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 [...]
YO! Sushi rolls up deal to acquire 600-branch Bento Sushi for £59m November 20, 2017 British sushi chain YO! Sushi has acquired Bento Sushi, the second-largest sushi chain in North America for $100m Canadian dollars (£59m). The acquisition forms one of the biggest sushi companies outside of Japan, combining Bento’s 600-strong portfolio of sushi bars across the US and Canada with YO!’s 97 owned or franchised restaurants worldwide. Combined sales [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Living on a houseboat: A cheap housing alternative to expensive rents and high London property prices April 25, 2016 I live on a houseboat. When I tell people this, people want to know everything: how I breathe, eat, sleep and – worryingly often – how I go to the loo. It’s all up for discussion. When you live on a barge, there’s a danger of your home becoming the most interesting thing about you. [...]
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 [...]
High street restaurant dishes from Pizza Express and Barburrito have more salt than a McDonald’s Big Mac February 16, 2016 Popular dishes at some of Britain's best-known high street chains actually contain more salt than junk food favourites like a Big Mac and regular fries from McDonalds. That's according to research by Treated.com, which found some main course menu items on offer in high street chains such as Pizza Express and Barburrito "out-salt" what's generally seen as less [...]
Three Little Birds in Brixton Jamaican restaurant review and the Shuang Shuang Chinese hot pot conveyor belt disaster February 2, 2016 Last time I didn’t like a restaurant, someone got so cross they threatened to report me to the Independent Press Standards Organisation for the sheer gall of having an opinion, which, in this case, happened to be that their restaurant was rubbish. So in the interests of not making someone else cross, I shouldn’t write [...]