Uncertain future for Côte’s spin-off brands
The group, which is owned by private equity firm BC Partners, says it has no plans to close any sites under its core brand, although a couple of locations have already closed this year.
Both the brands were acquired by Côte in early 2016 having been backed by restaurant mogul Richard Caring, who has also been involved with Côte.
Launched in 2014 New York-inspired restaurant Jackson & Rye was originally led by Mark Askew and Hannah Bass. All day-American diner Limeyard also launched in 2014 and currently has sites in Ealing and Staines.
Côte said it was continuing to “outperform the market” in results posted to Companies House last week with an increase in sales of 15.8% in the year to 30 July 2017.
Like-for-like sales were up 4.1% over the period, with pre-tax profit clocked at £10m.
“As a result of recent and well-documented headwinds for the restaurant sector, we have taken the decision to explore a range of options for a very small number of Jackson & Rye and Limeyard restaurants,” says a spokesman for Côte.
Times are tough in the casual dining sector with a number of big brand looking to significantly scale back their operations, including Prezzo, Byron and Jamie’s Italian.
