Alain Ducasse consultancy to advise on Café Rouge food development centre
CDG has entrusted Alain Ducasse Education (ADE) Research & Consulting to help develop its future Café Rouge concept and its future Food development centre.
A spokesman said: “ADE Research & Consulting has unparalleled experience in culinary consulting for over two decades. Through non branded customized missions, an exemplary team helps to design and optimize food-oriented businesses by sharing industry knowledge and expertise in every aspect of the culinary field.”
The move by the Steve Richards-led group is part of the turnaround programme for the c-90-strong brand.
VIDEO: In Operation with...Café Rouge
Richards, who re-stated he believed there was potential for the brand to return to the 150 site mark, told M&C Allegra’s Restaurant Conference that the company will have completed 60 major refurbishments across the brand at an average of £300k a site by March.
He said that in the sites the group had already invested in it had seen sales and profit growth, customer feedback and metrics had hugely improved, staff retention had improved and return on investment was north of 35 per cent.
The company recently launched its first Café Rouge franchise site in the Middle East, at the Souk Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai and Richards said that a further three sites were lined up to open under the brand in the region.
He said: “The customer view of Rouge was that they still liked the brand, but that it offered poor value for money, below average food quality, ok-ish service and that the décor was very tired and outdated.
“The management’s view was that the brand had a great profitable core but long tail; most sites were very tired, the food was not good enough, the service needed to be better, but that there was an opportunity to scale and launch new formats.”
