Ex-Savoy staff join Maresca at Brown's

Angelo Maresca, restaurant manager at London's Savoy Grill for 21 years, will bring three members of his former team with him when he joins the 1837 restaurant at Brown's hotel in the capital next week.

He becomes food and beverage operations manager at 1837 next Monday (1 September).

It had been rumoured that Maresca, famed for being able to recognise thousands of regular diners at the Savoy Grill and remembering which were their favourite tables, would be joining the restaurant after he left his job last month (Caterer, 7 August).

The three staff members going with him are Franco Becci, assistant restaurant manager at the Savoy Grill, who becomes restaurant manager, head waiter Diego Visioli and head wine waiter Zakaria Sagir.

The 48-seat restaurant with 12-seat private dining area is to be revamped as part of a £10m refurbishment of the hotel.

Work will begin early next year, with a relaunch planned for late summer. A name change to reflect the new image is likely to include the word "grill".

A new menu, to be introduced next month, will concentrate on an English style of cooking and include a trolley of daily roasts - a feature familiar to clients of the Savoy Grill.

A spokesman said: "The menu before was over-complicated. It was hard to get through lunch in less than two hours. People want something simpler and quicker."

Rocco Forte Hotels bought Brown's from Raffles for £51.15m in June.

By Angela Frewin
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 28 August - 3 September 2003