Six new sites for Groupe Chez Gérard

Its two main chains are Chez Gérard, best known for steak and chips, and Livebait, which specialises in fish. The group's first restaurant outside London, a Livebait, opened in Manchester in October, followed by a Chez Gérard in November, also in Manchester. Both had been received very well and were trading ahead of expectations, the group said. A Chez Gérard in Bristol was added last month. The group has already announced plans to open a Chez Gérards in Nottingham and Oxford, a Livebait in Cambridge, and one of each in Birmingham. Planned openings confirmed today were: Chez Gérards in Bath and Brighton and Livebaits in Nottingham, Leeds, Edinburgh and Brighton. The two Brighton outlets are not scheduled for launch until early 2002. The announcements came as Groupe Chez Gérard unveiled a 17.2% increase in turnover on continuing operations to £19m for the six months to 24 December 2000, up from £16.2m in the same period of 1999. Pre-tax profit was up by 3.9% to £2.1m, from £2m in 1999. The results do not include the company's four Richoux restaurants, sold in August to Madison's Coffee for £2.7m. Like-for-like sales in Chez Gérard and Livebait restaurants were up by 2.5%, but the five Signature restaurants in London - including Scotts, Café Fish, Brasserie St Quentin and Soho Soho - saw a slight fall in sales. This was despite increases at the two Bertorelli's sites. Chief executive David Williams said: "The UK restaurant market as a whole remains competitive. However, we are confident that the increasing strength and appeal of our brands and the experience of our management will allow us to grow market share at the premium end of the market." He said the group was not finding it more difficult to manage restaurants further away from its London base. "We have got excellent teams in each of the sites. They are quite high turnover sites, so we are able to get very good people running them." Despite the drop in sales at the Signature restaurants, Williams said they remained part of the group's plans and several would be refurbished in the near future. Soho Soho is to get a major overhaul. In the nine weeks since Christmas like-for-like sales have continued to grow in line with the first half of the financial year. Web link: Chez Gérard