Friday Five: the week's top news
- James Cochran has quietly closed his neighbourhood-style bar and fried chicken restaurant Valderrama’s in London's Islington, less than a year after it launched. Restaurant understands the venue, which was located close to Cochran's flagship 12:51 fine dining restaurant on Upper Street, permanently shut its doors earlier this month. Valderrama’s is now listed as 'permanently closed' on Google and its website appears to have been shut down, however, it has been suggested that there are plans to relaunch the concept in a new location in the near future.
- Chef Clare Smyth has been named team president of Bocuse d’Or UK, taking over from Simon Rogan, and says her one goal is to get Team UK onto the podium. The move is part of Bocuse d’Or UK’s ambition to ‘inspire young British chefs and to give Team UK the best chance of winning in the world’s most prestigious cooking contest’. Rogan has held the Presidency since taking over from Brian Turner in 2018 and will remain a key member of the Bocuse d’Or UK Academy.
- The parent company of Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck restaurant in Berkshire has returned to profit with turnover having more than doubled in 2022 compared to the year before. SL6 Ltd, which owns Blumenthal's three Michelin-starred The Fat Duck restaurant and his one-star Hinds Head pub, both in Bray, reported a profit after tax for the year ended 29 May 2022 of £2m. This comes after the group posted a loss of £0.9 in the previous year (2021), which was dogged by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Turnover for period rose to £11.5m from £5.3m in 2021, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of £2.4m (2021: £0.9m loss).
- The US-centric Tao Group Hospitality, which owns the Hakkasan restaurant group, has been sold to a global investment firm owned PokerStars co-founder Mark Scheinberg in a deal worth $550m. Mohari Hospitality, which owns a portfolio of luxury and lifestyle properties including The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, has acquired Tao from Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp (MSG) and will own the group together with its management including co-CEOs Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss. The deal is expected to close in May, subject to customary closing conditions.
- UKHospitality has warned that businesses face a ‘summer slump’ unless the Government takes action to alleviate recruitment challenges that continue to dog the sector. The trade body’s comments come after new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed there to still be no significant improvement in the vacancy rate for the sector, which has remained at around the 140,000 mark for five months now.
For more of this week's headlines, click here.
