West Country restaurant chain Mezze has unveiled five pubs that will continue the expansion of the all-leased group into 2014.
The earmarked sites are the Bathpool Inn, Taunton, Somerset; the Double Gloucester, Gloucester; the Castle Inn, Usk, Wales; the White Lion, Yate, Bristol); and the Blathwayte ((CORR)) Arms, Bath.
They will join five existing sites, including the Anchor at Ham Green, near Bristol, which opened in May, and the White Lion at Portishead, Dorset, currently undergoing a £1.6 million refurb in advance of a July launch.
Director and executive chef James Brown told the MA300 event for multiple operators: “We believe that at the five year point we will have 16 restaurants in the South West turning over in excess of 13 million pounds with anticipated net profits of 10%. This should improve further as the economy of scale factor comes into play.”
Based around a tapas offer, Mezze aims to offer a family audience a resonably-priced all-day wide-ranging experience, “replacing rather than destroying the social meeting places that public houses once were,” said Brown.
“We believe that pubs are the central hub of our local communities, and through our continued self-funded investment we are helping to ensure they continue to thrive as the focal point of these small towns.”
The new Portishead site, for instance, will incorporate a rooftop terrace, Mediterranean gardens, an ice cream parlour, a cocktail bar and an a la carte restaurant as well as a Mezze restaurant.
So far each of its restaurants has been leased from Enterprise Inns or Greene King, and the company intends to stick to a strategy that’s working.
“We have had comprehensive support through invested capital expenditure from our chosen landlords, proving we can negotiate the best lease terms in the best flagship sites then open and recover from each financial outlay within six months,” Brown explained.
“Our zero dividend policy enables us to reinvest all operational profit back into our cash reserves enabling us to open Mezze after Mezze with no further borrowing.
“Ot makes our future expansion strategy an extremely safe and sustainable one with little or potentially no annual repayable debt liabilities leaving the Mezze Group with an extremely bright future.”
