Covent Garden Restaurants (CGR) is to return to the acquisition trail over the next year as its looks to add to its Fire & Stone pizza chain and open further bar operations.
The group, which is led by managing director Hugh Fowler, pulled back from the expanding further last year, but hopes to add at least one site to its five-strong Fire & Stone estate this year and add further bar sites in the capital.
The company currently operates Fire & Stone brands, its pizza concept, in Covent Garden, Oxford, Portsmouth, Spitalfields Market and the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush.
Fowler told M&C Report that the company, which operates the Dry Martini bar, hoped to add two further sites to the brand over the next 12 months, with a sixth site planned for the year.
He said: “We took a step back last year to consolidate where we had got so far. Now we are ready to push on and hope to add one, maybe two Fire & Stones in the South East over the next year.”
The company, which also operates Tuttons restaurant and bar in the capital, is also looking to expand into the bar sector.
Fowler said: “This won’t be a roll out of Dry Martini as a brand, but we believe there is the potential to take our expertise in this sector into further locations.”
The company has also promoted Scott Matthew to the role of operations director, after Carlos Swinton-Lee left to live in Australia.
