BGR puts its faith in Fish!

Restaurant operator BGR is to concentrate on expanding its chain of mid-market Fish! diners and will have eight open by the end of 2000.

"Fish! has been an outstanding success and we have accelerated our nationwide roll-out programme," said chairman and chief executive Tony Allan.

BGR had said it would open six Fish! restaurants by the end of 2000. Sites have been secured in London districts Smithfield and Canary Wharf as well as in Birmingham.

It now expects to have six Fish! restaurants up and running by the end of October and a further two by the end of the year. Additional sites are being looked at.

The first Fish! opened in London's Borough Market on 20 February 1999. Allan said it had exceeded all expectations, becoming profitable within three months of opening.

A second opened in Battersea, south London, in December, with a fit-out cost of £650,000. Trading here was described as "encouraging", despite the long Christmas and New Year holiday period.

Fish! offers a simple menu of fish dishes, including a "choose-your-own" section, and mainly targets customers spending £15-25.

The decision to concentrate on Fish! was announced today as BGR unveiled pre-tax profits up by 15% to £2.38m for the year to 31 October 1999. Turnover rose by 24% to £19.05m.

The restaurant division raised its turnover by 36% to £7.6m and profit before tax was up by 27% to £1.6m.

The Bank restaurant in London's Aldwych was performing well, with sales in line with expectations, said BGR. Bank Birmingham, opened in December 1999, was also trading in line with expectations.

Despite this, BGR said it did not intend to open any further Bank-style operations and was not actively seeking sites.

Business at the group's Lawn restaurant in Blackheath, south-east London, was not as good as expected. But an extended licence and stronger trading since October meant performance was likely to improve this year.

BGR said it would re-organise its food preparation division to better support the opening of more Fish! restaurants. It also announced it would de-merge its IT division.

by David Shrimpton