Chili's set to spice up casual dining

by Andrew Sangster

Casual dining in the UK is about to undergo a revolution, according to the backers of a US bar and grill venture due to open in the UK this summer.

The concept, known as Chili's, was developed by US restaurant giant Brinker International and is an established force in the USA where it has more units than close rival TGI Friday's.

Colin Halpern, best known in the UK catering industry for Domino's Pizza, is bringing Chili's to Britain. "If successful, we'll change the landscape of casual dining, and change it for the better," he said.

The first site, 11,000sq ft in London's Shaftesbury Avenue, was secured last week through property agent Davis & Coffer. Negotiations on a further two sites are also in progress.

Like TGI Friday's, Chili's originated in Dallas, Texas, and features similar Tex-Mex food. But Chili's does not have an island cocktail bar and has a smaller menu range.

Other features on the menu include a Guiltless Grill section where the fat content of food is listed and a promise to serve the food within 15 minutes of ordering. Average spend per head will be about £15.

Mr Halpern said lower overheads at his UK operation would enable Chili's to beat its competition. "We'll deliver better food at more reasonable prices," he added.

A deal has been struck with Brinker International by Mr Halpern's company, Restaurant House, to open 32 restaurants by the year 2004. "This is a minimum. I expect to open more," he said.

To finance the openings, Restaurant House parent Red Hot Concepts is seeking to raise up to $10m (£6.2m) in US-based capital markets.

The board of Red Hot Concepts comprises president and treasurer Mr Halpern, vice-president Peter Pullan, and director Melvyn Lazar. Joining after financing is complete will be Robert Flack, who was president of US-based Sonic Drive-Ins, and Franklin Abelman, who was with KFC.

Mr Pullan was an operations director with City Centre Restaurants (CCR) before working with Mr Halpern at Domino's Pizza. The operations director of Chili's, Robbie Baharian, is a more recent recruit from CCR where he was an area manager.

According to Mr Baharian, service and value will be the key to Chili's success. "The problem with British casual dining is that people have to pay too much and the food takes too long," he said.

As well as exclusive rights in the UK to Chili's, Restaurant House has secured the rights to another Brinker International brand, the Italian concept Spageddies. A roll-out is expected some time this year.

Red Hot Concepts will share the same Milton Keynes administrative offices as International Franchise Systems (IFS), the master franchisor for Domino's Pizza in the UK and Ireland. Unlike Domino's, Chili's will not be sub-franchised due to the high cost of opening each unit.

• IFS has turned around the formerly loss-making UK Domino's Pizza operation since taking it over 16 months ago. Its performance has improved from a loss of $1.6m (£1m) in the year to 1 January 1994 to a net income of $153,000 (£96,000) last year on a revenue of $12.5m (£7.9m). IFS raised $5.5m (£3.4m) in the USA at the beginning of this year to open 24 new restaurants.