Individual Restaurant Company shrugs of credit crunch woes

Individual Restaurant Company (IRC), the owner of brands Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill, has shrugged off worries about the credit crunch with a sales boost of 21% in the first half of the year.

The company saw the uplift after opening six sites last year, including Piccolinos in Sheffield, Ilkley in West Yorkshire, West Didsbury in Greater Manchester and one in the City of London.

It also launched two Restaurant Bar & Grill sites in Liverpool and Tunbridge Wells.

IRC is targeting seven new restaurant openings by the end of the current calendar year with sites in Birmingham and York open and new restaurants in Hale in Cheshire, Bristol, Clitheroe in Lancashire and Aberdeen, as well as a Restaurant Bar & Grill for Harrogate, in the pipeline.

The Piccolino owner said its openings programme for 2009 looked strong, "providing confidence that the current rollout momentum can be maintained".

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By Christopher Walton

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