Novelli bounces back with help from friends

20 January 2000 by
Novelli bounces back with help from friends

A £60,000 cheque from Marco Pierre White was one of several loans chef Jean-Christophe Novelli was offered to prevent him losing his London flagship restaurant, Novelli revealed last week.

Novelli never used that money, but he did use loans from suppliers, including Delifish and Bentley's, and his former financial controller Peter Horton, to pay a staff wages bill of £100,000.

The chef, who has lost five of his seven restaurants, said he had no idea he was in serious debt until his bank manager informed him last June. He has blamed the problems on bad financial management, "which was my fault".

He said: "When I came back from a book-signing tour in New York I found out I was £70,000 behind with no overdraft, had a £100,000 staff wages bill and owed £50,000 to my suppliers." He added that his bank manager had threatened to "pull the plug".

Novelli was forced to sell two flats and a Paris-based architecture business as well as to borrow. He pulled out of a deal to buy Gordleton Mill in Hampshire (Caterer, 20 May 1999, page 7) and closed some of his restaurants, including Les Saveurs in London's Mayfair. His staff dropped from 120 to about 33. Novelli has held on to Maison Novelli and its sister restaurant EC1.

His problems were worsened at a recent tribunal when former employee Jeanne Monchovet was ruled to have been unfairly dismissed (Caterer, 28 October 1999, page 5). Novelli will have to pay damages of up to £27,000.

Novelli hopes to put his difficulties behind him and now has a new business partner, ex-stockbroker Louise Mayo, who has a 40% stake in Maison Novelli. The chef is cooking full-time at Maison Novelli, which he says is doing well, and he has not ruled out opening more restaurants.

by Noella Pio Kivlehan

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