City Centre picks Stephen Evans to head up Chiquito

City Centre Restaurants has appointed Stephen Evans as head of its Mexican restaurant chain Chiquito.

Evans will take over next month. Andrew Guy, chief executive of City Centre, refused to give any details of changes planned by Evans but said that plans would be announced in due course.

Evans said he would be doing "more of the same" with the Chiquito restaurants, which, he said, have been successful. He added that he would be bringing his "traditional customer focus to the brand" in an effort to increase sales

He added that an expansion of the chain was now possible.

Evans is no stranger to City Centre, as he has been working as a consultant with them since he left Mustard Entertainment Restaurants last September after investors said the group could not afford to buy any more companies. Since then Evans has been looking after the sale of City Centre's flagging Oriental restaurant chain Wok Wok.

The appointment quashes recent speculation that Evans wanted to buy Whitbread's 154-strong group of Pelican restaurants. According to Evans, recent reports that Michael Guthrie, the founder of Pizzaland and Bella Pasta, was in the running were also likely to be untrue.