All Las Iguanas articles – Page 3
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OpinionOakman Inns: ‘We want our pizzaiolos to be figureheads of the pizza world’
The pub group’s chef director Ross Pike talks to MCA’s sister title Food Spark about the evolution of its pizza offer, meat-free meals and the benefits of having a development kitchen.
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Analysis & InsightWe want to be together
With the wider issues facing the market, many believe the UK’s eating and drinking-out sector is ripe for consolidation. However, does it work for everyone involved and, in current conditions, is it a case of looking outside the box for the best partner for your business, asks AlixPartners’ Graeme Smith
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Analysis & InsightA rallying cry goes out on sustainability
The Sustainable Restaurant Association has called on the industry to step up its efforts to offer more plant-based meals and to tackle food and plastic waste. MCA’s sister title Food Spark takes a look at the target areas in more depth and how some UK operators are approaching the challenge.
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Analysis & InsightYou need friends – and friendly service
In the first of a new series of regular columns MCA’s market insight director, Steve Gotham, shares some key findings from our Eating Out Panel data of 6,000 monthly consumer interviews. On the back of recent comments from Marco Pierre White that service was more important than food in ensuring fine dining success, Steve takes a look at which brands in the wider sector are delivering on service standards and how the dial has moved over the past year.
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OpinionTwists and turns
The casual dining sector was once again in the spotlight for the wrong reasons yesterday with the confirmation from Boparan Restaurant Group that it was seeking a Company Voluntary Agreement for its Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner brands. James Wallin asks what the decline of the two brands says about the wider casual dining contraction. Meanwhile, with Steve Richards departure from CDG, the two biggest players in the casual dining market are now without long-term leadership. Who would be willing to take on these mantles, and what would their strategies be?
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NewsCasual Dining Group focused on developing new revenue streams
Casual Dining Group (CDG) is concentrating on developing new income streams such as delivery and digital, rather than boosting the size of its restaurant estate or launching new concepts, CEO Steve Richards told attendees at the Casual Dining Show yesterday.
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NewsAzzurri named casual dining group of the year
Azzurri Group, Wagamama, Oakman Inns, The New World Trading Co (NWTC), Dishoom and The Alchemist were among the winners at the Casual Dining Awards yesterday.
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Analysis & Insight'You can’t get away from burgers – people love a burger'
Bill Collison, the founder of casual dining chain Bill’s talks to MCA’ sister title Food Spark about how the business has been trying to revitalise the consumer experience, including mixing up the menu.
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News
NWTC named fifth best company to work for
The New World Trading Company has been named in the top 5 best companies to work for in the Sunday Times’ annual rankings.
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OpinionInterview with an innovator: Saiphin Moore
The sale of her stake in Rosa’s Thai Café has not sated the Saiphin Moore’s appetite for the restaurant business. As well as her Lao Café concept, she is developing new brand, Slurp. Here, she talks to Sarah Sharples, of MCA’s sister title, Food Spark, about how far Thai food has come in London since she landed 14 years ago, the dishes she is proud to have put on the menu and her disinterest in a Michelin star.
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NewsShelling out
Sri Lankan casual dining concept The Coconut Tree is putting roots down in the south-west and hopes to eventually go national.
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Analysis & InsightHow Sushi Daily plans to make it on the high street
Building on its existing empire of supermarket kiosks, the brand hopes to take things in a more experimental direction at its debut bricks-and-mortar site, as MCA’s sister title Food Spark finds out.
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NewsRhys Oldfield joins BabaBoom as backer; Jenkins and Fish depart
Be At One founder Rhys Oldfield has joined BabaBoom as a backer of the kebab restaurant concept, MCA has learnt.
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NewsDishoom appoints FD
Dishoom has appointed Stephen Neudegg, ex of Casual Dining Group as its finance director.
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Analysis & InsightGlobal menu trends for 2019
MCA’s sister title Food Spark asked its expert food panel what dishes, cuisines and technological innovations are going mainstream where they are in the world.
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Analysis & InsightLevel of promotions up 4% YOY during run up to Christmas
The number of promotional offers run by the Top 25 Branded Restaurants increased by 4% December, compared with the previous year, according to analysis by MCA. But, while promotional offers on food increased, drink-based deals fell.
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Analysis & Insight'There is an appetite for new Southeast Asian cuisine’
Lahpet co-founder Dan Anton talks to MCA’s sister title Food Spark about adapting to British tastes, popular dishes and where he’d like to open future sites.
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OpinionLines from a legend
With 50 years’ experience in the UK’s hospitality sector, primarily in the development of multiple successful branded restaurant concepts, Ian Neill was quite rightly honoured earlier this year with the inaugural lifetime achievement award at MCA’s Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Awards in March. The driving force behind the formative years of PizzaExpress and the growth of Wagamama from one site to 110 worldwide, recently sat down with Mark Wingett to discuss the current state of the market, delivery, the pub sector and of course a certain deal.
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Analysis & InsightThe dessert bars that are booming
Despite all the hype around healthy eating, consumers are still looking for indulgent treats. MCA’s sister-title Food Spark took a lot as some of the operators who are expanding on the dessert bar scene.
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Analysis & Insight‘Menus the size of posters are why some larger chains are having difficulty’
MCA’s sister-title Food Spark spoke to Pizza Pilgrim’s founders, brothers Thom and James Eliot, about their new City location and how street food made it okay for restaurants to do just one thing.