Just Eat – breakfast and lunch orders driving growth, pub deliveries a growing presence: Breakfast and lunch orders have proved to be the big growth drivers for Just Eat in 2021, accounting for a “pretty significant number” of its deliveries. The food delivery service has signed up 24,000 new restaurant partners over the past 18 months, bringing its total to more than 61,000 across the UK. This growth has been assisted by new trends in dayparts orders, according to Just Eat’s UK director of strategic accounts, Amy Heather. “The average order per customer is up 25% post-pandemic to pre-pandemic, and they’re ordering in new dayparts,” Heather told the recent Propel Multi Club Conference. “Lunches and breakfasts have been a huge driver for us in terms of our growth over the past year. Breakfast and lunch are now bigger for us in terms of order volume than peak two years ago, and for a business of our size, that’s a pretty significant number of orders in that daypart. Lunch peaked over the summer at 23% of ordering occasions, and the growth of brands really helped drive this. We rolled out across the year with brands like Leon, Costa, Starbucks and Black Sheep Coffee, which widened our ability to talk to independent restaurants that did breakfast or marketplace restaurants open for lunch. We’ve also seen people ordering a lot of sweet things, lots of growth around dessert brands. Things like ice cream brands fly off the shelves because people recognise them, understand what they are and add them to their basket.” Pubs are also becoming a growing presence as they, like other non-traditional delivery outlets, were forced to diversify during the pandemic – a trend set to continue as operators look to an increasingly uncertain future. “Delivery is a way to diversify trade and stay resilient for the future, and a lot of our growth has come from more non-traditional segments like pubs, bars, cafes, coffee houses and dessert parlours,” said Heather. “The pub sector is a really interesting one, and one which hadn’t really thought about delivery pre-pandemic. That’s been significantly sped up, and the pub sector is now in the top eight delivery channels by share, taking around 7% of the market. We’ve been seeing a lot of roll out from core players within this space over last six to 12 months, which is massively fuelling this.” Corporate bookings have also seen an upward trend, fuelled partly by the growing army of “hybrid workers” dividing their time between home and office. “A large portion of the population is experimenting with hybrid working, and employers are looking for new ways to engage with their workforce,” Heather added. “Corporate orders doubled from June to September, and the number of restaurants tripled year-on-year. We recent rebranded City Pantry as Just Eat Business and we’re seeing some really good traction and business on that.”

 

Propel marks tenth birthday with £100 discount to unlimited Premium subscription: Propel is marking its tenth birthday by offering a £100 discount to companies signing up to have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium. For today (Tuesday, 30 November) only, the cost is £795 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier – instead of the normal £895 plus VAT. Existing Premium subscribers can also upgrade to have an unlimited number of people in their business receive access to Propel Premium. Propel will also launch its Premium Advent Calendar on Wednesday (1 December), giving subscribers access to a great video each day in December from our autumn conference series. Each day in December in the run-up to Christmas, Premium subscribers will be sent a video featuring some of the sector’s leading operators, who will share insights, advice and expertise. They include: Azzurri Group chief executive Steve Holmes, Itsu founder Julian Metcalfe, JD Wetherspoon chairman and founder Tim Martin, The Restaurant Group chief executive Andy Hornby, Corbin & King managing director Zuleika Fennell, Giggling Squid co-founder Andy Laurillard and Sarah Willingham, founder of Nightcap, acquirer of drinks-led businesses including London Cocktail Club and Adventure Bar. Premium subscribers will also receive the fifth edition of The New Openings Database, which is produced in association with StarStock, on Friday (3 December), at midday. The database will show the details of 366 newly announced site openings and upcoming launches. Premium subscribers also receive access to two other databases. The latest Propel Multi-Site Database, which is produced in association with Virgate, was sent to Premium subscribers on Friday (26 November). The go-to database provides company names, the people in charge, how many sites each firm operates, its trading name and its registered name at Companies House if different. In a new feature this year, there is a synopsis of what the business does and significant news associated with it. Premium subscribers also receive the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, which is produced in association with Mapal Group. The Blue Book, which is also updated every month, provides an insight into UK operator turnover and profitability over five years, profit conversion and directors’ earnings. Subscribers also receive access to Propel’s library of lockdown videos and Friday Wrap interviews and now also have access to a curated video library of the sector’s finest leaders and entrepreneurs, offering their insights on running outstanding businesses in the sector. Premium subscribers also receive their morning newsletter 11 hours early, at 7pm the evening before our 6am send-out, regular video content and regular exclusive columns from Propel group editor Mark Wingett. The regular single subscription rate of £395 plus VAT for operators and £495 plus VAT for suppliers remains the same. To subscribe, email jo.charity@propelinfo.com

