Turkish restaurant Tike on Fenchurch Place, London, has closed after just six months following its UK operator's decision to go with a 'simpler' Italian restaurant concept.
After launching Tike in November last year, UK operator Tasty Med decided its location in the Lloyds Register building was unsuitable for the concept, claiming the brand, which operates at 20 sites across Greece, Turkey and Ukraine, worked better in residential areas.
Tasty Med has now launched Il Locale, a brand new Italian grill and barbeque serving traditional dishes including antipasti, in Tike’s place, despite chief executive Costa Thomaides claiming last year that the Turkish restaurant concept would work well in London.
“London doesn't really need any more restaurants, unless they're going to offer something very special, and we believe Tike is exceptional,” he said in 2009.
Tike relocates ahead of expansion
Thomas Loravec, general manager of Il Locale, told BigHospitality that while Tike had been operating 'fine', Tasty Med believed the 'simpler' concept of Il Locale would work better in the central location.
“Tasty Med wanted to keep this site so they decided to go with a simpler concept for the city,” he said. “The concept of Tike is geared more for residential areas anyway; all the other Tikes around Europe are strictly residential restaurants. I know they still want to open a number of Tike’s in London, that plan is still on, but this was more of an immediate move.”
Tasty Med has now found a site near Paddington to relaunch Tike, and will continue with its plan to open at least three sites in London over the next four years.