Locatelli to oversee restaurant at new Crowne Plaza hotel

Chef-restaurateur Giorgio Locatelli is going into business with Parallel, the hotel and leisure arm of Aramark, at the contract caterer's latest hotel food and beverage operation.

Locatelli will oversee the restaurant operation of Refettorio, which is based at the new 200-bedroom Crowne Plaza - London the City.

Roy Ackerman, chairman of Parallel, said: "It's an ideal location for an Italian restaurant and we asked the best Italian chef in the country if he would be interested in putting something together with us."

Parallel has an ongoing contract to run the food and beverage operation at the City's latest hotel for an undisclosed turnover figure. The restaurant is a joint venture between all three parties, Locatelli, Parallel and Crowne Plaza, with each group expected to share in profits.

Aramark already has a deal with Brian Turner at the Crowne Plaza Birmingham NEC and Millennium & Copthorne's Millennium Mayfair hotel in London, and a consultancy with Gordon Ramsay.

Ackerman said, however, it wasn't a case of "dotting famous chefs about - some sites don't need it. It's a case of fitting the site to the chef or the chef to the site".

Parallel runs six hotel F&B operations throughout the UK.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 5 - 11 February 2004