Steve Easterbrook leaves Wagamama to return to McDonald's

Steve Easterbrook is to leave his role as chief executive of Wagamama after less than a year to take up a senior global role at the headquarters of fast food giant McDonald's in the US.

It is the latest in the series of high profile moves for Easterbrook, who spent less than a year at Pizza Express as its chief executive prior to joining Wagamama last summer.

But it is not the first time he has worked for McDonald's, having spent 18 years there, eventually becoming president of McDonald's Europe.

Wagamama said the process to find a successor was already underway and was being led by David Williams, chairman of the company.

David Williams, chairman of Wagamama, said: "The board would like to thank Steve for his contribution to the company's development during his tenure as CEO.

"Wagamama is a strong brand, which continues to deliver and has outperformed the market again in the past year. The board has recently approved plans to accelerate growth in the UK and the US and we have a number of exciting initiatives underway to support this expansion."