Malmaison launches steak restaurant concept and eyes standalone roll out

By Becky Paskin

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Hotel du vin Inn

Malmaison Manchester will be the first site for Smoake Bar & Grill
Malmaison Manchester will be the first site for Smoake Bar & Grill
MWB, the owner of Hotel du Vin and Malmaison hotel groups, is to launch a new high-end steak restaurant and bar at Malmaison Manchester with ambitions to roll the concept out as a standalone brand.

Smoak Bar & Grill (a combination of smoke and oak) is due to launch at the Manchester hotel by the end of July and is already being cited as the Malmaison version of Bistro du Vin, which also began life within Hotel du Vin properties before being rolled out as a standalone concept.

The 160-cover restaurant and bar is inspired by the steakhouses of Scottsdale, Arizona, featuring exposed surfaces, distressed oak, cracked red leather booth seating and an open flame grill to generate theatre.

The menu will feature predominantly provincially-sourced cuts and an extensive wine list that will be served in pewters.

Malmaison and Hotel du Vin Group chief executive Robert Cook told BigHospitality that Smoak was exciting him more than any other food and beverage concepts the group has done in the past.

“I’ve been looking at what’s happening with the steak concept over the past two to three years and I’m a massive fan,” he said. “If this is a success, which I think it will be, it could possibly roll out.

“As a hotel business our success is our food and beverage operations; half our turnover comes from it, and if we get this right we could certainly be taking the restaurant out of the hotel and putting it into the high street. It’s essentially Malmaison’s Bistro du Vin.”

Also opening at Manchester Malmaison alongside Smoak is the Ember Lounge, a luxury cocktail bar where guests can enjoy drinks made at their table.

“I feel the Manchester market has nowhere exclusive you can go and have a sophisticated experience with the very best of brands being pulled in, so that’s what we’ve gone for. We hope to attract the celebrities who can come and hide away and not be bothered.”

Overseas expansion

Smoak’s inception was borne from a need to refurbish the Manchester Malmaison restaurant and bar area, and develop a branded food offer that would aid the group’s expansion plans.

Malmaison has been eyeing up properties in the States for potential growth, although Cook said the group would wait for ‘the end of the recession’ before acquiring an overseas property.

“We’ve done a lot of investigatory work into the States and we’re continuously talking to developers about opportunities. I believe something can happen. Malmaison is in locations where we need it to be in the UK and we need to take it overseas now. I think the brand will do well in America either as a conversion brand or new build, and if we go there we’ll go for secondary cities like the Austin, Houston or Atlanta rather than New York or Chicago.”

Cook added that while business for the group had plummeted in April and May this year due to the number of Bank Holidays, business at the end of May and June has been ‘exceptionally strong’.

In response to reports that Malmaison has sold and leased back several of its properties in order to reduce its debt, Cook said: “Every hotel business is looking at ways of expanding and we are looking at different angles.”

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