All Zizzi articles – Page 2

  • Zizzi interior
    Interviews

    Azzurri CEO Steve Holmes: Things are changing all the time

    2020-05-22T07:19:00Z

    Do you remember what is was like to go to a restaurant and order a plate of spaghetti? I miss it hugely, and I’m just a hungry customer. So how does Azzurri CEO Steve Holmes, who runs 295 restaurants, feel about seeing his entire estate shut down? “It’s desperately sad, because we’ve made really strong progress over the last four years,” he says. “Zizzi’s NPS score moved up to number six, the highest ever. Ask was also racing up. We opened an Ask in Westfield just before everything closed and it was trading incredibly well.”

  • closed shop sign
    News

    Debt enforcement moratorium still needed - MCA poll

    2020-05-18T07:03:00Z

    More than half of operators, (54%) said that their landlord had refused to offer any concessions, with an additional 34% saying that negotiations were ongoing, according to the latest weekly Hospitality Leaders Poll by MCA Insight/HIM. The results highlight further the need for a debt enforcement moratorium, one of the key pillars of Hospitality Union’s original six-point action plan, to give both commercial tenants and landlords breathing space against litigation.

  • ASK Italian
    News

    Azzurri appoints KPMG

    2020-05-04T07:21:00Z

    The Azzurri Group has turned to KPMG as it looks to find a way out of the coronavirus crisis, according to the Sunday Times. It also said the business was still waiting to find out if it was eligible for a business interruption loan. Last year Azzurri, which operates Ask, Zizzi and Coco di Mama, made a pre-tax loss of £16m on sales of £299m.

  • GBK interior
    News

    GBK and Azzurri reportedly appoint advisors

    2020-04-23T07:47:00Z

    Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Azzurri Group have reportedly appointed advisors to assess their options going forward through the coronavirus crisis.

  • Restaurant
    News

    Editor’s Opinion: Hang tight and plan your return

    2020-04-20T07:25:00Z

    The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc. It’s claimed hundreds of thousands of lives around the world and numbers continue to rise. As dreadful as that is, the long term socio-economic impact is more disturbing. The virus has created a level of disruption to health, society, and the economy that’s never happened before, outside of wartime. And while there is plenty of speculation on how life in general may get back to normal post-lockdown, with vaguely optimistic or pessimistic dates floating around, there is no clarity on how or when this might end.

  • restaurant cafe table
    News

    Timeline: How the coronavirus crisis unfolded

    2020-04-20T07:22:00Z

    Here are just some of the twists and turns over the last few weeks. If you want to read all the MCA coverage of the coronavirus crisis click here.

  • Coco-di-Mama
    News

    Azzurri shuts entire estate

    2020-03-19T08:27:00Z

    Azzurri Group is to close all Ask, Zizzi and Coco di Mama restaurants from today, CEO Steve Holmes has announced.

  • Six-by-Nico-secures-first-London-restaurant-location_wrbm_large
    News

    Six by Nico makes London debut

    2020-03-06T08:34:00Z

    The Nico Simeone-led restaurant concept Six by Nico is to open in the former Zizzi site in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia this month.

  • GettyImages-510629908
    Analysis & Insight

    ​Steve Gotham: Turning up the heat and other NPD delights

    2020-03-05T07:28:00Z

    New product development (NPD) is rightly recognised as a lifeblood for the eating out industry, and MCA’s Menu Tracker offers insights into the latest menu trends and influences across 150 leading operators. This review only serve as a taster, but the three courses have each been accompanied with three key summary insights.    

  • Our Journey - Header Photo
    Analysis & Insight

    Instagram: Looking Good Enough To Eat

    2020-02-21T08:31:00Z

    No dish reaches the candy pink menu at EL&N cafe without having its photo taken first. The chain’s head of food Daniel Booth will “play around with dishes during the development process, taking photos to see how they look through a lens before finalising them,” says head of marketing Sahar Mahdavian. The result is immaculate. Sambazon acai smoothie bowls and edible flowers perch pristinely on ancient grain granola, more modern art than breakfast. 

