James Horler – Ego set to open in tenanted pubs: 3Sixty Restaurants is to open its Ego Mediterranean restaurant and bar brand in tenanted pub company sites. The company, led by James Horler, has retained agent Collier to find suitable sites within tenanted pub company estates. Horler told Propel: “We think the Ego offer could work very well in pubs so we’re currently talking to a number of pub operators about finding suburban sites. We’re happy to operate tenanted pubs, tied on beers, but where we put the Ego food offering in. We think we can drive numbers and we know with our marketing we can create a real following in an area and become the place to go. Ego has had a phenomenal 12 months and we’ve retained Colliers to talk to the pub companies. I have to drive five miles to get to a good pub, passing eight pubs to get to a good one – and that’s in Buckinghamshire. We’d like to open three pub sites within 12 months and then more if it’s proven.” Last December, 3Sixty Restaurants, which is owned by sector investor Luke Johnson, ended discussions to sell the group as offers “did not reflect the current performance”. The company reported turnover of £13,372,670 and profit before tax £2,374,706 in the year ended March 2013. For the six months trading to the end of September 2013, like-for-like sales across the Ego and the company’s other brand Rocket were ahead by 12% in like-for-like terms. Horler said at the time: “We have had a very strong start to the year, particularly with the Ego brand. Our development in quality, value, social media and people is now paying dividends and we are seeing strong demand. Ego now has over 30,000 Twitter followers and 80,000 Ego Club members, which, for eight restaurants, makes it one of the country’s leading brands. There are many opportunities for expansion, across the UK for both brands and we have a strong balance sheet with significant net cash resources, which enables us to do so without raising equity or bank debt.” 3Sixty Restaurants comprises eight Ego restaurants in the Midlands and north west and four Rocket restaurants, three in Central London and one in Nottingham. 3Sixty restaurants is looking for “small opportunities” for Rocket. “Nottingham has taught us Rocket will work outside of Nottingham and we have a very strong balance sheet after we sold our Mayfair site in 2012,” Horler said.

Sarah Weir joins Davy’s Wine Bars as new operations director: Davy’s Wine Bars has appointed former Bramwell Pub Company commercial director Sarah Weir as its new operations director. Weir joins the business as Davy’s Wine Bars looks to grow its business through both site acquisition and capital development, as well as continuing the sales growth of the core business. A number of Davy’s Wine Bars have been identified as opportunities for substantial investment this year and further development of a number of new concepts is also underway. Weir joined the business on 6 January and will report into James Davy, chief executive and chairman of Davy’s Wine Bars. Last Friday. Propel reported that Davy’s Wine Bars saw 18% like-for-like sales growth in December.