Friday five: the week's top restaurant stories
- Dishoom has launched a bid to overturn a trademark on the right to use the term ‘Ruby Murray’ to describe a curry. The Indian restaurant group has lodged legal papers with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to revoke a registration secured five years ago by London businessman Tariq Aziz to exclusively use the term as a food and drink trademark. Ruby Murray refers to the name of a 1950s singer and has long been used as Cockney rhyming slang for curry. Dishoom, which serves a curry on its menu called the Chicken Ruby in a nod to the term, claims that Aziz has not used the name Ruby Murray in a commercial way, so the registration should be revoked. However, Aziz has said that he is trading under the name Ruby Murray.
- Chef Bryn William has announced that he has sold his Primrose Hill restaurant Odette's after 16 years of trading. The restaurant's final service will be on Saturday 25 May. "Sixteen years ago I bought Odette's restaurant in Primrose Hill, it's been my cooking home and I've loved every minute of it," said Williams. "Now, it's time to move on and explore new adventures." "I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has worked at Odette's over the years and to all of our wonderful guests, many of whom were loyal for the last 16 years."
- Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) has announced the acquisition of 10-strong Italian small plates business Pesto Restaurants. Pesto founders Sara and Neil Gatt will continue to manage the business, which is predominantly based in the north west and Midlands, for an 18-month period to help M&B identify and convert sites to the Pesto brand. The consideration for the business will be determined over two payments and is partly contingent on its future performance but will be no more than £15m.
- Chef Heston Blumenthal has revealed a bi-polar diagnosis and has vowed to challenge attitudes to neurodivergence in the workplace. The Fat Duck founder points to a new study that shows UK business is missing out on the ‘superpowers’ of a neuroinclusive workforce, and an additional study that suggests neurodiverse people feel discriminated against in the workplace and overlooked.
- Gordon Ramsay Restaurants has taken on the former Haugen site in Stratford for the opening of another Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. The group has signed the lease on the 10,000sq ft Pavilion building at Lendlease’s Stratford Cross for its sixth London outpost of its Bread Street Kitchen & Bar brand, with the restaurant set to open on 3 June. The restaurant will occupy all three levels of the Pavilion and have a number of dining areas alongside a community workspace within the ground floor café. It will also have a 3,000sq ft rooftop bar for al-fresco dining with views across the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and on the ground floor there will be an additional 30-seater outside terrace.
For more of this week's headlines, click here.
