Friday Five: The week's top news
- Prezzo looks to be the lastest victim of the casual dining downturn after its owner TPG - which bought the group for £304m in 2015 -appointed consultants to consider its options. It is thought restructuring plans could lead to closures across the chain's 300-strong restaurant estate.
- Creditors at Byron have voted in favour of a rescue deal that could see up to 20 of its sites shut. CEO Simon Cope said 'a new Byron [could] begin to take shape', focusing on a 'smaller and more efficient restaurant estate'. He added that the group is aiming to find affected staff new roles within the business.
- The Michelin guide has allowed a top French chef to pull out of its listings in the first public withdrawal of its kind. Sebastian Bras, whose Le Suquet restaurant in Laguiole has held the maximum three-stars for 18 years, said he wanted to cook without the stress of impressing the guide's inspectors. "Maybe I will be less famous [without the stars] but I accept that," he told France's AFP.
- Bronte, the Tom Dixon-designed restaurant overlooking Trafalgar Square, has been put on the market 18 months after opening. Though the reasons for the sale are not clear, the site has been home to two different restaurants over the past four years. It previously opened as The Strand Dining Rooms in 2014, but shut in 2016 following poor reviews.
- Good news for The Pig group, which has announced plans to open three further hotels over the next two years. The five-strong company, created by Hotel du Vin co-founder Robin Hutson, will open The Pig at Bridge Place near Canterbury this autumn, followed by The South Downs Pig near Arundel and The Pig at Harlyn Bay in Cornwall in 2019.
For a full rundown of this week's news click here.
