Casual Dining Group to launch delivery brand out of Cafe Rouge kitchens

Stack and Grill will focus on burgers, croque monsieur grilled cheese sandwiches and craft beers when it goes live in the next few weeks.

The brand will operate out of over 80 Cafe Rouge kitchens across the UK and will be available on Deliveroo.

Speaking at the Casual Dining Show in London this week (21 February) James Spragg, chief operating officer at CDG, said that while the delivery model had been successful at the company's Bella Italia brand, it had proved more difficult at Cafe Rouge.

“One of the things we struggle with is that a boeuf bourguignon or a confit de canard doesn't travel well, and [delivering them] probably does more harm to your brand,” he said. “But burgers and croques do [travel] and that’s the main thing we’re focusing on.”

Cafe Rouge currently offers four varieties of croque monsieur on its lunch menu, but they will be available after 5pm for the first time with the launch of Stack and Grill.

Spragg added that while Bella Italia was trading well, cover growth at Cafe Rouge was ‘about flat’ at the moment and the company was hopeful Stack and Grill could boost sales at its sites.

“We need to constantly be looking at being not just a lunch and dinner business, but finding new ways of allowing different groups of people to enjoy our food,” said Spragg.

“At the moment Cafe Rouge is busy in the day and not so busy in the evening, so we’ve got enough space and kit to cater for [delivery].”

He added that CDG, which also owns Belgo, La Tasca and Las Iguanas, is hopeful Stack and Grill will be successful enough that it will eventually have to adapt its Cafe Rouge kitchen operations to cater to demand.

CDG employs 10,000 people across almost 300 restaurants in the UK and says it serves more than 20m meals a year.