Brand Group clears up image problem
by Nigel Bartlett
The Russell Brand Group is to be given a new identity - just nine months after it was created as a vehicle for expansion for contract catering operation Russell & Brand.
From next month it will be known as the Brand Group, while the information technology division created at the same time will change its name from Unity Business Solutions to Unity Software.
Explaining the changes, group marketing manager Ed Bevan said the previous names had created confusion in the industry and among clients.
"People didn't know Russell & Brand was the contract catering division of the Russell Brand Group, or where Unity sat in relation to either of them," he told Caterer.
Russell & Brand will be retained as the name of the contract catering division, but it will undergo a change of image.
A Sheffield-based consultancy has come up with a series of four separate logos for the Brand Group, Unity Software, Russell & Brand and its catering design division, Design Services.
At the same time, the group's chief executive, Jerry Brand, is planning changes to food purchasing which he confidently expects will have as big an impact on the industry as his controversial denunciation of hidden discounts last year.
Mr Bevan declined to give any details, but said the plans fitted in with the company's aim of being different to the more established contract caterers.
The company underwent a restructuring in March in preparation for flotation, which has been earmarked for 1996. However, Mr Bevan said the group was not fixing itself to any preconceived timetable.
- Digby Trout Restaurants is to build three new outlets at London's Science Museum, more than doubling the public catering capacity at the site.
The company, formerly known as De Blank Restaurants, will open a 180-seat restaurant, the Lunar Café, as well as an espresso bar at the museum entrance and a convenience store.
The outlets are scheduled for completion in March 1995, when refurbishment of the existing 75-seat Flight Café is also due to be completed. The company is investing £250,000 in the project, which will see the closure of existing outlet, the Megabite Café.
