Juliette and Russel Joffe, co-founders of Giraffe, today announced their resignation from the restaurant group they founded in 1998 and sold to Tesco last March for £48.6m.
The Joffes, alongside Andrew Jacobs, built the brand over the past 16 years to a portfolio that now includes 60 restaurants in the UK, five of which are located in airports and two in the UAE.
The Joffes will assist with the process of finding a successor and will continue to have an on-going consultancy role with Tesco. Jacobs continues to be involved in the business. It is thought that the Joffes will also continue to assis their son Gideon’s fledgling restaurant business.
Tom Crowley, former retail director for Premium Country Dining Group at M&B, joined the company as operations director earlier this year.
Giraffe is currently opening smaller café models of its restaurants at six Tesco Extra stores this summer that have high daytime footfall.
Juliette and Russel Joffe, co-founders of Giraffe, said: “It’s been an incredible journey from our first restaurant in Hampstead to where we are now. Having seen through the Tesco sale over a year ago and started giraffe on its next phase of growth, we know we are leaving our baby in safe and capable hands. We have really enjoyed working with Tesco who have given our brand the opportunity to expand, improve and evolve. It’s been an incredibly emotional decision to step away from our business - we have raised an amazing family here at giraffe and watched many grow into hugely talented individuals and we are confident the business will continue to thrive”.
Adam Fowle, CEO of Tesco Family Dining and chairman of Giraffe said: “I’d like to thank Juliette and Russel for all they’ve achieved in making giraffe one of the most popular and exciting family restaurant brands in the UK. Since opening their first restaurant with Andrew Jacobs sixteen years ago, Juliette and Russel have overseen a growing and successful business which now incorporates over 60 restaurants across the UK, but still holds at its heart the same spirit and ethos on which it was founded. We’re really excited about what the future holds for giraffe, and we owe a huge amount to Juliette and Russel’s vision and expertise in making giraffe the business it is today.”
