The deal includes the leasehold of the restaurant’s Chelsea premises, the Enoteca Turi brand and one of the capital’s most valuable and impressive Italian wine collections.
The sale comes as founders Giuseppe and Pam Turi retire after 30 years at the restaurant, which was originally founded as a small trattoria in Putney in 1990 but decamped to Pimlico Road in 2015.
Most of the senior team will remain, including general manager Daniele Siro and head chef Giampiero Giuliani.
Ford (pictured left) told Restaurant that some minor changes are planned but, in the main, the restaurant will remain as it is.
“It’s just tweaks, the last thing we want to do is rip it all up and start again,” he says. “We have retained most of the senior team, who were going to leave but have now decided to stay. We will update some of the systems, including more modern EPOS and stock control software.”
“We will change the menu a little bit, we are keen to get the lunch business back on track so we will be offering a more lighter and flexible a la carte lunch offer. We also see Sunday’s as a big opportunity, we are looking at introducing family-style service to encourage people to come with their kids.”
Ford says he would not rule out expanding the Enoteca Turi brand at some point. “It’s very early days, we have only been in the restaurant for a week. But if we are performing well after a year there’s certainly an opportunity to go elsewhere in London, and even overseas.”
Ford is a well-known figure in the restaurant industry having held management roles at iconic London restaurants including L’Escargot and Simon Hopkinson and Joel Kissin’s Hilaire.
He also played a key role at Harvey Nichols as restaurants and food retail director, helping to establish the highly-influential Fifth Floor Brasserie together with Henry Harris.
More recently, he has acted as an international restaurant consultant for clients including Intercontinental Hotel Group, Park Plaza Hotels and Selfridges.
Just ahead of the pandemic he established Restaurants Inc. Ltd with fellow entrepreneur Krishan Katyal (pictured middle). The business holds the franchise rights for a number of brands including Shoryu Ramen and chef Akira Back’s Korean steak concept AB.
Gleave (pictured right) is also well-known in the industry with his Clapham-based Liberty Wines supplying some of the UK's most high profile restaurants.
Gleave added: “When Dominic approached me to join the team to acquire Enoteca Turi I had no hesitation to have the opportunity to inherit and be the custodian of what I believe to be one of the best and most celebrated Italian Wine list in London. Giuseppe has bought extremely well over the years which will help to maintain the extraordinary selections of fine Italian wines and continue with the competitive pricing and value moving forward.”
A full interview with the new owners of Enoteca Turi will be published later this month.