Williams, who spent over 10 years as managing director of Gaucho, said M would house three concepts under one roof, forming “one brand but with strong, individual identities”
He said: “Before the end of the year, we plan to open a flagship restaurant named ‘M’ in the area of London that I love and know best then two further restaurants in the following 18 months. I have received exceptional financial interest in the past few weeks which has put me in a position, where I am now able to select and welcome further like – minded, private investors to join me in this exciting journey.”
During his time at Gaucho, Williams oversaw its growth from six restaurants to 15 sites across London, Manchester, Leeds and Dubai. He was also integral to the group’s rebranding from Gaucho Grill to Gaucho. After acquisitions by Phoenix Equity Partners and a further one by Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) it is thought that Gaucho now achieves net sales of £55m per annum and £10m company EBITDA.
Williams said: “It has been an amazing nine years at Gaucho and I have loved being inspired and challenged each day by my team and our guests to continuously push the brand to new levels of quality across all that we do. Leading Gaucho as managing director has been a fantastic journey but I have decided that the time is right to move on to my next and biggest challenge in my career to date; starting up my own restaurant group.”
Gaucho, the Argentinean steakhouse concept led by Zeev Godik, promoted Tracey Matthews from group HR director to managing director, after the departure of Williams.
Matthews joined Gaucho in 2000, firstly running restaurants before going on to create its HR department.