Baton Berisha named D&D London managing director

He will join the restaurant group on 3 May and will work closely with D&D founders Des Gunewardena and David Loewi on all aspects of managing the group’s restaurants.

Berisha is no stranger to D&D’s restaurants, having worked in a number of the group’s sites years ago.

“This is an important appointment for D&D and signifies our ambitions for the business,” says Gunewardena, chairman and CEO.

“We know Baton well. He actually worked for a number of our restaurants in his younger days. His experience particularly in leading the growth of the very successful Ivy Collection will be a huge asset to us as D&D enters the next stage of its expansion.”

Berisha joined Richard Caring’s Ivy Collection as its operations director in 2014. He was named managing director in 2019, overseeing the successful expansion of The Ivy into a national restaurant chain.

He was promoted to CEO in December 2020 but departed the company a year later.

“I am very excited to join D&D and having worked for the business in the past I have many fond memories,” says Berisha.

“I have tremendous respect for Des and David, their vision and ambition for the future is very exciting and I look forward to working closely with them while the business enters its next stage of growth.”