No Saints, the bar and restaurant group run by ex-Luminar chief executive Stephen Thomas, has revealed plans to open 15 new sites across its estate.
The expansion plans will include sites for new concepts Wonderbrand, Greene Room and Chicago Pizza Pie Factory, as well as the established Jam House brand.
Thomas said that the company has acquired a third site for live music brand Jam House in Cambridge, which will be the largest operation in the town. There are also plans to open sites in Bournemouth, Brighton and Bristol by the end of 2012. Jam House was previously jointly owned by Luminar and Jools Holland.
Thomas acquired the rights to the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory brand in the UK in 2008, and plans to open the first site in Bristol, on the former premises of Henry J Beans, in the first quarter of next year.
Thomas also revealed that No Saints will try to improve the initial concept by adding features such as create your own pizza.
The Green Room, No Saints’ cabaret concept, launched its first site in Milton Keynes in May and plans are in the pipeline for a second site in the South West, while Cardiff was also mooted as a possible destination.
Thomas said: “I wanted to do something different, so the idea is that everybody gets a seat, 85% of our bookings are done online and we do two shows a night and there is an electronic ordering device on each table – so I’m going for low volume but high spend per head.”
Wonderbrand, which Thomas believes is No Saints’ “most interesting brand”, has been set up by Thomas’s 25-year-old son.
He has opened a venue in Banbury, Oxfordshire, with an Alice in Wonderland theme where the staff dress up as a different character every night.
The company is developing a second site in Sevenoaks and has acquired properties in Guildford, Cheltenham and Sutton, with 10 more in the pipeline.
A new concept, set up in partnership with a talent scouting company, will also see its first venue next year. The brand focuses on giving young performers a platform to play their music. Thomas had previously talked about launching a similar concept called Arena, which would be a chain of music venues aimed at 20 to 30 year olds.
