Friday Five: the week's top news
- Chef James Cochran has called out his former employer Rayuela for selling the rights to use his name. Cochran left the city-based James Cochran EC3 restaurant earlier this year, but it continues to trade under his moniker and has launched a website licensing his recipes to other operators.
- The founders of Soho's Randall & Aubin have bought the Manchester franchise of the brand out of administration to operate it themselves. Ed Baines and Jamie Poulton opened the site in April 2016 under a franchise operated by James Storey, but it accumulated losses of over £600,000, despite turning over £1.44m.
- The future of Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) chain looks uncertain after sales fell 10.6% in the 22 weeks to 29 July 2018. Famous Brands, the group's South African owner said in a cautionary announcement that it was considering "strategic options relating to a subsidiary".
- Gordon Ramsay is being sued by a US restaurant that appeared on a 2011 Kitchen Nightmares episode after a clip of Ramsay smelling shrimp and vomiting in its kitchen resurfaced online. Cajun Conti, the parent company of Oceana Grill in New Orleans - which is still trading - filed a lawsuit arguing the clip is misleading as it is not clear it isn't current.
- Michelin will announce its new stars for Great Britain and Ireland on 1 October. The guide is hosting a live event at the BFI IMAX cinema in London. Rebecca Burr, the local edition's editor, said the selection was "set to be very strong" this year.
For more of this week's news, click here.
