James Hart departs Harts Group
The former chief design officer at the restaurant group, which is behind brands including Barrafina, Parrillan and El Pastor, is setting up design company Harts Creative.
Hart joined brothers Sam and Eddie at Harts Group as commercial director in 2016 ahead of the launch of the first El Pastor restaurant. He later shifted his focus to design, acquisition, and property development and was instrumental in the securing and building of the Coal Drops Yard restaurants for the group.
In 2022 he made the decision to focus entirely on the design side of the business as CDO, and oversaw the design and build of Barrafina, Parrillan and Bar Daskal at Borough Yards.
While he has moved on from his executive involvement in Harts Group, he will continue to design for the group and remains an owner and board member.
“Seven and a half years ago I joined a restaurant group with an ambitious agenda to expand, whilst retaining a laser focus on quality. Harts Group has been home across some incredible projects and through some extraordinary times," he says.
"It has been a privilege to face the challenges and triumphs of the group side by side with the best in the business. It's with some trepidation therefore but also significant excitement that I set up Harts Creative and look forward to all the new adventures that it will bring.”
Harts Group will continue to be led by Sam Hart, Crispin Somerville and Anna Watkins.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure to work alongside James for the last seven and a half years, starting El Pastor together and building 11 beautiful restaurants in that time," Sam says. "I am delighted to see Harts Creative come to life and James opening his talents to a wider pool of fortunate future collaborators.”
