deep social commentary that made The Menu ending so inspired. From Fresh to Bodies Bodies Bodies, there are many great horror films about parties and privilege that will appeal to fans of The Menu.
The violence, murder, and burning down of Hawthorn weren't random or sadistic. Chef Slowik feels like a shadow of his former self, and his resentment of the gluttonous elites who use landing a table at the Hawthorn as a show of status became so overpowering he had to act. Chef Slowik Ralph Fiennes wanted to make his guests, all used to wealth allowing them to live free from consequences, feel embarrassed and affronted by the time the fatal final course rolled around.
Slowik's clientele are shallow, self-serving, and disconnected from the authentic human experience — something he seeks to remedy. The celebrity chef made his guests experience what it was like to feel helpless at someone else's mercy. He wanted them to taste true powerlessness before they died. The fact their consumerist elitism was also responsible for the art being lost from cooking in Slowik's eyes only fueled his rage, and by the end of The Menu, he'd had plenty of opportunities to act on the decades of repressed hatred.
