One Group targets London and Manchester for new openings
US-based restaurant company the One Group has plans to open up to two more of its flagship STK brand of steak restaurants in London and the first UK outpost of its more accessible Rebel by STK brand in Manchester.
That's according to founder Jonathan Segal, who also revealed that he hope to open as many as six Rebel by STKs in the UK in total.
Last year, the company raised $15.5m (£9m) to fund restaurant growth as it becam a publicly listed company in the US.
Its first international outpost, STK London, opened in late 2012 on the Strand in the five-star ME London hotel, where the One Group has struck a hospitality deal with the hotel's owners to run all of the food and beverage operations.
Within the same hotel it also runs the Cucina Asellina, Radio rooftop bar and Marconi Lounge, as well as managing the hotel's banqueting and room service operations. It also runs the Heliot steak house at the Hippodrome casino in London's Leicester Square.
Segal said that he hoped to see the company expand to 50 STK and 150-175 Rebel by STK sites worldwide, with no more than 12-14 STKs in the USA and up to three in London (including the Strand site). He said he also hoped to open up to six restaurants under the Rebel by STK format in the UK,
which operates in slightly smaller sites with a lower price point [average spend per head in STK is around $113 (£66), whereas in Rebel by STK it is $50-65 (£30-38)].
"London will probably get two or three STKs - we definitely want to put an STK in Canary Wharf and Knightsbridge," Segal said. "London and New York are the only two cities in the world that could have three STKs. Then we would look at half a dozen of the major UK cities for STK
Rebels.
"As far as hospitality deals are concerned, we would probably do no more than three to four in any city. Having said that there are probably two or three other major UK cities where we would do hospitality deals."
Segal started out in the hospitality industry working for his family's firm the Modern Group based in the Channel Islands. He relocated to the USA and opened steak restaurant STK in New York in 2006 and now has 29 venues in the US and London, with an annual turnover of $129m (£75m).
With his STK brand of restaurant he has aimed to challenge the traditional steakhouse model, aiming them at women and introducing a more modern, music oriented approach, with a strong emphasis on liquor sales. A typical STK business sells 57% food and 43% liquor.
