Fri 3rd Jul 2015 - Update: JDW, BrewDog, Whitbread, Domino's, Crowdcube JD Wetherspoon plans £10m Glasgow hotel: JD Wetherspoon aims to build a hotel on a plot of land vacant next to its Crystal Palace pub in Glasgow as well as developing the upper floors to the pub. The development cost for the new hotel is £10 million. It would create circa 30 new jobs. The hotel would comprise 73 bedrooms – this is 45 in the extension (currently the vacant plot of land) and 28 above the pub. There are no on site or opening dates as planning still needs to be obtained. Wetherspoon has had meetings with the planners and is now progressing its planning application. Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “ We are keen to open a new hotel alongside and above our pub, The Crystal Palace, in Glasgow. We believe that the hotel would be a great asset to the city and to the pub itself.” Wetherspoon currently operates 36 hotels in the UK, including seven in Scotland. Total of 65 food and beverage companies now funded through Crowdcube: An analysis of fund-raising on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has shown a total of 65 food and beverage companies have successfully found investment for a total of 69 campaigns – 66 campaigns sold equity and three were mini-bonds. The total amount raised is £22.6m, of which £17.8m is equity and £4.8m is in the form of mini-bonds, according to research produced by Pizza Rossa founder Corrado Accardi. The average amount raised is £270,000. Of the businesses 20 are start-ups (selling an average equity stake of 18.5%), 31 are early stage businesses (selling an average equity stake of 17%) and 18 are growth stage (selling an average equity stake of 12%). BrewDog launching all-American craft beer, whiskey and underground gaming bar at Shoreditch site tomorrow: BrewDog is launching a new all-American craft beer, whiskey and underground gaming bar Two-Bit at its Shoreditch site in London tomorrow (Saturday, 4 July) to coincide with Independence Day. The company has renovated Underdog in the basement of BrewDog Shoreditch, off Bethnal Green Road, and brought it to life with a selection of retro coin-op and arcade games. Two-Bit features fully playable pinball machines as well as classic arcades including the original blockbuster, Space Invaders. The full BrewDog Shoreditch food menu will be available in its new downstairs joint, along with daily specials and exclusive Billy Frank’s jerky. In keeping with the American theme, Two-Bit will be majoring in the freshest US craft beer with designated taps for different beer styles, It will be rotating through draught imports from the likes of Victory, Ska Brewing, Firestone Walker, Almanac and Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. Leeds Brewery to open sixth pub site tomorrow: Leeds Brewery is launching a new pub in Leeds city centre tomorrow (Saturday, 4 July) on a site that once served as a public house. The company is opening The Lamb and Flag – its sixth pub in the region – following a six-figure funding deal with NatWest, creating 15 jobs. The pub is located in Church Row adjacent to Leeds Minster in a grade II-listed building that was The Thirteen Bells public house in the 19th century. It includes a first floor balcony area as well as an outdoor courtyard with views of Leeds Minster. In addition to serving Leeds Brewery beers, the venue will serve traditional pub food. Sam Moss, director of Leeds Brewery, said: “The Lamb and Flag will be like our other pubs. Beer will be central to the drinks menu but there should be something for everyone with a great wine menu, spirit selection and soft drinks range. The venue itself is in a great location and we are ensuring the Lamb and Flag reflects the history of the area with its decor.” Leeds Brewery already runs four pubs in the city and one in York. Our Bakeries plans three new sites as it reports 15% year-on-year sales increase: Our Bakeries, the south west cafe bakery brand, is planning three new sites as it reported a sales increase of 15% year-on-year for its most recent quarter ending 28 June. Managing director Nick Darnbrough told Propel it was looking to open two or three stores between October 2016 and September 2017. While the company saw a decline of 14% in April, May’s sales increased by 1.94% and in June it experienced a 25% rise. Like-for-like sales for the quarter also increased 1.56%. Darnbrough said: “The focus of the whole team on availability, quality and consistency is the driving force behind our improved performance. The final quarter of the year is historically our busiest and we are looking forward to delivering some record sales.” The company has four sites in Devon and Dorset in Plymouth, Lyme Regis, Poundbury and now Rousdon, which opened in March. Construction starts on new £25m dining space at Newcastle shopping centre: Construction has started on a new £25m dining space at Intu Eldon Square shopping centre in Newcastle. The redevelopment of the former Sidgate and High Friars malls – known as Grey’s Quarter – will create space for 20 new restaurants and is due to open in autumn 2016. TGI Friday’s, Giraffe and Bella Italia have already applied for premises licences for the Grey’s Quarter, reports Chronicle Live, with applications showing the restaurants will be open every day potentially until 12.30am. Senior asset manager for the centre Ben Cox said: “Grey’s Quarter represents a significant investment from Intu and our partners