Black & White Hospitality shutters its huge Leicester Square flagship restaurant
Launched in late 2021 by Black & White Hospitality CEO Nick Taplin and celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, the 14,500 sq ft venue traded as a ‘steak, pizza and gin house’.
Though the site - a former Chiquito that had been shuttered since the beginning of the pandemic - was a nil-premium deal, Mr White’s was a big investment for Black & White Hospitality with a build cost of around £1.5m and a seven-figure rent.
Speaking to Restaurant as Mr White’s launched, Taplin said that the venture had been funded through a mix of his own funds and from some of his business contacts.
Roughly a year after launch, Black & White Hospitality looked to sublet the first floor of the 600-cover site.
Mr White’s was one of a handful of company-owned sites within Black & White Hospitality’s circa 40-strong portfolio of venues.
The majority of the group’s projects are hotel-based and operated by third parties under a franchise agreement.
The Black & White Hospitality business also includes a hotel management arm, but all its F&B brands - which include Marco Pierre White Steak House Bar & Grill, Marco’s New York Italian, Bardolino and Wheeler’s of St James’s - are related to Pierre White.
Black & White Hospitality is continuing to expand by way of its core franchise model.
Later this year, the company will launch a Marco’s New York Italian in a new 127-bedroom Holiday Inn in Blackpool.
“Black and White Hospitality has a very strong portfolio and our business model of aligning the restaurant brands with hotels is one that has proved very successful in the UK,” a spokesperson said.
“With a number of new openings planned for 2024 its great that we are bucking the trend when it comes to opening new restaurants. The team is now working hard to get these new sites ready and open over the next few months.”