  • Cafe Rouge Interior
    News

    All’s fair in love and restaurants – how did the operators line up to fight for the Valentine’s share of wallet?

    2020-02-18T07:54:00Z

    If French is the language of love, then presumably a French restaurant should be where I head with my true love on Valentine’s Day. Certainly, the leading French chains are using several seduction techniques to secure my custom – and for good reason. February is a slow trading month and an event where consumers might be more inclined to loosen the purse strings for fear of having their heart strings damaged, is well worth aiming to capitalise upon. So who offered what on the big day?

  • Terry Harrison @ Busaba
    Analysis & Insight

    Bangkok bounce back?

    2020-02-12T07:55:00Z

    Once the darling of the Thai restaurant scene, Busaba has had a tough few years, with falling profits and site closures. Now with a simplified offer and a fresh focus on the capital, it’s looking to bounce back

  • Yo! Sushi dish
    Analysis & Insight

    Beating the January blues

    2020-01-09T07:42:00Z

    There is an easy logic behind the third Monday in January being the most depressing day of the year, despite the underpinning research coming under question. 

  • Carluccio's new generation store
    News

    Gunwharf Quays – Restaurant and retail therapy a plenty!

    2019-12-11T08:17:00Z

    With more than 30 bars, cafés and restaurants (as well as over 90 shops) Gunwharf Quays offers an abundance of opportunities for plenty of remedial treatment. Supported by its impressive waterfront location, attractive design and assorted leisure-related reasons to visit, Gunwharf Quays is one of the UK’s finest outlet shopping centres. So amongst some Christmas shopping, I was keen to see how it is using its extensive assortment of Food & Beverage purveyors to both restore weary shoppers as well as to act as a footfall driver in its own right. But also, and more critically, I was keener to see some something new and surprising.

  • Steve Holmes, CEO Azzurri Group
    Opinion

    Steve Holmes: ‘If you wind the clock forward, people will eat out more than ever’

    2019-11-19T08:49:00Z

    Relevant operators can grind out profit growth, but it’s not an easy time, Azzurri Group’s Steve Holmes has told MCA.

  • Coco-di-Mama
    News

    Azzurri Group achieves lfl growth across portfolio

    2019-11-18T08:45:00Z

    Azzurri Group has reported a group sales increase of 7% for the year ended 30 June 2019, to £299.4m, with like-for-like sales growth seen across its four brands.

  • 191014 TRG F&Bs Pepperoni Romana_55
    News

    Getting a taste for New Product Development

    2019-10-31T08:32:00Z

    Regardless of their industry, innovation is widely recognised as the lifeblood of organisations. If we focus on new product development (NPD), then MCA’s Menu Tracker analysis for Spring/Summer 2019 shows that it is getting ever more prevalent. Looking at over 8,000 dishes across over 110 operators in the London region, over 600 were flagged as ‘new’ on menus. This equates to 8%, significantly higher than the 4% and 6% seen in previous years.

  • Nandos restaurant
    News

    Branded restaurant market – green shoots of recovery?

    2019-10-10T07:03:00Z

    Turning tables is a long-established practice in the restaurant market, albeit perhaps one more commonly associated with times of more buoyant trading than those currently prevailing. Highlighting just how fast the fortune tables can turn in this market, I was fascinated by some recent MCA analysis looking at physical growth by branded restaurant chains across different portfolio sizes. This year, the estate bracket sub-category that is anticipated to add the most net new sites will be ‘small’ operators. 

  • Roger Whiteside, chief executive, Greggs
    News

    Greggs tops Brand Health index

    2019-09-17T07:28:00Z

    Greggs has been named the number eating out brand in YouGov’s Brand Health Index.

  • Foodprint header
    News

    Sustainable Restaurant Association backs climate-friendly foods

    2019-07-24T07:16:00Z

    The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) has launched a new initiative called Foodprint to help restaurants and foodservice companies to use more eco-friendly ingredients.