Deep Pan Pizza stays but OK Diners to go as City Centre dips

City Centre Restaurants said disappointing trading continued during the second half of 2000, and warned profits for the year would be below market expectations.

It said it was selling its chain of OK Diners but would keep the Deep Pan Pizza chain.

Last year it emerged it was in talks to sell its Deep Pan Pizza chain to management (Caterer, 16 November 2000, page 14).

Trading since January had been mixed, it said.

In a trading statement the company said its Caffe Uno chain had not performed satisfactorily, and new openings had shown a disappointing performance.

Caffe Uno restaurant openings have been stopped until the chain starts making more money. Sixteen Caffe Unos are being refurbished this year at a cost of £1m.

Est Est Est had a difficult year last year, while Wok Wok suffered from an overambitious expansion programme.

Wok Wok openings have been stopped for now.

The performance of Chiquito's last year was affected by the temporary closure, for refurbishment, of the chain's flagship Leicester Square restaurant in London.

City Centre said of its Deep Pan Pizza chain, which represents around 10% of group turnover: "After an extensive review of the business, the board has concluded this brand has a higher value if retained within the group than could be achieved via an immediate sale."

City Centre originally announced it wanted to sell its OK Diners in 1998 and subsequently sold some of them.

Garfunkel's and Frankie & Benny's are its best-performing chains. It plans to open eight Frankie & Benny's restaurants in the UK this year, as well as its first two in Spain.

Garfunkel's continues to record strong sales growth and good profit margins.

by Louise Bozec