Dishoom to feature in Propel video series around challenges of attracting and retaining staff: Propel has created a mini-video series around the challenge of attracting and retaining staff in the sector. In the fifth episode of the series – which is sponsored by Harri, the enterprise employee experience platform built for hospitality – Andy O’Callaghan, people director at Dishoom, talks to Abi Dunn, from Sixty Eight People, about the initiatives that saw the Indian restaurant brand scoop top spot in this year’s Best Companies to Work For. The video will be sent at 9am on Tuesday (30 November).

Downing Street defends decision to exclude hospitality venues from new mask-wearing rules: The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Max Blain, has called the government’s decision not to extend new mask-wearing rules to hospitality venues “measured and proportionate”. From today (Tuesday), people will be required to once more wear face masks on public transport and in shops to combat the spread of the new Omnicron covid variant – but pubs, bars, restaurants and coffee houses remain exempt for now. Blain defended the decision at Monday’s Downing Street lobby briefing, saying: “We believe that this is a measured and proportionate approach based on the evidence that we have so far.” He added: “It appears likely, but not certain, this variant is more transmissible than previous variants. But we don’t have any hard evidence, and indeed, no one has any hard evidence on its impact on things like hospitalisations and deaths and individuals that are vaccinated. So, we think that this is the proportionate approach to take in the current circumstances.” The new restrictions will be reviewed in three weeks’ time, but health secretary Sajid David also insisted they will be abandoned if the new variant is not as dangerous as feared. “If it emerges that this variant is no more dangerous than the Delta variant, then we won’t keep [these] measures in place for a day longer than necessary,” he told the briefing.

Job of the day: COREcruitment is working with a contract catering company looking to add a strategic retention partner to the team for the Midlands and north of England. A COREcruitment spokesman said: “It is imperative the candidate comes from an operational background within contract catering. This fundamental understanding of the sector will set you up to succeed in this role. Ideally, you will also have a base understanding of bids and tenders, but this isn’t imperative. This is a client-facing role, so the confidence to engage with clients at a senior level is called for, along with the working with peers across multiple departments at all levels. The responsibility of contract retention will be yours, working with the operators and the business development team to offer the best solutions for the client.” For more information and to apply, email Dan@corecruitment.com

Itsu to open first international franchise restaurant this week, secures debut Scotland site: Itsu, the healthy Asian food chain created by Julian Metcalfe, will open its first international franchise restaurant on Tuesday (30 November). The company will launch the site at Brussels airport, having previously signed an agreement with Autogrill. The outlet is located in the restaurant area of the Gallery of Light in Terminal B. The 166 square-metre restaurant, which has created 20 jobs, has seating for 46 diners along with offering “grab and go” takeaway options. Metcalfe said: “We are delighted to export our incredible brand and food to mainland Europe in partnership with Autogrill. The location within Brussels airport will introduce the Itsu experience to travellers from across the globe.” Stan Monheim, Autogrill chief operating officer for rest of Europe, added: “We are pleased to announce this new opening with Itsu, as the brand’s first franchise partner in mainland Europe.” Earlier this year, Itsu opened its first franchise restaurants in the UK. The first, in Reading, is in partnership with Heart with Smarts, which is operated by the team behind Pizza Hut Restaurants, while a second opening, in Leicester, is with Savvi Dining Group. At the same time, the brand has secured its first site in Scotland. The company is set to open a site at the St James Quarter development in Edinburgh next February.Itsu plans to open 100 new outlets, creating 2,000 jobs in the UK alone, within the next five years.

