Brasserie Blanc, the restaurant chain founded by chef Raymond Blanc, is set to open in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth in April, following the closure of two underperforming sites.
The opening of the 120-cover restaurant will bring the group’s outlets to eight sites after its brasseries in Manchester and Tunbridge Wells stopped trading during the last month.
The company recently admitted that it had racked up losses of £2m last year, with £1m related to charges against these two restaurants, which were both losing money.
John Lederer, the company’s managing director, told M&C Report that the restaurants had come as part of the package when he acquired the firm two years ago and they had always been difficult places to trade in.
He said that the company was performing well and that expansion plans were gathering pace with a further three sites set to open in 2009.
The group is currently in negotiations over sites in Bath, Cambridge, Cardiff and Reading.
Lederer said: “We are now gathering pace with our expansion and we are at a very delicate point where the management time involved is enormous and more time was going into keeping failed restaurants open.
“With the current market we’re in, we are aiming to open four sites a year. We are still quite a small business and you need a lot of effort and detail to go into rolling out the chain.
He added, however, that despite wanting to maintain a strong pipeline, in terms of new property there wasn’t much movement occurring.
“These are uncertain times and there is very little movement – a good site is still a good site and people are still keeping hold of them.
“We are aiming to grow exponentially, but this year is still about caution.”
