The Fifth amendment

It was 10 years ago that Harvey Nichols, which had previously concentrated on fashion in its upmarket department store business, entered the world of food and restaurants. The impact was immediate. The Fifth Floor restaurant, which opened adjacent to a café, bar and foodmarket, became the first destination in-store eaterie.

"It was a big breakthrough," says Dominic Ford, Harvey Nichols's restaurant and food retail director and the man responsible for driving forward the company's foray into the world of gastronomy. "We always intended to run a restaurant that just happened to be on top of a department store rather than a department store restaurant. The location has never detracted from being able to offer good food and top restaurant service within a strikingly designed space."

Since 1992 Ford has opened a further four major restaurant projects - including in-store restaurants in Leeds and Edinburgh, two stand-alone operations (Oxo Tower and Prism) and foodmarkets in three stores.

Yet with 12 major new restaurants, including the likes of Zafferano and Isola, having opened in the immediate vicinity since 1992, it was inevitable that sales at the Fifth Floor would reach a peak and then level off. It was at this point that Ford decided it was time to revisit the original restaurant in the Harvey Nichols portfolio.

"Working within the environment of a store where the fashions change three times a year, it was important that we should consider changing the look of the restaurant as it had begun to look a bit tired," says Ford. "It was time to make some changes and put the Fifth Floor back on the map."

No expense has been spared to do just that. On 16 October, following a complete redesign costing £850,000, the Fifth Floor restaurant reopened.

The original idea was to close the Fifth Floor restaurant for two weeks to do some redecoration and maybe change the furniture. But when Ford presented his plans to Harvey Nichols chairman Dr Dickson Poon, it quickly became apparent that a more spectacular refurbishment was on the cards. "He felt that the first plans were boring and too similar to so many other existing restaurants," Ford says. "He said he wanted a restaurant that made an impact and that money was no object."

The resulting restaurant is a more sophisticated, cleaner and lighter product. All the services, such as the reception, waiters' station and kitchen entrance, are hidden beyond the walls of the room's new oval shape and new furniture, glass, cutlery and menu add to the fresh image.

It is hoped the refurbishment will herald a turnaround in Harvey Nichols's recent fortunes. Following 11 September 2001, the company's Knightsbridge store was damaged by the loss of tourist business to the area with a 7% fall in its restaurant business directly after the attacks. Oxo Tower fared better, picking up local bookings in place of lost international business, and finished 2001 only 1% down on the previous year.

Prism, though, has struggled more. Its position in the heart of the City on Leadenhall Street made it more vulnerable to the shaky state of the stock market, as well as the events of 11 September. In particular, cutbacks in parties and events organised by City institutions have had an effect.

As a result, Prism lost £100,000 last year, having made a profit of £150,000 in 2000, its second year of operation. Despite this year also looking difficult, Ford says there are no plans for Harvey Nichols to sell or close Prism as has been reported in some areas of the press. "We've demonstrated that the restaurant can make a profit and we're taking steps to ensure that it will again," he says.

A salesperson has been employed to sell Prism as a corporate venue and Ford says that this approach is beginning to work. Business on Friday evenings - traditionally a quiet night - is also expected to be boosted by turning the restaurant into a lounge bar where drinks only will be served and where a DJ will provide music.

"The feedback we've received from 25- to 40-year-olds is that they want somewhere they can go to relax that sells decent wine and Champagne, but is not a noisy pub," Ford says. "We're aiming to make use of a good space on what is otherwise a quiet evening."

Outside London, Harvey Nichols has stores in Leeds, Birmingham and Edinburgh - the last opened in August. Business in these three cities did not suffer as much as in the capital. Last year the Leeds store experienced a 19% lift in business, with its Fourth Floor restaurant recording a 27% increase.

Harvey Nichols's recent announcement that it plans to become private again following a six-year listing period on the stock market comes at a time when the City is not looking particularly favourably upon restaurants, following poor results from a number of groups. Ford says that this will allow Poon, who owns 50.1% of the group, to develop the company in the way that he wants. "The recent share price of the company has not reflected the fact that we are now bigger than before and that year-on-year profits have grown," says Ford.

As far as the food side of the business is concerned, any change in Harvey Nichols's relationship with the stock market will have little significance for the company's plans to develop more restaurants. Ford had hoped to open another stand-alone restaurant in central London. He came close to buying the site that is now occupied by Just St James in St James's Street, SW1, as well as acquiring L'Odeon and securing a space on the top of Millbank Tower. But now, he says, he is not looking to expand in the capital.

Instead, efforts are being concentrated on the new Harvey Nichols store in Manchester, which will open in August 2003. A total of 12,000sq ft of space will be devoted to a restaurant, brasserie, bar and food store. Attention will then be turned to a new departure for Harvey Nichols - the development of around 10 small stores in towns and cities such as Bristol, Newcastle, Glasgow and Cheltenham.

There are also moves to open more overseas stores to join the one in Riyadh, where the Al Khorzama runs a 60-seat restaurant on a management-contract basis. Future foreign stores in locations such as Athens and Dubai, where there is a large population and a cheap labour force, would also be run on a franchise basis.

See next week's issue for Fifth Floor Menuwatch

The Fifth Floor: design briefs

Designer Lifschutz Davidson abandoned the traditional open-plan concept of so many restaurants over the past decade in favour of a space where one can eat and relax without being distracted by outside activity. Curved interior walls have replaced views on to the kitchen, café, foodmarket and service stations. All artwork has also been removed.

Lighting
One of the major features in the restaurant is the fibreoptic lighting lining the walls. The atmosphere and colour of the room changes from a cool white during the day to a warm orange-red at sunset and to a more intimate purple at night.

The glass-domed ceiling also adds to the atmosphere of the room, with the lighting intending to reflect the restaurant's position on top of a five-storey building. An impression of daylight flooding through the ceiling is given during the day, while at dinner the lighting will replicate a moonlit night. Together with acoustic panelling in the walls, the change in lighting enables the atmosphere of the restaurant to be carefully controlled, depending on the time of day and the number of customers in the restaurant.

Furniture, china, glass and cutlery
Ford worked closely with the designers and, for the Fifth Floor, chose the Bruno chair, originally designed in 1928 by Mies van der Rohe of the Bauhaus movement. He also used the chair in Harvey Nichols's City restaurant, Prism, where they are upholstered in brilliant red leather. At the Fifth Floor they are covered in oyster white leather.

China is from the Gastronomie range produced by Philippe Deshoulières, one of France's leading manufacturers of Limoges porcelain, with some accessory items from Apilco. Cutlery is a mix of Italian (Pinto from Chomette) and British (Baguette from Arthur Price), while Riedel provides the glasses.

The staff uniforms also underwent a redesign by the Fifth Floor's general manager, Luciano Sautto, and were produced by Rex Regal.

The menu
A new menu moves away from the simple and comforting dishes of old to a more cutting-edge style of cuisine created by head chef Simon Shaw. While one of Shaw's dishes from an earlier menu - tempura of Whitby cod, pea purée, mint dressing - has been retained, more representative examples of the Fifth Floor's food now include dishes such as cannelloni of spider crab, shellfish caramel, grapefruit jelly, pomme mousseline, oscietra caviar as a starter or the main-course dish of pan-fried loin of marsh-fed lamb flavoured with curry spices, finished with roasting juices and watermelon.

The price of a meal hasn't changed, with average spend at lunch and dinner remaining at £35-£40 and £45-£50 per head respectively. "We are in a very competitive market and we are trying to keep prices down," Ford says.

Harvey Nichols restaurant and foodmarkets