Pret set for further Middle East expansion with new franchise deal: Pret A Manger, the JAB Holdings-backed business, is to further expand in the Middle East. One PM Franchising, which is a subsidiary of One Franchising Holding, a regional food and beverage operator with a presence across eight countries, has become the latest franchisee. At this stage, terms have not been agreed on the number of sites that might open under the agreement. The deal marks another step in Pret’s expansion into new regions and countries and is part of plans to double the size of its business within the next five years. It follows an agreement in October, with A&W Food Services of Canada, to introduce the Pret brand and products to its restaurants in Canada. Pret chief executive Pano Christou said: “Demand for our freshly prepared food and organic coffee is growing, so to meet that demand we committed to an ambitious growth plan. Our new partnership with One PM Franchising will help expand the beloved Pret brand in the Middle East, where we already have three shops in Dubai.” Hamad Al-Sayer, chairman of One PM Franchising, added: “We’re pleased to be bringing Pret to Kuwait, and potentially other regional countries, and help expand its brand to our existing customers and markets in the Middle East.” Earlier this year, Pret also expanded with roadside franchisee partnerships with independent forecourt operator MFG and motorway services operator Moto.

German Doner Kebab owner launches virtual chicken concept with The Sidemen, plans 200 sites globally by end of 2022: Virtual Hero – which is owned by Hero Brands, the company behind German Doner Kebab, Choppaluna and Island Poké – has launched a new virtual food concept. Developed in collaboration with YouTube collective The Sidemen, Sides combines “pop-culture references with delicious chicken dishes.” Facilitated by virtual restaurant operator Reef, the new fried chicken concept is available for delivery only and sold exclusively online in the UK and the UAE via all major food delivery platforms, with a US launch slated for early 2022 and 200 sites set to open globally by the end of 2022. The Sides menu allows customers to choose their “protein” (chicken or plant based) in either a “sando”, slider, salad or to be “loaded up” with the choice of seven different flavours. Customers also select an accompanying side such as waffle fries, mac ‘n’ cheese, side slaw, onion rings and cheese poppers. The dishes have been created with each of their seven Sidemen (KSI, Miniminter, Zerkaa, Behzinga, Vikkstar123, TBJZL, and W2S), who are known for their creative cook-offs. Vikkstar123 said: “As huge fans of fried chicken, we can’t wait to get our new food brand Sides out to our fans across the world.” Virtual Hero chief executive Robin Mehta added: “We are responding to emerging consumer trends in this fast-growing market and building the virtual brands of the future.”

                                               

JD Wetherspoon to open third Dublin pub next week following €4m investment: JD Wetherspoon will open a third pub in Dublin city centre next week, creating 100 jobs. The company has spent almost €4m developing the former HQ Gastro Bar and Nutbutter, in Hanover Quay, at the heart of the Grand Canal Dock district. The pub, which will be called The South Strand, will launch on Tuesday, 7 December, and have an extensive pavement cafe-style seating area at the front and side, overlooking the former docks and Grand Canal. Dan Foster, Wetherspoon’s area manager for the Republic of Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be opening another pub in Dublin city centre. The Silver Penny and great additions to the city’s social scene – and we are confident The South Stand will prove to be the same.”  Meanwhile, Wetherspoon has signed a 20-year deal with Budweiser Brewing Group, part of Anheuser Busch InBev, to become the largest beer supplier across the pub company’s estate. Following a 41-year association with international brewer Heineken and its predecessors, Wetherspoon will be making some changes to its beer and cider line-up from Wednesday, 15 December. The deal will see Budweiser Brewing Group’s portfolio feature prominently on draught and in packaged format across every Wetherspoon pub. Wetherspoon has also recently agreed long-term deals with current suppliers BrewDog, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company and Molson Coors. 

Old Spike Roastery to open first standalone coffee shop, three more central London sites to follow: Social enterprise Old Spike Roastery is to open its first standalone coffee shop, with a further three central London sites to follow in the next six months. Launched in 2014, Old Spike currently operates a cafe and roastery at its headquarters in Peckham and has since expanded to an online, wholesale and retail offering. Now it is opening the capital’s first carbon and plastic neutral cafe, in Sherwood Street, Piccadilly Circus, next month, with others to follow. Each new site will provide a London Living Wage job for an individual who’s experienced homelessness and support a local homeless charity. Old Spike founder Richard Robinson said: “These launches will see Old Spike branch out of our home in Peckham and make an impact in other parts of London, through further employment opportunities and donations to local homeless charities in each community where we open.” Each site will serve Old Spike’s speciality coffee alongside baked goods. Reusable coffee silos will be available to encourage refills and customers can help themselves to coffee to take home via an on-site dispensary. Old Spike will also be continuing its partnership with Eden Reforestation Project and commit to planting a tree with every bag of coffee sold. 

