Friday Five: the week's top news
- Legendary chefs Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White are teaming up to launch a restaurant at The Abbey Hotel in Bath this autumn. Koffmann & Mr White's will serve French and English dishes designed by the pair. It will open in partnership with Black and White Hospitality, which runs White's empire of hotel restaurants.
- Plans for actor Robert De Niro's Covent Garden hotel have been scrapped after long-standing restaurants including Joe Allen were forced to relocate to make way for the site. BD Hotels, which was working with De Niro on the project, blamed a "changing economic picture".
- Carluccio's is to begin a £10m revamp of the menu, design and service at its restaurants after entering in to a Company Voluntary Agreement that will see it close up to 30 of its 103 sites. It comes after pre-tax earnings at the Italian chain almost halved to £6.5m last year.
- Jollibee, the largest fast food group in the Philippines, is believed to be eyeing a UK opening in Earls Court as part of a global expansion drive. The c.2,700-strong chain, which serves burgers, fried chicken, noodle meals and coffee, is looking to open 500 new sites - half outside its native market.
- A second series of BBC2's Million Pound Menu has been commissioned, meaning the show will return to TV screens next year. Production company Electric Ray is on the hunt for new restaurateurs hoping to secure investment.
For more of this week's news, click here.
