Friday Five: the week's top news
- Restaurant groups including Nando's, Mowgil, Honest Burgers and Tortilla were among the winners at Restaurant magazine's annual R200 Awards, held in London this week. See the full list here.
- Simon Cope has stepped down as chief executive of the Byron burger chain after just over a year. His tenure saw the high-profile closures of 19 of the group's restaurants as part of a CVA, though he told The Sunday Times in September that the company was seeing 'week on week improvements' in sales.
- Aiden Byrne is to relaunch the former Manchester House site as Restaurant MCR this week. The chef, who alongside investors bought the site out of administration last month, has reduced the number of covers and will offer a six or 12-course tasting menu, and an express lunch option.
- Peter Boizot, the founder of the PizzaExpress restaurant chain, has died aged 89. Boizot's original Wardour Street PizzaExpress site was a landmark restaurant and created a blueprint for modern casual dining.
- The number of restaurants in Britain fell 2% in the year to September 2018, according to the latest Market Growth Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners. This figure amounts to more than 10 closures a week, and a net loss of 539 sites, with independent restaurants bearing the brunt of closures.
For more of this week's news, click here.
