Polpo, the Luke Bishop-led group, Stephanie Trigwell, formerly of Cath Kidson and Mothercare, as its new finance director, MCA has learnt.
For the last year, Trigwell has been a freelance commercial finance consultant with the Russell Norman and Richard Beatty-founded concept as one of her clients.
She spent two years as head of finance EMEA at Cath Kidson and before that was head of UK finance at Mothercare for two and a half years.
Prior to that she was head of retail operations finance at Dixons Stores Group.
She joins Polpo after it recently opened in Bristol.
The nine-strong group opened where Greek restaurant Entelia stood.
Last year, group secured a £2m loan from RBS that combined with cashflow will allow it to add up six to eight sites over the next two years.
It has been eyeing a site in Bath, but is believed to have pulled out of negotiations on a unit near the city’s train station.
It is set to open a site in Lewisham, which will open under the Polpo banner but will represent a further evolution of the brand, which could include a pizza offer.
Earlier this summer, Zelman Meats, the Goodman Restaurants-owned concept, replaced Polpo in the department store from 1 August with a 45-cover restaurant.
Polpo only opened the site in February, followed the same month by an opening in the Harvey Nichols in Leeds.
