Gastropub entrepreneur Paul Salisbury, who helped develop Mitchells & Butlers’ (M&B) Premium Country Dining concept, has been appointed by former M&B director Kevin Todd to rejuvenate Russian restaurant group Rosinter’s Italian restaurant brand Il Patio in Russia, M&C Report has learnt.
Salisbury, who is also managing director of multiple operator Lovely Pubs, could end up renovating 160 Il Patio restaurants depending on the success of the initial rebrands.
He told M&C Report that he is on site in a couple of weeks with the first refurbishment of an Il Patio in central Moscow.
Salisbury said changes will include a new menu and new uniform. There will be a "softer" design and a better daytime offer that will include morning coffee, incorporating some of the learnings from Costa, which Rosinter operates in Russia.
"We will do three initially and take it from there," said Salisbury, who has a 12-month tie in to begin with for the project.
He expects to make four trips per year to Russia to work on the project. "It depends on the rollout. We’ve got to make sure it works first. If we get it right there are 160 to do."
News of Salisbury’s new role at Rosinter follows the Russian group’s appointment of Alan Yau, creator of Wagamama, to work on a prototype of a sushi chain in the country.
Salisbury recently stopped working with M&B on Premium Country Dining. He had been working with the company since 2004 developing the concept that later became PCD. His Orange Tree pub at Chadwick End, Warwickshire, was used as a template for the project.
Kevin Todd, former business development director at M&B, joined Rosinter earlier this year as chief executive. He was later joined by another former senior M&B employee, David Singleton, who had spent a number of years as managing partner in charge of marketing for the Premium Country Dining estate.
Separately, Salisbury said he plans to "look quite aggressively" for new acquisitions for the six-strong Lovely Pubs.
He said he’d like more sites for its Farm concept, which currently operates at The Inn at the Farm in Shirley, near Solihull in the West Midlands. "It’s our most successful and easiest to replicate," Salisbury said. The site currently takes more than £60,000 per week, he added.
