Laurel Canyon Ventures, the restaurant group which owns Monkeynuts, Chooks and Chez Bob, is opening an all-day café under the Bobs brand and closing in on new funding, MCA has learnt.
Founded by Gideon Joffe, son of Giraffe founders Juliette and Russell, and Sam Anstey, a former director of Giraffe, new site Bob’s Café will open in Queen’s Park later this month.
Juliette Joffe, who is taking a more active role in her son’s business after leaving Giraffe in 2014, told MCA the group was concentrating on the Bobs brand, because it appealed to a wide demographic throughout the day.
She said: “If you look at the market in Queens Park it is relatively young families and couples, people that go out to eat all the time.
“Although people love Chooks, we realised we needed more of an all-day offer, and we’d had a lot of success with Chez Bob.
People are more health conscious and want things that are perceived to be healthier, so it’s giving people what they want.”
She said the group was aiming for slow steady growth across its three different concepts.
“We could have loads of if we want them, it just depends on the sites”, she added.
“We have six restaurants and from six you aim to get to 10, and from 10 to 15.
“Good steady growth is better than quick growth, but you never say no, because sometimes a little group comes up, goes into liquidations, like it did it with Giraffe and we bought eight and it doubled the size of our business.
“It’s nice having three concepts because you can look at each site as an individual entity and have the freedom to decide what’s in there.
“We are on the verge of getting some funding. In today’s market its healthy to have it and helps you progress.”
