Leon wraps up sales rise but no profit in 2013 January 11, 2015 Mediterranean-style fast food outlet Leon saw a 30 per cent rise in sales in the first half of 2014 as it expanded its outlets in the UK but failed to make a profit, reporting a £829,969 loss after tax on sales of £12.46m – a small improvement on the previous year’s loss of £860,848. Leon [...]
The fast food revolutionary: EatFirst co-founder Rahul Parekh talks long hours, calories, mopeds and Mayfair hotels January 11, 2015 If you're after a startup story with a good luck streak, then that of Rahul Parekh, co-founder of EatFirst, might be the one for you. One evening, late last April, Parekh was holed up in a Mayfair hotel. He got chatting to some friends of a friend who, it transpired, worked for Rocket Internet – [...]
Chateau Gütsch: Journey to Lucerne, the ticking heart of watchmaking January 11, 2015 Overlooking Lucerne, Chateau Gütsch is a belle-epoque retreat with a horological secret. As a writer with a particular penchant for Swiss watchmaking, I probably use the term “chocolate box” far too frequently. Hard not to when describing a springtime visit to an atelier nestled in the verdant Jura foothills, surrounded by cows and their clanking [...]
Property firms’ ads suffer from the Patrick Bateman complex January 8, 2015 You’d think, having seen the reaction to Redrow’s American Psycho-style advert earlier this week, that Berkeley Group might have watched its new ad for One Blackfriars a few more times and thought about whether it would suffer a similar fate. But they didn’t. And it did. Redrow’s ad stars an arrogant (and creepy) City-boy type, [...]
Five hilariously aspirational videos for luxury flats in London January 8, 2015 Developer Redrow has come in for more than a bit of mockery in recent days, after it posted an ad for one of its tower blocks showing a man whose lifestyle seemed suspiciously similar to that of American Psycho character Patrick Bateman. But now Berkeley Group's St George arm has followed suit with an equally weird portrayal [...]
Venezuela McDonald’s has had its chips as it battles US action January 7, 2015 FAST food giant McDonald’s has run out of french fries at its Venezuelan restaurants. The company has blamed contract disputes with dock workers for halting the export of frozen fries from the US to Venezuela. One City worker who hails from Venezuela told City A.M. that although he was dismayed by the news that McDonald’s [...]
McDonald’s not lovin’ high-end burgers biting into sales – Brand Index January 6, 2015 Previously unassailable fast food giant McDonald’s is facing a Big Mac-with-bacon-and–extra-cheese-sized challenge as falling sales and negative customer opinion are taking a huge bite out of its market share. Using YouGov BrandIndex data to explore the problems it faces in the year ahead, we see the rise of higher-end restaurants such as Byron Burger and [...]
Walkie Talkie Sky Garden: Bookings roll in but rules have riled January 5, 2015 The lifts of 20 Fenchurch Street opened to the public yesterday, with roughly 80 excited guests heading up to be among the first to experience the building’s Sky Garden. Booking opened to visitors on 1 December and according to Rhubarb, the company running the Sky Garden’s attractions, it has been popular, with 500 bookings for [...]
L&Q and Development Securities in £150m regeneration contract on Edgeware Road December 22, 2014 Property firms L&Q and Development Securities have entered into a partnership to deliver the new £150m regeneration project at 399 Edgware Road in north west London. The planned residential quarter, which is currently a vacant site, will include 183 apartments and townhouses for private sale set around landscaped gardens as well as cafes, shops and [...]
Billy cycling December 22, 2014 The Elephant and Castle roundabout is infamous among cyclists. In 2013, the last year for which we have complete data, there were 15 incidents involving cyclists on or next to the junction. In May last year, Abdelkhalak Lahyani, a married man of 47, was knocked from his bike as he cycled to work at the [...]