Hospitality news

Headlines

Steve Groves appointed executive chef at Glyndebourne

Former Roux at Parliament Square head chef Steve Groves is to oversee the kitchens at East Sussex opera house Glyndebourne as executive chef.

Friday Five: the week's top news

This week's main hospitality news stories include Albert Adrià closing nearly all his Barcelona restaurants, operators struggling with inconsistent enforcement of outdoor trading rules, and Bar Crispin opening in Soho.

Latest opening: FENN

The owners of Hackney's NEST have renamed and repositioned their Fulham restaurant Harlequin, bringing in a new team of considerable pedigree in the process.

Final line-up announced for Paradise Carriage

Niall Keating has revealed the last four guest chefs due to cook at his lockdown-born pop-up Paradise Carriage.

Choppaluna plans aggressive expansion with over 60 new sites in the pipeline

Salad-focused fast casual brand Choppaluna is set for aggressive expansion across the UK.

UKHospitality Cymru urges Welsh Government to bring forward indoor reopening date

UKHospitality Cymru (UKHC) has urged the Welsh Government to bring forward the reopening date for indoor hospitality in Wales and at least align with England and Scotland's plan to unlock on 17 May.

Hospitality businesses believe vaccine passports will likely be introduced, poll finds

Hospitality businesses are anticipating the introduction of vaccination passports once restaurants and pubs reopen fully, a latest poll has found.

India Club pushes ahead with challenge against eviction following crowdfund

Beloved London restaurant the India Club is pushing ahead with a legal challenge against its eviction following a successful crowdfund campaign.

OPSO team to open live-fire Greek restaurant INO in Soho

The team behind Marylebone restaurant OPSO and the Athens based two Michelin-starred restaurant Funky Gourmet are converting their Pitta Bun venue in Soho into a new live-fire restaurant.

Kerth Gumbs parts ways with Ormer Mayfair

Kerth Gumbs has left his role as executive chef at Ormer Mayfair, saying the time had come for him 'to start a new chapter' in his professional life.

Le Pain Quotidien bolsters vegan offering

Bakery and café chain Le Pain Quotidien is to increase its number of vegan options and introduce a number of other sustainable initiatives as it starts to reopen for eat-in customers.

McDonald's mandates anti-harassment training worldwide

McDonald's is to implement new global brand standards to combat harassment, discrimination and violence in its restaurants, starting next year.

Victor Lugger: "We want to be PayPal for bricks and mortar"

Big Mamma Group co-founder Victor Lugger is looking to shake up how customers pay the bill following a €20m (£17.3m) seed-funding round for his QR-code based mobile payments start-up Sunday.

Slice by Pizza Pilgrims scores second site

Pizza Pilgrims has secured a second London site for its aptly named New York pizza-by-the-slice concept Slice, joining the line-up of street food operators at Swingers West End.

Service included - calling time on tipping

A well-run TRONC scheme might seem the most equable way to run a business, but there’s still too much grey and too much scope for abuse.

Sacha Lord calls for fair tipping policy amid warning of a post-Covid decline in gratuities

Greater Manchester's night time economy advisor Sacha Lord is calling for an industry-wide fair tipping policy amid warnings of a post-Covid decline in customers leaving gratuities.

Drink sales rocket on hospitality's first day of trading

Like-for-like drink sales were up by more than 110% on hospitality's first day of trading (12 April) compared to the same day in 2019, according to CGA data.

Phil Howard: "pasta has the capacity to deliver pleasure in a way few things do"

Phil Howard, chef-patron of Michelin-starred Chelsea restaurant Elystan Street, on launching London-based pasta delivery service OTTO, the art of food delivery, and reopening his restaurants.

Proposals to force calorie labelling on pub pints 'ludicrous'

Leaked Government proposals that would force bigger pub chains to provide calorie labelling on pints of beer have been slammed by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) as 'ludicrous'.

Famed curry house Gaylord to return as virtual brand

Legendary London curry house Gaylord is to return as a virtual brand offering hot food delivery locally alongside a national mealkit service.

Rosa’s Thai Café pushes on with expansion

Rosa’s Thai Café is planning to open up to six new restaurants over the next year, as well as continuing to grow its portfolio of delivery-only 'cloud' kitchens.

Hawthorn plans IPO as standalone business

Community pub operator Hawthorn has unveiled plans to list on the stock market as a standalone quoted business.

Campaign launched to encourage deposits as restaurant no shows return

A campaign aimed at making restaurant and pub no shows a thing of the past has been launched to coincide with the reopening of the hospitality sector.

How I Got Here: Matthew O’Connor

The restaurant director of Kerridge’s Bar & Grill on his love of restaurants, and why more needs to be done in schools to emphasise the importance of the hospitality.

Alexis Gauthier: “For people to embrace plant-based we need to cover all levels of cuisine”

The talented French chef that swapped foie gras for faux meat on his new ‘vegan cafeteria’ 123 Vegan at Mayfair department store Fenwick.

People on the move in hospitality: April 2021

New appointments for Sessions Market, Crockers Henley and the Craft Guild of Chefs are among the big people moves of the past few weeks.

Inception Group to take on Axa over business interruption insurance

London-based hospitality company Inception Group is to launch a legal challenge against insurer Axa in a bid to recover millions of pounds in business interruption payouts.

Hospitality sector confident UK will avoid another post-summer lockdown

Operators within the hospitality sector are confident that the UK will avoid going into another lockdown after the summer, according to the latest Lumina Intelligence Hospitality Leaders Poll.

Flash-grilled: Dorian Janmaat

The head chef at The Idle Rocks and St Mawes Hotel in Cornwall on his admiration of Raymond Blanc, the importance of chef development, and pairing oysters with Bloody Marys.