Business Round-up
Carlton awards for Oliver, Ramsay and Locatelli
Giorgio Locatelli, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver were among 12 chefs whose restaurants or contribution to the industry were honoured at the 2003 Carlton London Restaurant Awards this week.
Top of the class, with two awards, was Ramsay's flagship Gordon Ramsay restaurant in Chelsea, which won both Restaurant of the Year and French Restaurant of the Year honours. Locatelli, meanwhile, scooped the Italian Restaurant of the Year accolade for Locanda Locatelli.
And it was Oliver's work with unemployed youngsters that earned the ex-River Caf‚ chef the London Restaurant Academy Award of Excellence. The category was set up to acknowledge the nurturing of new talent in the industry.
Fifteen, Oliver's restaurant, was pipped at the post for the New Restaurant of the Year title by Clapham's Thyme, set up by chefs Adam Byatt and Adam Oates 18 months ago.
CVC joins bidding for Six Continents
Hugh Osmond, pursuing a £7b-plus (including debt) hostile bid for Six Continents, faces potential competition from private equity group CVC Capital Partners, it was revealed on Monday night (10 March).
CVC admitted that it was in discussion with a number of private equity groups and hotel companies, including Marriott and Starwood, to put forward a rival bid.
Such a consortium would have an advantage over Osmond in that it would involve international hotel operators. The consortium could also include Texas Pacific Group, one of the biggest buyout operations in the world.
It is unclear whether Osmond will withdraw his bid should Six Continents have gone ahead with yesterday's (12 March) shareholder meeting to vote on the proposed demerger of the company's hotels and pubs divisions.
Six Continents needs 75% of the shareholder votes in order for the split to proceed, but indications suggest it may struggle to achieve this.
Travel Inn and TGIFriday's - in good company
Travel Inn, the UK's largest hotel network, is the only hotel company to be ranked in this year's Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For survey. It came 91st.
Restaurant chain TGI Friday's, also owned by Whitbread, came in at a credible 52nd, the only other hospitality operator in the list.
"We're happy to see both Travel Inn and TGI Friday's there in the list," said a spokesman for the British Hospitality Association. "But in future years we'll look to have even more representatives as part of the industry's
Notable absentees this year were PizzaExpress (85th last year) and Hilton Hotels (91st last year).
Thistle sell-off could block Brierley's hostile bid
Thistle Hotels is expected to sell six London hotels to raise £600m to head off a hostile £554.7m bid from its majority shareholder, Brierley Investments (BIL). The properties include the five-star Royal Horseguards, the Thistle Tower and the Thistle Marble Arch hotels.
The Thistle board has unanimously rejected the offer of 115p a share from BIL, which already owns a 46% stake in the company. "This offer is opportunistic and at a wholly inadequate premium," said chairman David Newbigging.
BIL, which bought Thistle forerunner Mount Charlotte Investments in 1991, said the group had not performed to its full potential since it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1996. Its bid came the day after Thistle reported falls in turnover and profits in 2002 of 38% and 43% respectively.
Parallel announces second project with Brian Turner
Parallel, the hotel restaurant division of contract caterer Aramark, has announced that its next venture with top chef Brian Turner will open in London's Millennium Mayfair hotel in early April.
It will be the second project for Parallel and Turner - the first started at the Crowne Plaza Birmingham NEC hotel last year - and is in line with Aramark's plans to move into the sector of F&B outsourcing within hotels.
Under the agreement with the hotel, Parallel will have responsibility for all the F&B at the four-star hotel.
Viner returns to form at new restaurant Sevens
Former national chef of the year Kevin Viner has reported a solid first month's trading at his new restaurant, Sevens, in Truro, Cornwall, owned by David and Jane White.
Sevens, next to the Whites' Café Citron, is the couple's first fine-dining restaurant. Viner runs the 38-seat operation and aims to regain the Michelin star he held at his restaurant Pennypots, near Falmouth, which he closed three-and-a-half years ago.
"Despite the gap between me closing Pennypots and opening here, my old customers have come back. Most of my clients are businessmen, so I'm not reliant on tourism," said Viner, who added that the restaurant was benefiting from a lack of rival quality restaurants in the area. The Whites and Viner also plan to develop a take-away business.
One becomes two at Glasgow's Amaryllis
Amaryllis, Gordon Ramsay's one-Michelin-starred Glasgow restaurant at One Devonshire Gardens, is to divide into two dining areas. One will continue to serve its current style of food, the other will put out simpler dishes in response to the demands of the local market, confirmed a spokesman for Gordon Ramsay Holdings.
The change of focus will also see a new chef at the helm. Colin Buchan, Amaryllis's sous chef, will take over from current head chef, David Dempsey, who is returning to Ramsay's flagship restaurant in Chelsea, London.
