EAT, the Lyceum Capital-backed food to go chain, has appointed a new head of acquisitions as it returns to a regional expansion programme, M&C understands.
The c115-strong group, which recently appointed John Derkach, the former chief executive of Tragus Group, as its new chairman, has appointed Stephen O’Connell, formerly senior acquisitions manager at PureGym, as its new head of acquisitions.
O’Connell previously had a stint at Whitbread and was also an acquisitions manager at Morrisons.
EAT, which is returning to a regional expansion programme after a period of consolidation and refurbishment, is currently trialling a larger store format with greater choice of pastries and cakes to boost sales in the afternoon. It will open its first site in Cardiff before the end of the year.
Chief executive Adrian Johnson told M&C last month that the company will adapt its model to increase dwell time outside of London as part of its business development plan to continue growing the brand.
Johnson said the recently promoted Ed Grimes’ role is to develop new ways to expand the EAT brand across multiple platforms.
He said in EAT’s current format the growth is limited to c200 – 250 UK units so to continue growing beyond that point would require an evolved format, which Grimes is exploring.
“We can get to maybe 200 – 250 shops in the EAT format we have today but need to be flexible for growth beyond that because we want to keep expanding the brand.”
