Nando’s takes flight by offloading GBK to South African restaurant chain September 1, 2016 One of the original purveyors of the upmarket burger has been sold to the owner of 1980s stalwart Wimpy for 2.1bn rand (£109m). In a deal that really cut the mustard South African fast food group Famous Brands bought Britain's Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) as it saved nearly a fifth on the price due to the weaker pound in the wake [...]
How not to make a dog’s dinner of your business lunch September 1, 2016 City A.M. recently declared the death of the business lunch, after research showed two thirds of Brits have seen a decline in the number of professional restaurant rendezvous. This is unsurprising, given our heavy workloads and the fashion of spending much of our time talking via email. While we may not have the professional inclination to [...]
Ex-Tesco finance chief cleared over accounting scandal August 31, 2016 Tesco's former finance chief Laurie McIlwee has been cleared by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) over the supermarket's accounting scandal two years ago. The FRC was investigating McIlwee after it emerged in 2014 that the company had been overstating its profits in its accounts stretching back to 2012. McIlwee resigned his position as chief financial officer in April 2014, five [...]
10 London startups named the hottest in Europe August 31, 2016 Dinner delivery startup Deliveroo and and an artificial intelligence company acquired by Twitter have both been named among the hottest startups in Europe to emerge from London. Top entrepreneurs and investors from across Europe have chosen the startups, along with a further eight, to compile a top 10 list of the capital's newest tech companies making a name for themselves, [...]
Cha Chaan Teng review: why this Holborn restaurant is like Miley Cyrus twerking August 30, 2016 The liberal food world tied itself in knots last month when Girls creator Lena Dunham suggested that her alma mater serving terrible banh mi and sushi could be classed as cultural appropriation. The story is largely bollocks, of course – many have pointed out that a handful of students (quite rightly) saying that pulled pork [...]
Starwood’s W Hotels announce deal to operate Edinburgh hotel August 30, 2016 Starwood Hotels & Resorts is to bring its iconic W Hotels brand to Edinburgh, as the centrepiece of the flagship £850m Edinburgh St James development. W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and an industry innovator with 49 hotels and retreats in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around the world and it is coming [...]
London restaurant app Velocity lands millions more pounds in funding August 29, 2016 A restaurant app founded in London which lets diners pay their bill with their phone has landed millions of pounds in new funding. With some of London's top eateries on board such as Hix, Sketch and Gymkhana, as well others in New York and Los Angeles among other cities, Velocity has bagged £17m in a series B round [...]
Frankie & Benny’s owner The Restaurant Group to concentrate store closures outside of London August 29, 2016 Frankie & Benny's owner The Restaurant Group (TRG) will focus the vast majority of its upcoming restaurant closures outside of London. The FTSE 250-listed firm announced on Friday it is set to close 33 of its most underperforming sites, including 14 Frankie & Benny's branches and 11 Chiquito restaurants after a "challenging trading" period. Just two of [...]
Jubilee line Night Tube services to start on 7 October August 26, 2016 The first Night Tube service on the Jubilee line will start from 7 October, the mayor of London has said. The news comes after Londoners hailed the success of the service beginning on the Central and Victoria Lines last weekend. Over 100,000 people used, and are benefitting from, the launch of London’s first all-night Tube [...]
The Restaurant Group reports increased revenue but reduced profit as it lays out issues with Frankie & Benny’s August 26, 2016 The Restaurant Group (TRG) has laid out the reasons behind the poor performance of its biggest brand, Frankie and Benny's, as it reported an uptick in revenue but a dip in profit in the first half of 2016 The figures Revenue grew to £358.7m in the 27 weeks to 3 July, up 3.4 per cent from [...]