- Michelin-starred chef Sergio Herman has finally brought his premium chips brand to London almost a decade after it was first mooted. His Dutch concept Frites Atelier has opened on Soho’s Old Compton Street promising ‘the best frites in the world’. The brand operates sites in Amsterdam as well as Brussels and Antwerp.
- Jamie Oliver’s main holding company has reportedly axed a fifth of its workforce. According to Sky News, 25 of Jamie Oliver Group’s 126 staff have been made redundant. The Jamie Oliver Group is primarily a media and brand business, with publishing, television and licensing at its core. It is understood to oversee the chef’s international restaurant licensing deals and his Jamie Oliver Catherine Street restaurant, but it is not connected to the revival of Jamie’s Italian, which is set to make a comeback next year after collapsing in 2019.
- Paco Pérez’s Spanish restaurant Tast Cuina Catalana in Manchester has announced it will close later this month. The restaurant, which is located on King Street, will close on 20 December, ending an almost eight-year run. Announcing the decision on social media, the restaurant says it has faced “exceptionally challenging trading conditions and increased costs”.
- Nick Nairn’s Kailyard restaurant at Dunblane Hydro Hotel will close next year after more than a decade and a half. The closure, in March, comes as the hotel ends its partnership with the chef and TV personality as part of an overhaul of its restaurant and food and beverage operations. Nairn will continue to operate Nick’s, the restaurant he opened in Port of Menteith in June 2021 with his wife Julia, and his Nick Nairn Cook School.
- Pied à Terre has appointed 28 year old chef Aggelos Kassais to lead its kitchen. It marks a return to the long running Fitzrovia restaurant, which turns 35 in 2026 and has held at least one Michelin star for longer than any other London restaurant, for Aggelos, who was sous chef to former Pied à Terre head chef Asmiakis Chaniotis. Kassais succeeds Alberto Cavaliere, who has left to pursue a new project.