Las Iguanas, the Casual Dining Group (CDG)-owned brand, has appointed Gareth Lock, formerly of Spirit Pub Company and Whitbread, as its new chief operating officer, MCA has learnt.
Lock joins the Mos Shamel-led brand after over a year and a half as national operations director of Spirit’s Flaming Grill brand. Previous to that he spent over six years at Whitbread, including a stint as national operations director for its Premier Inn brand.
In March, Las Iguanas said it was restructuring its senior management team, following the news that chief financial officer Kieron Pollock was stepping down.
Pollock, who left the company after eight years this month, also had responsibility for the marketing, training and menu development functions.
The company said that given the current size of the business and an expansion programme that will see it launch c20 new venues per year for the next two years, it had elected to search for both a chief operating officer and finance director. Both positions will report into managing director Shamel.
In April, the group appointed Magali Podesta, formerly of Bacardi, as its new head of marketing.
Podesta joined the brand, which is nearing its 50th opening, after a year and a half as a project director with Triniti Marketing.
At the start of this year, CDG shuffled its management team, including James Spragg moving from managing director of Café Rouge to the newly created role of chief operating officer for the wider business.
Simon Wilkinson moved from chief executive of La Tasca to take up Spragg’s former role as managing director of Café Rouge and Belgo, whilst Shamel assumed responsibility for La Tasca.
