Richard Caring, the serial sector investor, has told Dominic Walsh for M&C that the plan is to roll out his new Ivy Café format across the country and that 10 sites were currently under consideration for the fledgling concept.
Caring, who also backs Bill’s, said: “We’re looking at about 10 sites right now. We’ve got sites in Wimbledon and Bristol, and we’re looking in places like Cobham and Bath and we’ll probably do one or two in the City.
“We decided the Ivy brand was something that could travel. So we opened The Ivy in the King’s Road, which was an immediate success, and Covent Garden. In Marylebone we’ve got The Ivy Café – which we plan to roll out across the country.”
The company will open a fourth site under the fledgling concept in Kensington High Street next week.
Caring said: “The Ivy is a super-strong brand. If people ever stop me they always say, you own The Ivy. She’s a grand old lady, who we gave a complete face and body lift to. We were brave, but we were fortunate in keeping the essence of The Ivy while bringing her into the modern era.
Caring said that the spend in the new Ivy format is about 35%cheaper than a full Ivy. Lunch is about £26 and dinner is £33 to £34.
The group is believed to be in talks to acquire the former Barclays Bank site in Wimbledon High Street for an opening next year.
The company is also understood to be in talks to launch in Bristol on the former Natwest Bank site in the Clifton Village area of Bristol.
The group is also thought to have run the rule over sites in Cardiff, Guildford and Brighton.
In October, Marcus Weedon, who had been the senior recruitment manager at Carluccio’s for the past six years, joined the Ivy Collection in the same role.
Weedon followed in the footsteps of Ian Newman, who stepped down as acquisitions manager at Carluccio’s earlier this summer to help with the growth of the Ivy Café and Market Grill formats.
Dominic Walsh is the leisure correspondent for The Times
