- Restaurant and coffee roasting business Caravan is looking to enter the grab-and-go market with a trial store at its upcoming Fitzrovia site. CTG (Caravan To Go) will trade from a dedicated area within the restaurant, which opens this summer, offering high quality patisserie, sandwiches, and hot food such as soups and dahl. If successful, CTG could open in standalone locations.
- Restaurant customers of drinks suppliers Bibendum and Matthew Clark have been reassured they will continue to receive stock as normal after the companies were sold to C&C Group, the owner of Magners cider. It comes after the drinks brands' former parent company Conviviality filed for administration after discovering a £30m unpaid tax bill in March. C&C is providing funding to ensure all Bibendum and Matthew Clark creditors are paid in full.
- Salt Yard Group says it received a 'zero' food hygiene rating for its eponymous London restaurant in December due to a "small, isolated incident". The company has taken steps to rectify the issue, but is still waiting for a health inspector to return - which can take up to four months. "Since [the inspection] the team have worked very closely with the council...this is not something the Salt Yard group have taken lightly," a spokesperson told BigHospitality.
- D&D London is to pull out of operating the dining and retail spaces at London's The Royal Exchange this August after 15 years. The company says it is "time for a change" and will instead develop a separate restaurant project in the Square Mile. Fortnum & Mason will take over at The Royal Exchange in October with a new 90-cover restaurant and bar.
- Istanbul-based bao group BunCo will open its debut UK restaurant in the City of London this year. The site will serve green, red, black and 'plain' steamed buns with unconventional fillings such as tuna; falafel; fried chicken; and 'Mexican'. "BunCo was founded with the intention of bringing a unique interpretation to bao buns," says BunCo managing partner Baran Dumanoglu.
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