The Ending of 'The Menu,' Explained (2024)

Dinner is served on The Menu, the new horror-thriller following a group of wealthy foodies traveling to a remote island to dine at the exclusive (and unfathomably expensive) restaurant Hawthorne. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, and Nicholas Hoult, the film takes on a searing critique of the banalities and bewilderments of the ultra rich, whose insular obsession with their self-importance ultimately leads to their own demise.

In The Menu, renowned chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) meticulously crafts a dining experience tailored to 11 of the restaurant's patrons—but the unexpected appearance of Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a sex worker hired to accompany fellow guest Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) to dinner, ruins his plans.

Ahead, we explain the movie's shocking ending. (Proceed at your own risk—spoilers are ahead!)

What happens at the end of The Menu? Does Margot survive?

Erin, an escort who goes by the name Margot while working), accompanies Tyler, a cult follower of chef Julian Slowik, to an exclusive dinner prepared at Julian's high-end restaurant, Hawthorne. The restaurant, located on a remote island where Julian and his army of kitchen staff live and work, promises a night of culinary storytelling to its wealthy patrons—but, little do they realize that they're on the menu.

Julian plays the part of the mad genius, driven to despair despite his acclaim due to his clientele's nonchalant disregard for his craft. His solution? To liberate himself and his patrons with one last meal, in which he slowly reveals to them the sins of their ways (cheating scandals, money laundering, et cetera). As the night goes on and as people are shot, stabbed, and sliced at, the diners gradually realize that they and all of Hawthorne's workers—including Julian—will die.

Unfortunately for Julian, Erin's arrival throws a wrench in his dinner plans. Tyler, who still willingly came to the island after Julian secretly confided his murderous plans to him ahead of time, hired Erin after his original plus one broke up with him. Initially, Julian attempts to rectify the unforeseen damage by asking Erin to choose a side: stand with the workers or stand with the patrons. She chooses the workers, and Julian sends her on a mission outside of the restaurant to retrieve a canister. Instead, she ventures into Julian's house, where she happens across his treasured career memorabilia, like a photo of him happily flipping burgers when he was a young chef, and a radio. On the radio, she desperately sends out an SOS call, but the Coast Guard officer who arrives turns out to be in on Julian's master plan.

The night forges on, with the last, fatal course imminent. Making a last-ditch effort to escape, Erin confronts Julian head-on, telling him that dessert can't be served yet because she's still starving. She says it like a challenge, which Julian eagerly takes up. When Julian asks her what she'd like to eat, she tells him she wants a simple cheeseburger. What follows is a delicious montage of Julian whipping up the fast food staple, wearing the same rare smile in the photo Erin discovered.

When Julian finishes cooking, Erin graciously accepts the burger, taking a generous bite of the dish. Afterwards, she apprehensively tells him that she overestimated her appetite and asks if she can take the burger to-go. Stunningly, he relents, even giving her a doggy bag for her troubles.

She escapes into the night, heading out into the water via the abandoned Coast Guard boat just in time to see the restaurant erupt into flames behind her. Julian had covered the restaurant and his guests in giant marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and graham cracker crumbles—his lethal interpretation of s'mores—before igniting Hawthorne.

As the ship's engine stalls in the dark of night, Erin, exhausted, sits on the bow and looks out at the fire. She opens up the takeout box and finishes the rest of her meal.

Why did Julian spare Erin's life?

The one thing Julian lacks in his illustrious career as a chef is joy. Erin picks up on this and, in mocking his intellectualism and avant-garde menu, she forces him to rekindle his love of cooking by making her a cheeseburger.

"Ralph’s character and Anya’s character are about connection," director Mark Mylod told Den of Geek. "Ultimately, she has manipulated him. He also realized that she’s manipulating him but he allows her to win. All the unspoken business is in the final discourse between them and the burger. It’s a mutual understanding… and he allows her to go 'checkmate.'"

By restoring his integrity as a cook in his final moments, letting Erin escape death is almost Julian's way of expressing his gratitude.

Why don't the diners fight back?

By the time Julian's sous chef shoots himself in the forehead, it should be apparent to every one of the diners that the night has taken a turn for the worst. And yet, the night progresses with little pushback from the terrified patrons.

As Mylod explains, "The absolute futility of escape coupled with the journey they’ve been on, that whisper in the air of Slowik’s words over that evening, over the dinner, the combination of those two elements is just taking them to a place of absolute naked submission." And it doesn't help that there were plenty of cooks keeping guard at all of the restaurant's exits.