Andrew Jacobs, co-founder of Giraffe, has been named as managing director of the Tesco-owned restaurant operator, replacing Russel Joffe who announced his resignation along with his wife Juliette last month.
Jacobs’ previous role saw him focus on property and acquisitions for the 57-strong company.
Adam Fowle, chief executive of Tesco Family Dining and chairman of Giraffe, said: “Andrew was the natural choice as successor. He brings 20 years of experience with him and an unrivalled insight into the brand. His appointment ensures that the concept’s individuality and consistency will be retained and I am really looking forward to working with him more closely.”
Jacobs said: “Having lived and breathed this business for 16 years, I feel very excited by this new challenge. I have had the privilege of working with the best in the business and I am completely committed, with the support of my team, to taking the brand forward.”
In July the Joffes announced their resignation from Giraffe, which they founded in 1998 and sold to Tesco last March for £48.6m.
Comment by M&C Report editor Mark Wingett
Just under two months after Juliette and Russel Joffe, co-founders of Giraffe, announced their resignation from the restaurant group they founded with Andrew Jacobs in 1998, Jacobs has been picked as the man to lead the Tesco-owned brand forward.
Alongside the Joffes, Jacobs built the brand over the past 16 years to a portfolio that now includes over 50 restaurants in the UK and two in the UAE and for many will be a safe pair of hands to oversee the business.
Jacobs might not have initially thrown his hat into the ring to lead the group, as there was a line of thought that the brand could be led by the rated Tom Crowley, the former retail director for Premium Country Dining Group at M&B, who joined the company as operations director earlier this year in tandem with chairman Adam Fowle.
What has changed in those two months has been the leadership at the top of Tesco and with that has come uncertainty over the direction it will take, especially with non-core assets such as Giraffe. Did that uncertainty put off external candidates for the job?
However that is doing Jacobs, who knows the business inside and out, a disservice. Speculation suggests that Tesco is happy with its acquisition of the brand and the early performance of the new dual sites it has opened. In a period of uncertainty, Jacobs brings continuity and is best placed to uphold the brand’s ethos. It could turn out to be a canny appointment.
