Ex-Mustard man eyes Bella Pasta
Stephen Evans, who last month parted company with Mustard Entertainment Restaurants, is rumoured to be interested in buying Whitbread's Bella Pasta chain.
Whitbread is undertaking a "strategic review" of its restaurants and Bella Pasta has been widely tipped for sell-off. The review is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
Evans used to run the Bella Pasta chain for Whitbread before leaving to set up Mustard in May 2000.
Mustard acquired the Brannigans chain of late-night bars for £65-70m, but Evans left in September this year after after investors said they could not afford any further acquisitions.
Evans is also chairman of conference centre firm First! Venues.
But speaking at the Restaurant 2001 conference in London today, Evans admitted he was really "a pub and restaurant man" and was on the lookout for acquisitions.
He did not confirm the rumours linking him with Bella Pasta, saying only that there were "a lot of targets out there" that he was interested in.