Vegan Chinese restaurant Mao Chow to open at Boxpark Shoreditch for second site: Vegan Chinese restaurant Mao Chow is to open a second site, at Boxpark Shoreditch. Founder Julian Denis will launch Mao Chow Express on Wednesday (1 December). The menu from chef Harry Fox will include his recreations of kung pao chicken and char siu bao along with Cantonese “beef jerky” fried rice and ginger-scallion “chicken”. Denis said: “The core of these dishes is the endless search to recreate Chinese flavours outside of China. We just want to carry on this tradition and try to do our bit to be a bit more sustainable.” Denis launched Mao Chow as a pop-up in Dalston before opening a permanent site in Mare Street, Hackney, in April 2019.

Australian-based mobile payments company raises £48m to support growth, including in UK: Australian-based mobile payments company Mr Yum, which launched in the UK this year, has raised a £48m Series A round, led by Tiger Global. Investors in the round also include Commerce VC, VU Venture Partners and Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar and wife Kim Jackson through Skip Capital. Existing investors TEN13 and AirTree also followed-on in this round, making their largest investments so far into the company. The Series A follows Mr Yum’s £6m Post-Seed round in April, bringing the total funding raised to date by the company to £55m ($100m Australian dollars). Since launching in the UK, Mr Yum has rolled out with operators including Little Creatures and The Breakfast Club, as well as festivals such as Taste of London and Henley Regatta. Founded in Melbourne in November 2018, Mr Yum offers a suite of features including payments, loyalty, marketing and customer insights. Mr Yum chief executive and co-founder Kim Teo said the funding round will accelerate the company’s global growth. She said: “This round of capital allows us to triple down on our global lead on product innovation as we grow our teams across the UK, Australia and the US.” The company has grown from 12 to more than 120 full-time staff in the past 18 months, with teams in London, Los Angeles, Sydney, Brisbane and its Melbourne headquarters. Mr Yum has more than 1,500 venues using the platform globally, along with 13 million users.

Travelodge reports record third quarter results: Travelodge has reported record third quarter results, as the group continues to recover from the covid-19 pandemic. Total revenue for the three months to 30 September 2021 was up 9.9% compared with the same period in 2019, with adjusted Ebitda of £87m compared with £57.5m in 2019. The group’s portfolio currently stands at 593 hotels and 42,285 rooms, with 15 properties having opened so far this year and another two set to open in Walton-on-Thames and Newcastle’s Cobalt Business Park before Christmas. It expects to open six new hotels in 2022 – a lower figure than average due to new deals being impacted by covid-19. Chief executive Craig Bonner said: “Following the lifting of all covid-19 restrictions, Travelodge has delivered a record trading performance in the third quarter. We saw a significant increase in demand post 19 July, with very strong levels of domestic leisure demand across the UK this summer and good ‘blue collar’ business demand, and we also benefited from the reduced VAT rate. While forecasting remains a challenge, and we continue to face a range of possible outcomes, we expect to return to 2019 revpar levels during 2022, driven by continued leisure and ‘blue collar’ business demand offsetting a slower recovery in ‘white collar’ corporate demand.” Meanwhile, a new 100-bedroom Travelodge hotel is to be built in Ipswich. Family-run property developer and investor Burney Group will build the five-storey hotel, which will include a 72-cover cafe, next to Ipswich Town FC after securing a £7.4m loan from OakNorth Bank. 

Richard Corrigan to open restaurant at Hawley Wharf Camden: Richard Corrigan, chef patron of the Corrigan Collection, is set to open a restaurant in the Hawley Wharf development in Camden Market. Two years after launching Daffodil Mulligan in Shoreditch, Corrigan is now working on his next project, which does not as yet have a name. In an interview with the Irish Independent, Corrigan said: “I am up to my eyes with designers, builders, for my new place in Hawley Wharf in Camden. That whole area of Camden was a bit of a tourist hole. Now it has become another London hub, like Shoreditch was in the 1990s. The restaurant will be all about great food – bakery, smokery, craft beer – and it is going to be something really very special.” The restaurant will have about 120 seats on the roof and about 50 outside on the terrace. Corrigan’s other London venues are Bentley’s and Corrigan’s Mayfair, which also incorporates Dickie’s Bar.

