Ed’s Easy Diner, the Andrew Guy-led chain, has strengthened its property team with the appointment of former Little Chef property director Chris Cotton as its new property and development manager, M&C Report understands.
Cotton spent over three years at Little Chef after joining from Paramount Restaurants where he was head of developments. Previous to that he spent over 10 years as head of property at Regent Inns.
He joins Ed’s, which believes there is potential to operate up to 150 sites in the UK, as it looks to open 20 new restaurants over the next 15 months.
It already has a strong 2015 openings pipeline in place, including new sites in Blackburn and London’s Islington.
The group secured the former Tinderbox site in the N1 Centre, Islington, for an opening under its core brand late last year.
It is also believed to have lined up sites in The Mall, Blackburn; Cambridge; Woking; Blackpool and Aberdeen for openings this year.
The group has appointed corporate advisory firm McQueen to advise it on its financing options, with a sale process targeted for the final quarter of this year, by which time the group hopes to have 50 sites in operation.
Ed’s has been accelerating the roll out of its diners since the beginning of last year, and currently has 28 sites operating under its core brand, six under its BBQ & Grill format and three Dinerettes.
