Basing's challenge

The management at Paramount didn't exactly get a warm endorsement from Groupe Chez Gérard's directors when it made its takeover bid last February. While they recommended the bid they were reported to have advised shareholders of the proposed management team's lack of experience.

But the reports don't appear to have fazed Paramount chief executive officer Nick Basing who, sitting on the terrace in Chez Gérard's Mayfair site, looks comfortable and confident in his new role. After all, he wasn't exactly new to the business when he joined in April.

Takeover bid
Groupe Chez Gérard was 25 years old when its Chez Gérard, Livebait and Bertorelli's brands became subject of a takeover bid by Paramount. In April last year, the company had reported losses of £3.4m, by which time former executive chairman Neville Abraham had enlisted Basing as a consultant to advise him on a business turnaround plan. The plan was partially successful. After Abraham disposed of five restaurants and reduced the size of the company's central office, the business posted half-year profits of £813,000.

Then, in October, the Paramount board invited Basing to join its team and head up the due diligence process to review Groupe Chez Gérard's business plans. When Paramount's bid was accepted in April, Basing was made CEO of Groupe Chez Gérard.

It meant Basing could hit the ground running. "Working with Abraham gave me a chance to have a look at the business," he says. "I made certain recommendations, some of which were used and some of which were not. I then shadowed it for six months during the due diligence and Neville continued to share a lot of his knowledge. This business is a new one, but I understand the issues."

Basing also points out that he's spent more than 15 years - since he graduated with an honours degree in Sports Studies - developing and growing multi-site businesses in leisure and hospitality. He's been a marketing sales manager for Granada's bingo club division (while doing an MBA at Middlesex Business School), he launched the Goodwood Festival of Speed, now the biggest historical motor event in the world, and went on to become director of marketing for Rank, where he relaunched the Hard Rock Café brand and developed a plan to bring the American restaurant chain, the Cheesecake Factory, to the UK.

When the deal fell through, Basing left Rank, went off to study business management at Harvard for four months, then joined Unilever - a slightly weird choice, he admits - to head up their new business and innovation department, bringing us Aloe Vera Persil washing powder as a result. Yet another change in company strategy gave Basing the impetus to move on, this time to pastures more entrepreneurial.

"I saw more brands going into private equity hands and felt that last year could be a good time to get involved in a management buy-in or private equity-based deal," he explains. "I was always passionate about getting involved in a business with latent vitality. Chez Gérard has demonstrated a good track record of performing well. It's lost its way in recent years, but I felt if we did the right things the strength could be released."

Basing has been in the driving seat for five months now, in which time he's made a number of changes both to the infrastructure and at an operational level. His "Top Six, Bottom Four" plan has focused on improving performance in the business's top six sites while addressing issues concerning the bottom four. The Chez Gérard Opera Terrace in Covent Garden, for instance, has received a new Pimm's bar and signage, while the Heathrow site has been refurbished, with a revamped menu and sponsored areas throughout the terminal.

Seats across the estate have increased to about 120, effectively adding an extra restaurant. The training budget has been increased fivefold and the number of suppliers rationalised. Basing has also tried to bring back the detail to the business. Presentation is more "refined" and consistent throughout the chain - details like the reintroduction of Chez Gérard's classic anchovy butter, improved coffee and fresh peppermint tea.

It's all about creative balance, says Basing: "We haven't lost sight of the smaller but visible things for the guests or each individual site. While tackling the infrastructure of the business, like disposals, like keeping an eye out for new sites, like management development processes, we're keeping an eye on the operational detail at each site. This is not a cookie cutter business."

Speed is also an issue for Basing, along with "rigour", a word he uses a lot. "It's important to be rigorous about decision-making," he says. "There's so much data for our use these days and it enables us to be rigorous, but there must also be a balance between being that and getting things done. In this sort of business I'd rather do things intuitively and quickly - getting things 80% right rather than getting things 100% and being too analytical and too thorough."

Strengthening So far Paramount is "working through disposals", and will rebrand only where Basing believes an individual site could trade more effectively. He's mostly looking to continue strengthening sites, increasing capacity and developing the quality of the bars. He's keeping an eye out for new site opportunities, but will remain "rigorous" to ensure it's the right choice.

Basing may not have a lifetime of experience in restaurants but he's clearly enamoured with the industry and thriving on the challenge. But can he make it work? "I love the restaurant world - I'm having the best time in my career - but it's also a huge challenge because there's no certainty of continued success. It's not difficult to put food on the table but it's a complex job delivering excellence. It's a fragmented market, the barriers to entry are low and there's always the risk of new competition.

"How you keep abreast of that competition is down to the strength of the brand and the local reputation of the site. We make it easy for ourselves by sticking to some fundamental things - good steak and frites and French onion soup. If we do that we have a good chance of success, but we must never forget that someone might open tomorrow next door. That's what I enjoy about It."

Factfile

Paramount Chairman: Guy Naggar
Chief executive officer: Nick Basing
Groupe Chez Gérard sites: Groupe Chez Gérard (12); Livebait (7); Bertorelli's (3)
Staff: 650-700

The CV

Nick Basing
Age: 41
Born: Chichester, West Sussex. Married with two children
Inspiration: "There's no one individual I'm inspired by, but I admire people like Ian Neill of Wagamama. He can combine a head for the bigger picture and commercial issues, but also knows what turns on his customers. I have lots of respect for anyone who can engage with their customers and take the industry to a new level."
Business philosophy: "Keep learning and keep improving."
Favourite restaurant: "Uitsig, a restaurant owned by Frank Swainston, in Constantia, South Africa. An extraordinary restaurant set in the grounds of a country house and vineyard. It taps all the emotions and senses, like the best restaurants do."
Hobbies: Tennis (he used to play semi-professionally)