Latest opening: Gusto Italian Oxford
What: A 10,000sq ft restaurant that has opened at the historic Mitre Hotel building on Oxford High Street following a £1.8m investment. The new two-storey venue has a 150-cover dining room on the ground floor and a 60-cover function room above and sport’s Gusto group’s new design that includes an updated look and a theatre kitchen.
Who: Gusto Italian was founded in Cheshire in 2005 and operates 14 restaurants across the UK, predominantly in the north west in locations that include Manchester, Liverpool, Alderley Edge, Heswall and Didsbury. The group is headed up by CEO Matt Snell.
The food: Gusto is pitched at the premium end of the casual dining sector and so has a large selection of mains alongside the more traditional high street options of pizzas, pasta and risotto. At its new Oxford restaurant these include honey glazed duck and balsamic; seared lemon and pepper tuna; and a whole sea bream served on the bone with roasted potatoes, butternut squash, red onion, white chicory and samphire for two people. It also serves a number of steaks, including rib-eye, and fillet and a steak experience for two that features a chateaubriand with a bottle of Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore Classico decanted at the table. Specials include slow-cooked beef and truffled polenta; and truffle linguine.
The vibe: The new look Gusto sees the group take a more muted, natural direction in terms of its interiors. The ground floor has a trattoria feel to it with wooden floors, tables and chairs and splashes of colour thanks to an abundance of plants and prints. Upstairs, meanwhile, has a more fine dining feel to it with carpets, whitewashed walls and exposed wooden beams as well as a stylish bar. The dining room has what Gusto calls its Theatre Kitchen, which allows diners to see the chefs in action.
And another thing: Gusto recently introduced a Pizza Experience at a number of its restaurants where parties of six to 10 people make their own pizzas and cannoli in a two-and-a-half-hour long session.
High Street, Oxford, OX1 4AG
https://gustorestaurants.uk.com/restaurants/oxford/
After more than 15 years, Gusto is finally heading down south. And not before time.
Gusto's premium positioning and size could make it stand out in the crowded Italian restaurant sector in 2023 and beyond, says Stefan Chomka.
As high street Italian restaurant groups go Gusto is relatively small, with its new Oxford restaurant only its 14th location in its 17-year history. Like San Carlo, another northern-based premium casual Italian brand, it chose to initially focus its attention on the north of the country, and while it hasn’t made a move into London like many of its competitors its opening in Oxford is significant as it marks the start of it venturing south.
With the cost of living crisis showing no signs of slowing in 2023, the group’s more premium positioning in the market could be a major strength as the more casual middle looks to get squeezed. Gusto recently reported ‘resilient’ financial results for the year to September 2021 with a turnover of £12.4m and an EBITDA of £585,000 and it has continued to invest not just in new openings but in refurbishing its existing estate. At the end of 2021 it opened a flagship Nottingham restaurant under its new design which has since become the blueprint for new venue as well as newly refurbished venues, with restaurants in Liverpool and Leeds receiving makeovers and, more recently, venues in Edinburgh and Alderley Edge each receiving £250,000 refurb programmes as part of a self-funded £2m CAPEX programme.
Gusto has embarked on a two-year growth strategy that will see it expand into the south of England beyond Oxford, with affluent market towns the obvious location for its more premium positioning. The ongoing success of The Ivy and its different formats show there is a strong appetite for a heightened high street restaurant experience, one which is currently underrepresented in the Italian space in many parts of the UK; if Gusto can help fill this gap its future looks bright.
