D&D London Performance Offers Reassurance for Restaurant Sector

UPMARKET restaurant group D&D London, owner of top eateries including Pont de la Tour, has defied gloomy economic forecasts to post a two per cent rise in like-for-like sales for the three months to December 2007.

Although the results represent a significant drop from the record 13 per cent underlying growth it displayed for the corresponding period in 2006, management at the group are known to be pleased by the performance in what has been a tricky few months for the restaurant sector, with many leading figures cross the industry ruing the challenging trading environment .

Des Gunewardena, D&D’s chief executive, said that spending by companies on Christmas parties had been more restrained than in recent years, and diners were splashing out less on the more expensive bottles of wine.

He predicted that 2008 would be a challenging year for the industry, but stressed that people should not be overly gloomy.

“There will be an easing - off rather than the world ending,” he said.

Total sales for the three months to December grew 25 per cent. The group’s best performing restaurants over the festive period included Coq D’Argent and Paternoster in the City, Orrery in Marylebone and the Bluebird in Chelsea.

Mr Gunewardena said that the sites that had performed well were either those that offered the best value for money or the highest quality, and that he expected that pattern to continue throughout this year.

D&D, known as Conran Restaurants before the management, led by Gunewardena and his colleague David Loewi, bought a 49 per cent stake from Sir Terence Conran, is pushing on with an opening programme that will include at least one new venue in London this year.

The group is also considering plans for a second restaurant in Paris. “We are not scaling back on new ventures,” said Gunewardena, who added that volatile, unpredictable market conditions could well throw up opportunities to pick up desirable sites more easily and “at more realistic prices”.

Last year, D&D opened Skylon at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank, which has been a big success with diners, and grew in size with the acquisition of rival dining group Image Restaurants, owner of sites such as Kensington Place.