Camino, the tapas restaurant/bar brand led by Richard Bigg, has appointed Tsara Taylor, the former financial controller of Carluccio’s, as its first finance director, as it gears up for its next stage of growth, M&C Report understands.
Bigg admitted to M&C Report that the group, which is backed by the Business Growth Fund (BGF), plans to grow to 10 sites by the end of 2015 were behind schedule, but that he was “chomping at the bit” to take the company to the next level
“We will get better analysis for the business and improve things in every way possible,” he said.
He said the company was constantly looking at sites for new bar/restaurants, but very few end up being suitable hence while he is confident in saying another Camino will open in 2014, probably in central London, he is not sure his ambition to open two will be realised.
“We are slightly behind our target but we could catch up. The problem for us is we need not just a restaurant licence, but also a bar licence – we sell just as much food in our bar area as we do in our restaurant,” he said.
Next year, he expects like-for-like sales to increase by around 10%, to at least £8.5m net, excluding any new bars, across the board.
He also admitted that the last two of the 10 total sites that are the initial target for the firm, could even be outside London – as well as looking at all the usual big cities, he is interested in locations in significant stops northwards from the Kings Cross flagship site, as many of its customers are commuters.
