People on the move
Britvic Soft Drinks has made two additions to its board of directors. First, Andrew Richards has been promoted to the role of sales director. He joined the company in 1998 as grocery trading director and was latterly business unit director. Martin Rose, now supply chain director, joined Canada Dry Rawlings in 1984. The company then merged with Britivic, and Rose moved into operations in 1989. Most recently he held the position of director of logistics.
Frozen food supplier Apetito has appointed Ian Stone as managing director of Apetito Foodservice, a new division within the business. Stone joins the company from Pritchitts, where he was sales and marketing director. He is also chairman of the Food and Drink Federation's food service group.
Sarah Wright is returning to the North-west to take up the position of human resources manager at the Macdonald Last Drop Village hotel in Bolton. She was previously with the Macdonald four-star hotel, the Inchyra, in Falkirk, Stirlingshire. Originally from Manchester, Wright's main responsibility will be the welfare and recruitment of staff ahead of next year's opening of a new £2m leisure centre.
Jo Harman has joined founders Jane Sunley and Tim Browne on the board of retention and recruitment specialists Learnpurple. The appointment comes after the company's second birthday. Having started out in a general role at the company, Harman became involved with Learnpurple's Talent Toolbox, a computerised relationship and performance management tool, and it is her success in managing the product and its clients that has led to her promotion.
Kingsway Hall hotel in London's Covent Garden has appointed Lloyd Jones director of sales. Jones has 10 years of experience in the hotel market and has worked for both the Tower Thistle hotel and Grange Hotels as assistant reception manager and business development manager respectively.
Warwick International Hotels has appointed Alex Gomez director of sales and marketing at the Warwick New York hotel. He joins from the Drake Swissôtel New York, where he was director of sales. The Warwick, built by media tycoon William Randolph Hearst in 1927, had a $20m (£12m) refurbishment last year.
John Dyson, the former managing director of Safeguard, the environmental health and safety division of Sodexho UK, has teamed up with the British Hospitality Association as an adviser. Dyson lends his experience to the association as food and technical affairs adviser. He will continue in his role as managing director of York-based Health, Food & Safety Solutions, which he owns. Dyson is also an adviser to Alpha Airports Group, helping it with all aspects of food safety, health and safety and environmental management.
Pierre Aoun has joined Le Méridien as resident manager of the Dar Al Sondos Apartments in Dubai. The 144-unit property is in the final stages of a complete refurbishment and will be renamed Dar Al Sondos Hotel Apartments by Le Méridien on completion. Aoun joins from the Doha Marriott Gulf hotel, where he was director of rooms.
The Farleyer restaurant and rooms in Aberfedly, Perthshire, has appointed Paraic Faherty chef de cusinie. He was sous chef at the Craigendarroch hotel in Ballater, Aberdeenshire.
Property specialist Edward Symmons & Partners has appointed Stephen Wade as a consultant to its hotel and leisure team. Wade was property director at David Lloyd Leisure and worked for Whitbread for 20 years.
Derek Silk, who was previously general manager at the De Vere Group's Dormy hotel in Ferndown, Dorset, has been appointed group operations director of Arthur Young Hotels. Arthur Young, recently purchased by private investment company Blue Mermaid, includes the Queens, Cumberland, Cliffeside and Trouville hotels, all in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Contract caterer Catering Alliance has promoted Angela Shaw to the role of area manager. She was contract manager at the company's RS Components contract. In her new position she will look after eight contracts in the East Anglia region.
Island Cruises has appointed Claire Langston to the newly created role of national account manager. She is based in the company's national sales office in Manchester and will oversee the accounts of Thomas Cook, the Co-Op Travel Trading Group and a number of independent travel agents. Langston was commercial sales manager for Cresta Holidays.
The Swan at Streatley, Berkshire, has a new general manager in the form of Jeffrey Ward. Ward has joined the 17th-century hotel from the Cornwallis Country Hotel and Restaurant in Suffolk, where he held the same position.
First Contact Recruitment has two new consultants at its Sheffield office. Claire Haines has joined the team from InterContinental Hotels, where she was operations manager in Northampton. Justin Nix is the second appointee and was a unit manager with the Mitchells & Butlers restaurant concept, Edward's.
Birmingham's Outback steakhouse will be chain's fifth franchise in UK
Birmingham will welcome a new restaurant to its Broadway Plaza on 11 November when the Outback steakhouse opens.
The Australian-themed restaurant will be managed by Stuart Burley, a former general manager at TGI Friday's, and will employ 80 local people. It promises steaks, barbecued food and "outrageously good bloomin' onion".
Burley's operating partner is Chris Keast, who has also worked as a general manager for TGI Friday's as well as being an operations manager for the company in the Midlands and the North. He also previously worked as a service manager at Whitbread Food Logistics.
Proceeds from the restaurant's opening night will be donated to local charity the Acorn Children's Hospice, which helps children with life-limiting illnesses.
Burley said that past opening events across the five-strong UK franchise chain had raised £10,000 for various charities.
The 700-strong Outback chain was founded in Florida in 1988 and its restaurants can now be found worldwide, both in direct ownership and - as with the Birmingham site - under franchise agreements.
