The Cinnamon Group is looking to roll out its Cinnamon Bazaar concept across the UK with the potential for 80-100 sites, MCA has learnt.
The group, which was acquired by Boparan Restaurant Holdings in January 2016, opened its first Cinnamon Bazaar site in Covent Garden in December 2016, and has signed up to open a second site at the Oxford Westgate development.
Commercial director Tina English, who has overseen rollouts at Frankie & Benny’s and Ping Pong, said the group would initially look to Surrey towns such as Cobham or Esher, before expanding more widely across the UK.
She said they expected to open around five sites a year of Cinnamon Bazaar, which has an accessible all-day offer at around £20 a head, and more emphasis on the drinks offer.
Meanwhile, the group will look at add to its Cinnamon Kitchen concept in London and other major UK cities.
There is still potential for international sites of Cinnamon Club, the original fine-dining restaurant founded at Westminster Library 15 years ago, but English said the group was concentrating on UK expansion for now.
English said: “We’re looking initially at that Surrey area before spreading across the UK.
“There’s plenty of space for us to open Cinnamon Kitchen in London. There’s probably four or five major cities that could take that operations
“But taking an overlay of a map of the UK, I don’t see why we couldn’t have 80-100 Cinnamon Bazaars – though not next week.
“Starting off in Surrey is easy for us operationally because we’re a small management team.
She added: “We are going to expand cautiously, we’re still a boutique operation. We want the right sites, it’s not just a numbers game.
Vivek Singh, chief executive and exective chef, said: “With Tina’s experience opening 500-odd stores in the last 10 years, its gives us a lot of confidence.
“We’ve taken our time but we have a team in place that could support that kind of growth.”
