- Hawksmoor is taking over the former Midland Grand Dining Room at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel for what will be its 14th restaurant across the UK, Ireland and the US. The steakhouse group is taking on the space in the Grade I listed building designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott following the sudden closure of Victor Garvey at The Midland Grand in July.
- Côte Restaurant Group has been acquired by family-owned business Karali Group for an undisclosed sum. Led by Salim Janmohamed OBE and Karim Janmohamed, Karali Group is multinational business whose other interests include Marugame Udon UK and Taco Bell.
- Salt Bae’s UK restaurant arm lost £5.5m in 2024 as a result of costs involved in the closure of some of his international locations. Nusret UK, which is named after the Turkish chef, whose real name is Nusret Gökçe, reported that turnover at its London steakhouse rose to just over £10m for the period ended 31 December 2024, up from £9.3m in 2023, and that operating profit rose to £1.9m, up from £1.5m the previous year However, the company made a loss of £5.5m compared with a profit of £1.7m the previous year. This drop in profitability was caused by £6.6m ‘exceptional expenses’, according to accounts filed on Companies House, relating to the group’s US arm, which closed two restaurants in Boston and New York’s Meatpacking district in 2024.
- Meedu Saad, the former head chef and co-owner of restaurant Kiln in Soho, will open his debut restaurant next spring. Opening in partnership with restaurant group Super 8, which operates London restaurants Mountain, Smoking Goat, Brat and Kiln, Impala will be a charcoal grill restaurant with influences from North Africa to North London.
- Rapid rises in operational costs are damaging hospitality’s capital expenditure programmes, new data shows. Nearly two thirds of hospitality businesses (63%) have increased their operational expenditure over the past 12 months, following inflationary pressures on the costs of labour, food and drink and other key inputs, the latest Business Confidence Survey from CGA by NIQ and Sona has revealed.