Stonegate launches bespoke training programme for Craft Union Pub Company: Stonegate Group has launched a bespoke learning and development programme for Craft Union Pub Company. Part of Stonegate’s Albert’s Theory of Progression, the programme, called Elevation, is designed to give regional managers an internal personal and career development programme. Lee Woolley, director of learning and organisation development, said: “Craft Union’s philosophy is putting brilliant pubs back at the heart of local communities. Not only do pubs play a vital role in the lives of their customers, but the teams and operators play such an important role in nurturing this. This programme gives our regional managers the extra support, skills and behaviours needed to continue this mission.” The latest three internal regional manager appointments at Craft Union have been from the Aspirations programme Albert’s Theory of Progression – Stonegate’s programme that equips experienced general managers in the managed estate with the necessities of area management.

Team behind Berber & Q opens new restaurant in Queen’s Park: Brothers Josh and Paul Katz and Mattia Bianchi, the team behind Berber & Q and Shawarma Bar, have opened a north African and East Mediterranean-inspired restaurant in Queen’s Park, London. Carmel, in Lonsdale Road, has an all-day menu incorporating a list of 60 wines. Breakfast dishes with Middle Eastern flavours alongside freshly roasted coffee from Origin Coffee are available at the start of the day. Lunch options include flatbreads, while evening meals, cooked in a wood-fired oven, feature Tamworth pork chops with confit garlic, preserved lemon and borlotti, or slow-grilled chicken from Sutton Hoo with curry-pickled radicchio and apricot glaze. The restaurant, which features an open kitchen, has 44 covers indoors with a further 30 seats outside. Josh said: “My brother and I opened Berber & Q six years ago, and Carmel maintains our core ethos of celebrating good company and eating great food, cooked simply, with real care and passion. The menu continues to take inspiration from the Levant and makes good use of the wood-fired oven.”

Greek restaurant concept doubles up with Derby opening: Greek restaurant concept Zorba the Greek has doubled up by opening a site in Derby. Nadeem Ullah has added to his existing premises in Chelmsford, Essex, with an outlet in Derby’s Bold Street. Ullah has taken on the former Iberica World Tapas site, which closed in 2018, following a deal brokered by David Brown Commercial. Ullah said: “We have invested significantly in the restaurant to create a traditional Greek dining experience.” Michael Green, chartered surveyor at David Brown Commercial, added: “After exposing the property to the open market, we were delighted to have agreed and completed the letting to Zorba the Greek. It has been looking to open a second restaurant for quite some time, having run its successful and established authentic Greek restaurant in Chelmsford for five years.”

Veggie Master set for Nottingham opening next year: Vegetarian and vegan restaurant and takeaway chain Veggie Master is set to open its 11th site, in Nottingham, next year. The plant-based venue will open in Lenton Boulevard, in the Lenton area of the city, early in 2022 – offering pizza, burgers, kebabs, pasta noodles and wraps with no meat and using homemade recipes. Founded in 2016 by Rajveer Singh, the original Veggie Master opened in Southall, followed quickly by franchises in Birmingham and Slough. It now has sites spread as far as West Bromwich, Reading, Derby, Leicester, Luton and Wolverhampton. 

US-based Whim Hospitality acquires second UK hotel: US-based Whim Hospitality has acquired its second UK hotel. The company, owned by Kim and Whit Hanks, has bought the grade I-listed Abbey House & Gardens in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The purchase comes seven months after the American hospitality entrepreneurs bought and refurbished the nearby The Old Bell Hotel, which has served the community since 1220. The Hanks will now work alongside bodies including Historic England to retain the property's history and integrity. Whit said: “Kim and I are thrilled to have ownership of these two historic properties in our ancestral home of Malmesbury.”

