Paramount Restaurants is considering the future of its Caffé Uno estate as it repositions the company’s other brands.
Mark Phillips, the group’s recently appointed chief executive, told M&C Report that one of his main priorities in the new role was to review Caffé Uno and to look at whether or not to keep the brand going.
Phillips said: “I think Caffé Uno is the brand I am thinking hardest about what its future might be.
“We will review each site and take into account their location and their competition on the high street, we will then determine the appropriate proposition going forward.”
The comments came as the company launched two further trials of its new Il Bertorelli concept in former Caffé Uno sites in Stratford-upon-Avon and Amersham, following the debut of the first test site in Blackheath in June.
Phillips said that he wanted to see the results of the trials of the new concept, which is a high street casual dining version of the group's original Central London-based Bertorelli brand, before planning a roll-out.
He also revealed that the group was looking at relaunching its Brasserie Chez Gerard brand, following concerns that the chain needed to be more accessible in order for it to trade on a large scale on the high street.
Consequently, the company has trialled a new version of the concept in its existing Chiswick site, with a different all-day trading menu, a lower price point and a more informal style of service.
Phillips said: “Like our trial of the Il Bertorelli concept, we will take stock of the reaction and if we think that what we have done gives it a slightly broader appeal, we will do a few more trials and if we are happy we will roll it out to the rest of the Brasseries sites.”
The company said that it would use its 29-strong Caffé Uno estate to test some of its other concepts and if it decided that the brand no longer had the scale to continue as a successful high street business it would convert all the remaining sites to Brasserie Chez Gerard or Il Bertorelli.
Paramount currently has 77 sites under five different brands, including Livebait, after it got rid of its Café Fish concept last year and transformed the sites into other restaurant brands.
