Chef Gino D'Acampo to launch My Restaurant group brand
The brand will come under the Individual Restaurants group with D'Acampo's business partner Steven Walker, and will open two new sites by November this year, with the first in London's Euston train station, and another 250-cover space in Manchester's Corn Exchange.
More UK sites are planned to follow, and D'Acampo has also confirmed that international locations could also be in the pipeline.
The new group launch comes two years after the chef opened the fast-casual group Gino D'Acampo - My Pasta Bar, which serves handmade pasta dishes and hand-stretched pizzas to eat in or take away, and now operates three locations across central London, including Fleet Street, Leadenhall Market, and Bishopsgate. This brand will also now come under the Individual Restaurants umbrella.
D'Acampo also owns a food importing business BontÁ Italia, which has links to artisan suppliers in Italy, while business partner and friend Steven Walker has invested in the Individual Restaurants group, as well as its food academy, which includes its own butchers' shop and bakery.
Walker owns and operates the 22-strong Piccolino restaurant brand, as well as other London restaurants including the Restaurant Bar & Grill, Q Grill, and Vintage Salt.
D'Acampo said: "I have been approached many times over the years to open restaurants, but it was Walker's passion for Italian cucina, his eye for detail and his insistence that he would only partner me if I were truly involved, that attracted me to finally take the plunge. I'm excited to be creating the new menus for the restaurant and I'm going to be including lots of favourites from my books and TV programmes."
Having first moved to London aged 19 to work at the Orchard restaurant in West Hampstead, D'Acampo now has an established media career, having appeared on a variety of television shows as ITV's This Morning, and Gino's Italian Escape, alongside appearances on panel show Celebrity Juice and I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.
He is also the author of eight books, including Gino's Pasta and Gino's Veg Italia, and in 2012 partnered with education catering specialist Innovate Services to produce new Italian pasta recipes for its schools.
Gino D'Acampo partners with school caterer Innovate Services >>
Gino D'Acampo to open Pasta Bar concept in London >>
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