Bakery group Paul to open second Restaurant de Paul
French bakery and restaurant group Paul is to open its second Restaurant de Paul, in London's Tower 42, amid strong financial results for the company.
A definite opening date has not yet been released, but it has been confirmed that the new location will, like its Covent Garden counterpart, operate as a restaurant as well as a patisserie, selling cakes and bread. It will also be an all-day venue, opening from 7am until late evening.
The group's first all-day restaurant opened in London's Covent Garden, operating behind a Paul bakery on Bedford Street. Created in the same style as the company's 31 cafés, the all-day restaurant was the first in the Paul estate to serve brasserie food, such as confit de canard, blanquette de veau, coq au vin, and croque monsieur, alongside bread and desserts cooked on-site, and a French wine list.
Tower 42, on London's Old Broad Street, is also the location for Jason Atherton's restaurant and bar City Social, part of his Social group that also includes Pollen Street Social and Social Eating House.
The restaurant news comes as the group posted a record increase in revenue in its latest results. For the year ending 31 December 2014, it saw a like-for-like revenue increase of 13.7%, with group turnover up 3.6% to £24.6m, compared with £23.8m in 2013.
Group EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) and before head office costs and management fees, was up 19.2% to £4.3m, versus £3.6m the previous year.
The group has also opened three new bakery and café sites in the past 18 months: a café in Oxford (the first Paul venue to open outside London); a kiosk in Canary Wharf; and a café in Newbury, Berkshire. It is also planning café openings at the Tower of London, Marble Arch, and Birmingham, later this year.
Jean-Michel Orieux, chief executive of Paul UK, commented that trading had exceeded expectations, largely driven by customers' appreciation of the group's artisan baking techniques.
He said: "The improvements and controls put in place from mid-2013 have enhanced our results and produced a solid platform to enable the brand to step up its expansion programme. These results are a credit to all the hard work and passion delivered daily by our team throughout our bakeries and restaurants."
Founded as a small bakery in 1889, in the Artois region of France, the company opened its first bakery outside France in Barcelona, in 1985. It now has sites in over 25 countries, including the US and Japan.
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Paul bakery to open first UK site outside London >>
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