Capital pro gress
"Eatertainment" is the future of dining in the 1990s, according to Russell Scott, chief executive of Capital Radio Restaurants.
Eatertainment means seeing the Backstreet Boys while eating a burger and shoestring fries; it's the chance to win the new Spice Girls album while ordering a Caesar salad; and it's dancing the night away to salsa, on top of an authentic Mexican meal and cocktails.
Eatertainment is the reason that media group Capital Radio took the unusual step of purchasing restaurant business My Kinda Town in November 1996.
"Capital bought the restaurant business because they could understand the association between the listener base and My Kinda Town's property portfolio and restaurant expertise," says Scott. "The restaurant provides a stage, a shop front for the stars, and the listeners get to see and touch something tangible."
Scott - formerly chief executive and group operations director of Harry Ramsden's, the upmarket fish and chip operation - was brought in this July to "Capitalise" the restaurant group and to counter City criticisms that the £51m acquisition was a diversification too far for its media parent.
Shortly after Scott was appointed, My Kinda Town's chairman and managing director Peter Webber and finance director Stephen Gee - who had been with the company since 1986 and 1982 respectively - left. Whether or not the old management team was sacrificed to City scepticism, it is clear that Scott was brought in to shake up a collection of brands that were struggling to break free of the 1980s.
"We have highly trained, highly skilled management staff," says Scott of the team he inherited. "They were just looking to get excited about something and move the group forward."
Six months after acquisition, the group had not changed noticeably and its share price was still stuttering. But Scott's arrival in July has energised the group. The My Kinda Town monicker has been ditched in favour of the name Capital Radio Restaurants and the team has moved from its clubby head office to the airy, open-plan environment of Capital's new Leicester Square offices above the company's 300-seat Capital Radio Café.
To develop the restaurant company, Scott's strategy is to focus on rolling out four key brands that build on Capital Radio's strengths in entertainment. These are Radio Café; Havana, an all-day-dining Latin American venue; a revamped Henry J Bean's; and a music-led restaurant that will compete with high-street pizza and pasta offers such as Caffe Uno and PizzaExpress.
Scott has told the City that he plans to concentrate the group's energies in the next year on Radio Café and Havana. There are plans to open 20 Radio Cafés over the next three years, starting in the regions where Capital currently broadcasts.
Each restaurant in a new region will have 300 seats and will cost about £1m to develop. Satellite restaurants in the suburbs of large cities, such as Bromley and Croydon to the south of London, will have just 200 seats. Capital Radio's acquisition of Virgin Radio - yet to be approved by the Department of Trade and Industry - will give the Radio Café further roll-out potential.
"It gives me a national stage," says Scott of the proposed Virgin deal, although he is also considering licensing the Radio Café concept to other radio stations.
Havana, the Latin American concept that first opened in London's Fulham Road last summer under the old management team, will also be rolled out nationwide. Scott has set a hefty target of 50 Havana outlets over the next three years and requires sites of between 7,000 and 9,000sq ft.
Havana is designed to be an all-day eating experience, where lunch will cost, on average, £8 a head and dinner £14 a head. In the evening, the music will be turned up to encourage dancing with live and recorded Latin American acts.
Capital is targeting university towns and cities nationwide and the first three restaurants will open in former My Kinda Town sites next year.
The units for conversion are a Henry J Bean's outlet in Manchester, Chicago Meat Packers in Glasgow and the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory in London's Hanover Square.
A chapter of the company's life-cycle has been firmly closed with the name change. "The name My Kinda Town had too much reliance on Chicago," says Scott. "Capital Radio Restaurants makes a statement that we're in the entertainment business."
The "Chicago" brands have been quietly put to rest. Overseas branches, predominantly franchised, will remain, but if a new franchise opportunity arises, Scott will offer Henry J Bean's in the short term.
"It was started in 1982 but the trends for pizza and pasta have changed," says Scott of the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory.
The great advantage the Radio Café concept has over the old American themed brands is that it will not date easily, says Scott. While Chicago Rib Shack and Chicago Pizza Pie Factory now look very '80s in a heavy, masculine way, the "live" element of the Radio Café - the DJ in his booth, the guest band appearances and live performances - will ensure the concept is always fashionable.
Further down the line, the Radio Café concept could be licensed to overseas radio stations, and Havana may also be franchised internationally. Scott has trademarked the Radio Café name in the USA.
Such aggressive expansion plans will, if they succeed, see Capital Radio Restaurants increase its staff from almost 1,000 to 5,000 by the turn of the century. In the meantime, the restaurant group is taking on key staff to make sure the required systems are in place to make growth possible.
Meanwhile, Capital Radio's shareholders will be anxious to see whether the restaurants add value to their investment. Seasoned restaurant watchers will realise that it takes more than a year to turn round a struggling restaurant group, even in the middle of an eating-out boom. The jury is definitely still out on eatertainment. n
