Conference briefs

Yo! Down there

Simon Woodroffe, founder of London restaurant Yo! Sushi, is to open a Japanese beer hall and saki bar this autumn. Yo! Below will be sited in the basement of the original Soho restaurant. Woodroffe is also planning several more sushi bars and perhaps a hotel, to be called Yo!tel.

Dorchester data

The Dorchester Hotel in London is planning to integrate its Delphi banqueting, food and beverage software, which was installed last year, with new Fidelio registration software due to be used front of house from September. The combined database will be used to track customer activity and form the basis of direct mail campaigns.

Cheeseman's slice

Publican Eddie Cheeseman plans eight pubs based on his cook-in-view concept in two years, but won't brand them. Cheeseman, who owns the Carrington Arms in Moulsoe, Buckinghamshire, and last month opened the Fitzwilliam Arms near Peterborough, is now looking at sites in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and the City of London.

Risque rewards

A cheeky menu offering suggestive dishes such as double breast of chicken, captioned "We'd all like a beautiful pair of breasts" has boosted pub food sales at Allied Domecq Inns by 24% year-on-year and wet sales by 5%.

Catering development manager Jon Bicknell said Feasting Fox, a branded menu featuring a cartoon fox, had been devised to get locals eating in its neighbourhood pubs, where food represented only 3% of total sales.