Who's who in restaurants
The UK has thousands of independent restaurants and they all need good staff but if you're looking for career progression it might be best to get a job with one of the big groups…
City Centre Restaurants
This high-street group, which has an ethos for good food and value for money, includes chains Garfunkel's, Caffé Uno, Est Est Est and Chiquito. The group has 250 restaurants in the UK. Frankie & Benny's, its American diner-style chain, is the fastest-expanding brand. Outlets can be found across the UK, with restaurants in high streets, retail parks and airports. City Centre has recently made a formal offer for pizza chain Ask Central, as part of a proposed merger of the two businesses.
Gordon Ramsay Holdings
The Ramsay empire is a selection of fine-dining restaurants including its three-Michelin-starred Gordon Ramsay Restaurant in London's Royal Hospital Road. Within the Savoy Group's hotels, Ramsay also has restaurants at Claridge's, the Connaught and the Berkeley hotel. Marcus Wareing's Pétrus group is also part of the company. In addition, Ramsay has Glasgow's only Michelin-starred eaterie, Amaryllis, and a restaurant in the Dubai Hilton.
Groupe Chez Gérard
This well-established London-based company (acquired last year by Paramount) has 24 restaurants with three concepts: the Chez Gérard chain, based on a traditional Parisian brasserie, the Livebait chain of fish restaurants, and the Italian-style Bertorelli. The group can be found mostly in London but is also in Cambridge, Bristol and Leeds.
Wagamama
This trendy, 21-strong noodle-bar chain with big plans began in London in 1992 and has since branched out across the UK. It has plans to expand with openings in Birmingham and Leeds. The group also has franchise operations in Ireland, The Netherlands and Australia and has its sights set on the USA. Outlets are mostly in London but there are also restaurants in Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, St Albans and Guildford, with international franchises in Dublin, Amsterdam and Sydney.
Conran Restaurants
This group has a diverse range of styles - such as French, Italian, British and Japanese - and includes Bibendum, Mezzo, Bluebird and Quaglino's. It has recently moved to London's Canary Wharf with the opening of Plateau, a £2m investment and the group's first large-scale opening in London in six years. As well as growing its portfolio of individual restaurants, it continues to expand its Zinc Bar & Grill chain. The group is based mostly in London but is also in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Overseas, it has restaurants in Paris, Stockholm and New York.
Whitbread Restaurants
Whitbread is the UK's biggest restaurant operator, managing more than 1,500 sites and nine brands across the UK. These include Brewsters, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday's and coffee store brand Costa. Pub-restaurant brands include Beefeater and Brewers Fayre. Whitbread also operates Marriott and Travel Inn hotels and David Lloyd Leisure clubs.
Marco Pierre White Restaurants
Having built a legendary reputation in the kitchen, Marco Pierre White went on to build eight classic restaurants, including the Mirabelle in Mayfair, the Criterion Grill in Piccadilly and Quo Vadis in Soho.
G1 Group
G1 is Scotland's largest privately owned restaurant group. So far there are 27 outlets across Scotland. This portfolio of stylish but value-for-money restaurants includes Glasgow's Corinthian, the flamboyant Ara tapas bar and the chic Gong eaterie, also in Glasgow.
PizzaExpress
Since its beginnings in London's Soho in 1965, PizzaExpress (acquired last year by GondolaExpress) has grown to a chain of more than 300 pizza restaurants and 29 Café Pasta restaurants. It employs 6,000 people. A refurbishment programme is under way and it continues to expand. As well as its UK chain, the group has 45 restaurants outside the UK in 14 countries.
Ask Central
At the good-quality end of the pizza and pasta market, the group operates more than 145 restaurants under brand names Ask and Zizzi and new brand Jo Shmo's. It continues to expand with a fairly even split across the brands - about 30 openings are planned for the next 12 months. Long-term, the company believes it could have 350 restaurants across the UK. Ask is about to merge with City Centre Restaurants.