Portsmouth chef to open permanent site for Caribbean-inspired restaurant concept after hitting crowdfunding target: Portsmouth chef Natty Crutchfield is to open a permanent site for his Caribbean-inspired restaurant concept after reaching his crowdfunding target. Natty’s Jerk started its journey in early 2019 at pop-up events in the city, such as the Commercial Road food market. It was also a concession at the Outside In Food court in Middle Street before going on to trade from a van on Southsea seafront and at various events across the region. The venture was most recently based out of the kitchen at the Acapulco Bar in Albert Road. Now Crutchfield, who owns the business with his family, has raised £22,750 on Crowdfunder in a bid to “take the business to new heights”. Crutchfield plans to build a “Boxpark-style” outdoor dining area opposite Portsmouth and Southsea train station that will offer Caribbean delicacies such as jerk chicken, rice and peas. The restaurant will be called Natty’s Jerk Shack and will be based out of a converted shipping container.

Digbeth Dining Club moves to new space: Digbeth Dining Club has become a permanent fixture in Longbridge, Birmingham, after it began running a new community space in the town centre. Building on the pop-up Longbridge Dining Club events over seven years, property developer St Modwen and Digbeth Dining Club have developed a partnership for a flexible events venue in the heart of Longbridge town centre. Digbeth Dining Club is operating Herbert’s Yard, a new events space with seating for up to 200 people. The new multi-purpose site hosts dining club-style events while a cafe and deli are open daily, and a selection of independent food traders operate from Thursday to Sunday.

Wirral-based operators open new Mexican restaurant: A new restaurant specialising in Mexican cuisine has opened in Bromborough. Pina Loca, meaning “crazy pineapple”, is based in Allport Lane, at a site which previously housed McColl’s convenience store and Dillons Newsagents. The restaurant plans to bring “a slice of Latin flare” to the Wirral-based town and will serve classic Mexican dishes, small plates and an extensive wine and cocktail menu. Pina Loca is the creation of Babul Miah, a member of the family which has run Karma Indian Food in West Kirby for the past two decades. “I’m so excited to get the doors open and show Bromborough and the surrounding areas what we have to offer,” Miah told the Liverpool Echo. “The warm welcome we have received from the local community is amazing.”

Pizza Hut to close Bournemouth restaurant branch: Pizza Hut has announced it will close its restaurant branch in Westover Road, Bournemouth. A Pizza Hut spokesman told the Dorset Echo: “Like many hospitality businesses, Pizza Hut has faced disruption due to the pandemic. We are doing everything we can to redeploy our team members to other Pizza Hut restaurants to minimise the impact to our workforce.” The closure will leave the town with one remaining restaurant, in Castle Lane. In September last year, Pizza Hut announced it would close 29 of its 244 UK restaurants as part of a company voluntary arrangement. At the time, the Westover Road branch was not included in the list.

Urbanista Hotel in Liverpool reopens under new management following rebrand: Urbanista Hotel in Liverpool has reopened with a rebrand and decor upgrade following the covid-19 pandemic that forced its closure. The boutique hotel, in Bold Street, opened for the first time in November 2019, trading for three months before closing due to lockdown. Relaunching as Boudoir, the hotel has 17 rooms and suites, two of which have private use of courtyards. The hotel is also home to a top floor private events space that will undergo further refurbishment too. David Colebourn, the hotel developer and development director at Voya, said: “We’ve worked hard behind the scenes to refinance the hotel and have relaunched it as Boudoir. We felt Urbanista didn’t get the chance to get off the ground, having to close so soon after it first opened, and so we’re reopening with a fresh approach, having refurbished the rooms and injected a new lease of life into the building.”

Scottish cheesecake brand doubles up with second site: Wicked Cheesecake, the premium cheesecake brand based in West Fife, Scotland, has opened its second site. Wicked opened its debut store in Cowdenbeath’s Crossgates two years ago, selling bespoke and made-to-order cheesecakes. It has now doubled up with the opening of an ice cream and milkshake bar, called The Wicked Milk Bar, in Inverkeithing’s Hill Street. 

Boujee opens in Chester for third site: Boujee, the north west-based bar and restaurant concept, has opened its third site, in Chester. Boujee, the pink-themed concept partly owned by Real Wives of Cheshire star Lystra Adams, has opened the venue in Pepper Street, known as the city’s dining quarter, reports Cheshire Live. Adams is one of the newest members of the Real Housewives of Cheshire cast and her Boujee concept is a regular feature on the ITV2 show. Boujee was incorporated in September last year, with Adams listed as one of three directors. The first restaurant and bar launched at the Liverpool ONE complex towards the end of last year, before the opening of an outlet in Bridge Street in Manchester earlier this year.