BILL OF THE WEEK January 15, 2012 THE CAPITALIST has been hoping a suitable bill from one of Jamie Oliver’s establishments would find its way to City A.M. for months. And, last Thursday, this column’s patience was rewarded when the sommelier at the TV chef’s new City venue, Barbecoa, was dispatched to the cellar for four bottles of 2005 Rousseau at £350 [...]
JAMIE OLIVER SLICING INTO NORTH AMERICAN MARKET January 15, 2012 CELEBRITY chef Jamie Oliver is planning to expand his Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain into the US and Canada. The move follows a year of solid growth for the chain in the UK, with profits for the year to January of £4.65m, up from £1.65m the previous year. Oliver has formed a new company, Jamie’s Italian [...]
RESTAURANT GROUP GETS OUT-OF-TOWN LIFT January 10, 2012 FRANKIE & Benny’s and Garfunkel owner Restaurant Group expects to report strong sales for 2011 as people shun high street chains and opt for its restaurants located in the suburbs, chief executive Andrew Page (inset) said yesterday. Restaurant Group bucked the downbeat leisure environment by selling more than 39m meals in 2011, up five per [...]
SEASICK IN THE CITY AS BROADGATE HOLDS SWAY January 5, 2012 CITY WORKERS in the Broadgate Tower dropped everything on Tuesday to look up the meaning of “deflection”, after strong winds made the building sway so dramatically that staff complained of seasickness. The building may have been designed by award-winning architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill – but when you are stuck in a 165m tower that [...]
FTSE FIRM IN RACE FOR 2012 GAMES DELIVERY January 4, 2012 ANDREW Tinkler, the boss of the FTSE 250 haulage empire Stobart Group, spent a quiet Christmas at his home in Cumbria. But now he is “raring to go” in 2012, he tells The Capitalist, focusing on the £100m development of the Stobart-owned London Southend Airport, which will turn what was once Britain’s third-busiest airport – [...]
Domino’s sales speed up January 4, 2012 Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm Domino’s Pizza said its sales growth had accelerated in the fourth quarter and its 2011 profit would be in line with market expectations. Domino’s, which operates the British and Irish franchises of the global delivery brand, said sales at its 604 shops open more than a year were up 3.6 [...]
HOME FROM HOME SOHO LAUNCH FOR IPAD CROWD January 3, 2012 IF THE late Lucian Freud had owned a crash-pad in Soho, what would it have looked like? Such was the starting point for Apartment 58, the first in a new breed of members’ clubs for the iPad generation. “We wanted something that works for a busy executive in a major metropolis,” said Notting Hill Arts [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 21, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EX-LEHMAN CHIEF TO RUN SPAIN’S ECONOMY Spain’s new government has placed the economy in the hands of Luis de Guindos, former head of Lehman Brothers in Spain, as Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, seeks to return the country to growth while embarking on a programme of budgetary austerity. As finance minister, Mr de [...]
Where will our readers be spending Christmas? December 20, 2011 DAVID WOOTTON LORD MAYOR OF LONDON “I am going to spend Christmas day in Mansion House with all the family, including my grandchildren who are coming from Chicago. Boxing Day will be spent in Sevenoaks and then to a hotel in Kent for the family to enjoy. Lastly my wife and I will be spending [...]
Joe Lewis raises his stake in M&B December 19, 2011 Billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis’s Piedmont investment vehicle has upped its stake in pub and restaurant group Mitchells & Butlers, a former acquisition target, to over 25 per cent. Piedmont, which in October abandoned plans to make an offer for the group, is now M&B’s largest shareholder with a 25.65 per cent stake. “He’s blocking [...]