Prezzo breaks silence on new brand – looking to expand: Restaurant chain Prezzo has made its first public comment on its new brand, Cleaver, a “better burger, ribs and chicken” concept, that opened in Cobham, Surrey, a fortnight ago. The company stated: “The design of the restaurant means that the divisions between bar, kitchen and seating area have disappeared and the kitchen is now part of the restaurant with the chefs as part of the theatre. The restaurant layout makes a central feature of the cooking with the chicken rotisserie clearly visible to the guests. Its interior is clad in salvaged and reclaimed materials, including a gymnasium floor on the ceiling and 200 year old French oak on some of the walls.” Prezzo chief executive Jonathan Kaye said: “We are an innovative company and are always looking at new ideas for restaurants. We have placed a heavy emphasis on the provenance of the meat and poultry on offer at Cleaver as well as design and overall look of the restaurant. We will explore further opportunities to open more Cleaver restaurants in the future.” The menu offers five variants on chicken, burgers and ribs, with an open kitchen showcasing chefs cooking on charcoal and a rotisserie chicken operation. Design is a radical departure for Prezzo with the entire restaurant clad externally with wooden boarding. Inside, the Mid-Western wood shack theme is continued with extensive use of reclaimed material, most notably different types of distressed and less distressed wood but also corrugated iron and concrete. A large floor-to-ceiling menu board is the actual wall in the foyer to make a firm statement – we do a limited but high quality menu that is unchanging. The menu is stripped back to focus on around 15 variants of better burger, better chicken or better ribs. Chicken – the menu states that it is bought from ‘selected Norfolk farms’ - is served whole (£13.95), half (£8.95) or quarter (£5.50). A bowl of wings is £4.95 for five or £9.95 for ten. There are three burger options, hand made from prime Scottish beef: classic or with cheese (£7.75), cheese and bacon (£8.95) or cheese and jalapeno (£8.75). Ribs, (‘fully traceable locally sourced pork’) are served in four variants: a full rack is £12.95, a half rack is £6.95 and there is a half rack and wings option (£11.45) and a half rack and quarter chicken (£11.95). All sides are extra and priced at £2.95: Skin on fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, corn on the cob, slaw, green salad, wedge salad, fried courgettes. A couple of stand-alone fridges in the dining area showcase the brand’s two craft beer choices – Camden pale ale (£4.25) and Camden Hells Lager (£3.95). There are just nine wine choices, categorised as ‘good, better and best’ on the menu across white, red and rose. Desserts feature US classics such as New York vanilla cheesecake (£4.95) and waffle topped with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup (£3.95), with an on-site doughnut machine producing mini-doughnuts served with chocolate dipping sauce (£3.95). There’s a choice of three milkshakes – chocolate, banana and vanilla (£3.95). Propel managing director Paul Charity said: “Cleaver redefines the better burger category by stripping it down to three classics and adding what might be called better chicken and better ribs. This is possibly the first time a potentially mainstream brand has been brave enough to offer a menu as simple as this, relying on supreme quality of each item to carry the day. The design is little short of stunning – quite unlike anything else in the market. It avoids the cliché traps in referencing the US Mid-West and, instead, feels homely and authentic, like you have stepped into a friend’s shabby chic log cabin for a barbecue. Cleaver uses a charcoal grill as its major cooking method – and there is a large showy pile of bags of charcoal next to the cooking station to emphasise the point. The brand sits on a suburban street in Cobham but would clearly work in a wide variety of retail and leisure parks.” Prezzo currently operates the eponymous Italian food brand and Mexican brand Chimichanga.