Steven Walker and Vernon Lord, the chief executive and managing director respectively of Individual Restaurant Company (IRC), have taken stakes in the fledging operations run by Roy Ellis, the founder of Inventive Leisure and Des McDonald, the former CEO of Caprice Holdings, M&C Report understands.
At the same time, IRC is providing both businesses with back office support.
Lord, who is finance director of both Ellis’ Flying Pig & Lobster venture and the companies behind McDonald’s Q Grill and The Fish & Chip Shop concepts, said the businesses would remain separate entities and not eventually come under the IRC banner. Read more
He said: “The opportunity came forward for myself and Steven to become investors in businesses which we believe have a very bright future. It is not often you get the opportunity to back fledgling businesses led by such experienced operators. The businesses are complementary to IRC.
“At the same time, we felt that the back office expertise that we already had at IRC could aid both in their growth. We don’t envisage the businesses becoming one big group, they are all separate entities and all focused on different parts of the market.
“This adds another string to IRC’s bow and we may look at other opportunities in the marketplace to do something similar if we found a concept/management team we were impressed by.”
Lord said that IRC had had an “impressive 2014” and was on track to post like-for-like sales up c20% in its current financial year.
Last year, Ellis and Neil Macleod, the founders of Inventive Leisure, and high-profile chef Simon Rimmer secured £4m of funding to aid the development and initial roll out of Flying Pig & Lobster.
The funds, which have been raised by the three founders and four other investors, will be used to launch two concepts a modern British pub concept and an American comfort food brand, both of which will launch later this year in Woolton Village, Liverpool.
M&C Report understands that the group is also developing a further strand of this business, which is set to come under the Delancey & Dean.
The new company will operate both formats at its first acquisition, the Elephant pub and Bubble Room.
Ellis told M&C Report that he would look to add one or two more sites to the business by spring this year and then look to ramp up the roll out to five the following 12 months and possibly a dozen thereafter.
Restaurateur McDonald is preparing to open his next Q Grill site at Dashwood House, near London’s Liverpool Street Station later this spring.
McDonald told M&C Report last year that he is looking for further sites for both brands including Greenwich and “other villages around the capital” for Fish & Chip Shop.
“Initially it will be London-focused but we would also look at Manchester and Edinburgh. The brand is posh fish and chips so would work anywhere,” he said. “We’re taking baby steps but I think people are enjoying what we are doing. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel with fish and chips but could potentially open quite a few.”
McDonald opened the first Fish & Ship Shop in Islington in early 2013. The Q-Grill brand was launched at Camden last year. The restaurateur, who is also backed by Toby Baxendale, the entrepreneur and founder of Seafood Holdings, also operates the high-end brasserie called the Holborn Dining Room.
