Friday Five: the week's top news
- Is there any future for the Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito's brands? The Restaurant Group (TRG), which owns the chains, says it has earmarked a further 42 sites for closure, adding to the 76 Frankie & Benny's locations it deemed "structurally unattractive" last year.
- TRG also confirmed it is on track to launch its Wagamama spin-off brand, Mamago, on London's Fenchurch street in the final quarter of this year. It will offer 'grab and go adaptions of Wagamama classics like Katsu [curry]'.
- Fred Sirieix has become the latest industry figure to grapple with the Home Office after he was asked to provide further proof he had lived in the UK for the past five years. The general manager, who has worked in the UK for 27 years, says his case has since been resolved but questioned the Settled Status application process.
- Ready Steady Cook is returning to television screens next year, with host Rylan Clark-Neal and a chef line-up including Anna Haugh, Romy Gill, Ellis Barrie and Akis Petretzikis. The BBC says the show will 'offer up fresh challenges to put the next generation of chefs through their culinary paces'.
- London has become besotted with premium sandwiches, but what's behind this trend? And will the humble sarnie ever be the same? We take a closer look.
For more of this week's news, click here.