and will be a fantastic addition to both Intu Eldon Square and Newcastle City Centre. There are some great names signed up, familiar quality brands alongside several new entrants to Newcastle. We’ll be releasing details on the tenant line-up very shortly.” The construction of the two-storey dining space includes creating a new entrance to Eldon Square at Monument as well as a rooftop terrace looking out over the city centre, which will also have a restaurant. JKS Restaurants to launch new concept Hoppers in London: JKS Restaurants, which features the Trishna, Gymkhana and Bubbledogs brands, is to launch a new concept in London serving snacks from southern India and Sri Lanka. The company, owned by Jyotin, Karam and Sunaina Sethi, will open Hoppers in Frith Street in Soho on the site of the former Japanese udon noodle shop Koy in October. The menu will centre on the hopper, a bowl-shaped pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk, and dosas, crepes made from fermented batter of ground rice and lentil, which are both popular in southern India and Sri Lanka. It will include two rice-and-roast dishes, such as a buffalo-shank biryani and a Tamil spit chicken. Cocktails will focus on genever and arrack while ginger beer and buttermilk chaas will be made in-house and Sri Lankan Lion beer will be served. Karam Sethi told Bloomberg: “I’ve always had the idea of doing something more casual, and this fitted because we’ve seen the popularity of the duck dosa at Gymkhana.” The Sethi family has formed JKS Restaurants to coordinate its projects. San Carlo Group reports profit and turnover rise and plans expansion into Middle East and China: San Carlo Group has reported a rise in profit and turnover for the year to 30 September 2014 – and is planning to expand into the Middle East and Chinese markets. Chairman Marcello Distefano said: “The directors of the San Carlo Group of companies are pleased to announce another strong year, with turnover rising 12.47% to £46.18m for the year ending September 30, 2014. Profit also rose 4% as the group continued to invest in new venues with the opening of Cicchetti in Covent Garden, London, and Fumo restaurant, bar and late lounge in Manchester, both launched during the last three months of 2014. With these new restaurants, the group is projecting turnover rising to £55m for the current financial year. The directors are continuing to look at new opportunities across the group restaurants with particular emphasis on the Cicchetti and Fumo brands both in the UK and internationally. Sites are already secured in Qatar and Bahrain, with further openings planned in Istanbul and China.” San Carlo Group opened its first restaurant in Birmingham in 1992 and now has a string of sites under its various brands in the UK and abroad. Whitbread opens 700th Premier Inn site: Whitbread opened its 700th Premier Inn site on Wednesday (1 July). The company stated: “The new hotel in Kingston-upon-Thames brings together everything that makes the Premier Inn story so compelling. A great site and location, strong property partnerships and effective team working. These principles have helped us to build the business and to establish the estate that we have today – and they sit at the heart of our forward growth plans for 85,000 Premier Inn bedrooms in the UK by 2020.” Domino’s Pizza UK aims to raise £1m for new charity partner Teenage Cancer Trust: Domino’s Pizza UK has chosen Teenage Cancer Trust as its new charity partner and aims to raise £1m over the next two years. The company will be raising the money through various activities including employee and customer fundraising as well as raising awareness of the work done by the Teenage Cancer Trust. It is kickstarting the partnership tomorrow (Saturday, 4 July) by deliver over 600 slices of freshly made pizza to Teenage Cancer Trust’s “Find Your Sense of Tumour” conference in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Young cancer patients will be sharing a #cheesygrin selfie on their Twitter and Facebook feeds and for every one shared, Domino’s will donate £1 with the figure capped at £5,000. It is pushing the initiative by encouraging the public to get involved by uploading and sharing their #cheesygrin selfie with help from Hollyoaks cast members, the Channel 4 show that Domino’s sponsors. There are 28 specialist Teenage Cancer Trust units in NHS hospitals across the UK and the charity wants every young person with cancer to have access to this specialist support. Cake hits £800,000 crowdfunding target: Cake, the mobile payment app for restaurants and bars in London, has hit its £800,000 target on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube. The company has seen 190 investors pledge £813,840 in return for 7.06% of its equity and is now “overfunding” with 17 days left. It was founded by two former corporate financiers Michelle Songy and Charlotte Kohlmann who said in the pitch: “We saw a gap in the food and drink service market when we launched, with a faster and easier way for friends to share and then pay their restaurant or bar bills. When people can pay faster, they are happier. And restaurants can serve more customers and build a reputation for fast and efficient service.” Cake-registered users can access the app to allocate drinks or food to friends in the group and pay or split the bill as they choose, with no need to leave a card with the venue. Cake’s clients include Comptoir Libanais and the Rum Kitchen.