Boparan Restaurant Holdings, the owner of Harry Ramsden’s and Giraffe, is to invest in excess of £10m towards opening 10-plus new restaurants over the next three years under its Cinnamon Kitchen and Cinnamon Soho concepts.
The company, which acquired both brands as part of its acquisition of the Cinnamon Collection earlier this year, said the new funding would accelerate the roll out of Cinnamon Kitchen (currently City-based) and the most casual and modern of the Collection’s restaurants, all-day dining concept Cinnamon Soho.
The fine dining Cinnamon Club, based in the Grade II-listed Old Westminster Library, will continue to be the Collection’s flagship brand.
Central London sites are being sought for Cinnamon Kitchen, with plans to expand to other major cities in 2017, alongside regional locations for Cinnamon Soho.
Vivek Singh, chief executive and executive chef of the Cinnamon Collection, who will oversee the roll out programme alongside commercial director Tina English, said: “We are delighted that Boparan Restaurant Holdings are supporting the growth of our business in London and nationally, taking The Cinnamon Collection to the next level. Opening 10+ sites is a very exciting prospect and I look forward to sharing our modern Indian approach with the rest of the UK.”
Earlier this year, Singh told MCA there was the potential for as many as 12 Cinnamon Kitchens across London before rolling out across the UK.
Singh said: “The Cinnamon Club is our flagship while the Kitchen is the one that can grow. Internationally we will look to do more Cinnamon Clubs. We have been looking at sites in New York for quite a while and there has also been interest in Boston. The first international one will probably be in one of those places.
“Our next step will be two more Cinnamon Kitchens in the M25 area and I could see us having as many as 12 in different parts of London without any danger of cannibalising our offer.”
Ranjit Singh Boparan said: “We acquired Cinnamon Collection because we believe the business has significant potential for growth and with a strong pipeline in place the team led by Vivek Singh and Tina English are ready to start scaling the business.”
The company did not comment on whether there was potential to convert some of its recently acquired Giraffe sites to the Cinnamon Kitchen brand in time.
