Margin pressure and bad weather take a slice out of Pizza Express profits but overall sales grow August 29, 2018 Pizza Express unveiled what it called a "resilient" performance today, despite pressure on margins driving down profits. The restaurant chain, which is owned by Chinese private equity group Hony Capital, has faced cost pressures as well as a significant impact from this year's changeable weather. The figures Group turnover in the 26 weeks to the beginning [...]
Yo Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe: I want to be the next Richard Branson February 6, 2017 It took a life crisis for Simon Woodroffe to set up restaurant chain Yo Sushi. “I got divorced in the early nineties and was out in the wilderness for a long time. I was down to my last £200,000 tied to my flat and was desperate to do something with my life. That’s when I set [...]
UK top pubs, restaurants and cafes ranked: Costa, Greggs and Wetherspoon top consumer opinion poll of high street brands with the best reputation April 20, 2018 Public perception is rising for a clutch of major high street food and drink brands, a new report has revealed. Costa, Greggs and JD Wetherspoon have gained the most momentum when it comes to consumer attitudes, data research company CGA said. The report ranks operators by how fast they are building their brand awareness, positive [...]
Carluccio’s appoints Goals Soccer Centres boss Mark Jones as CEO January 9, 2018 Deli and restaurant chain Carluccio's has announced that Mark Jones of Goals Soccer Centres is to become its new chief executive. Having announced his intention to leave Goals in October, Jones will take over at the chain of Italian eateries "in due course". He commented: "I am excited to be joining Carluccio's at this important [...]
Leisure sector calls on government to create dedicated hospitality minister September 27, 2017 The UK’s hospitality sector has called for the government to create a dedicated hospitality minister. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of Britain’s Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), made the proposal at the trade body’s autumn conference today. The idea was backed by bosses of some of the UK’s largest food, drink and recreation companies. Read [...]
Yotel checks in for global growth with $250m private equity backing September 26, 2017 Yotel, the hotel brand founded by YO! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe’s has bagged private equity backing for its international expansion plans. Starwood Capital is set to take a 30 per cent stake in the business in exchange for $250m (£185m), funding a push in the European, North American and Asian markets. Read more: London’s hotel [...]
Mayfair Equity Partners leads race for Yo! Sushi in deal worth £100m September 13, 2015 THE RACE for Yo! Sushi is heating up after a new buyout firm run by former head of Lloyds’ private equity arm emerged as a frontrunner to buy the restaurant chain, in a deal valued at around £100m. Mayfair Equity Partners was founded earlier this year by Daniel Sasaki, who previously led Lloyds Banking Group’s [...]
Boy at the Almeida review: a flawed portrait of listlessness and poverty April 14, 2016 Almeida | ★★★☆☆ Boy takes place on a winding conveyor belt, with actors and props spinning before the audience like dishes at an especially dour branch of Yo Sushi. What starts out as a sexual health clinic becomes a bus stop then a housing estate then a park then a street outside a nightclub. Often [...]
Buyout group 3i grows appetite for Yo! Sushi May 10, 2015 Suitors circling Japanese restaurant chain Yo! Sushi have entered a second round of bidding, with private equity firm 3i understood to be one of the frontrunners in the race. Yo! Sushi’s private equity owner Quilvest hired bankers at Canaccord Genuity last year to explore a sale of the business, with a price tag of around [...]
New Year Honours 2016: Natalie Massenet, Carolyn McCall, Alan Yarrow and the men and women in business awarded Damehoods, Knighthoods, OBEs and CBEs December 30, 2015 Natalie Massenet, Carolyn McCall and Alan Yarrow are among the business leaders to make 2016's New Year honour list this year. Massenet, the entrepreneur who founded Net-a-Porter and McCall, chief executive of EasyJet, were made Dames, while Lord Mayor of London Yarrow was knighted. Outgoing Nationwide chief executive Graham Beale was awarded an CBE, as was [...]