Restaurant chain has tasty growth on the menu

The owner of Chiquito and Frankie & Benny’s has put a further 30 restaurants on the menu for next year after seeing sales buck the economic gloom.

Restaurant Group, which also owns the Garfunkel’s brand, said November trading had started well and that like-for-like sales were 2.75 per cent higher in the 44 weeks to 6 November – similar to the rate seen in early September.

Many of the group’s 390 sites are at airports or at out-of-town retail parks, which have benefited from higher footfall in recent months, helping it defy the squeeze on the high street.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It will open up to ten more sites by the end of 2011 on top of the 16 it has already opened this year, and said yesterday that it expects to open between 25 and 30 restaurants in 2012.

The group said the performance of its new restaurants had been “excellent” and that it expects to meet its targets for the full year. Analysts said its sites at leisure parks benefited from a rise in cinema attendance.