Monday Profile: David Page - Satisfying customers' appetite for a getting what they know

Unwilling to settle for the cheap and cheerful Pizza Huts or TGI Fridays of this world, Page has turned middle class restaurant-going into a major industry as the brains behind a number of upmarket restaurant chains.

Page began empire building in the food sector when, as a student in 1973, he took a job as a dishwasher in the Wimbledon branch of what was then a little-known restaurant chain: Pizza Express. As his flair for the industry became apparent, Page quickly abandoned plans to become a teacher and was soon promoted to manager of the branch.

Not content to work for someone else, he borrowed money to buy his first Pizza Express franchise and established a portfolio of restaurants called G&F Holdings, which included 14 outlets bought from his former employer. When the original founders of Pizza Express decided to sell the whole business in 1992, Page jumped at the opportunity. As the major Pizza Express franchisee, Page's G&F Holdings was absorbed into the newly acquired Pizza Express company and floated on the stock market in February 1993.

Alongside business partner and former Pizza Express finance director Paul Campbell, Page expanded the brand rapidly, boosting the share price from 20p to a high of 9.40 under his leadership and growing branches from 23 to more than 350.

When the pair decided to sell their pizza empire, they started again, creating the Clapham House Group in 203 and buying out three up-and-coming restaurant chains weeks after agreeing exits from Pizza Express. They floated on the Alternative Investment Market a month later.

Since then Page, who became chairman of Clapham House, has brought to British high streets numerous brands, ranging from the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) to The Real Greek and Tootsies.

The trick of Page's restaurant format is - perhaps ironically, considering his fairly well-heeled target clientele - akin to that of fast food giant McDonald's. Wherever Page's GBK customers are in the UK - whether in Edinburgh's George Street or London's Battersea - they can guarantee their favourite cajun burger will be on the menu, their chunky chips will be the way they like them and they can order a side of smoked chilli mayonnaise.

Similarly, lovers of The Real Greek's souvlaki can pick it up across London, from Hoxton to Covent Garden.

Page seems unfazed by his success, taking a pragmatic attitude to his companies' expansion. When asked to explain why investors backed his Clapham House venture to the tune of 15 million when it floated as a cash shell in October 2003, his answer demonstrates the calm confidence he has in his work.

"We'd done it before," he was quoted as saying.

Page's format has become almost a sub-genre of British restaurant-going.

Brands such as French restaurant group Chez Gerard, Japanese outlets Wagamama and Yo Sushi and Italian chain Carluccio's follow the Clapham House format, with a similar reliable quality at affordable prices.

But the golden Page-Campbell combination has not been without its problems. In December 2007, Clapham House hit the buffers when it issued a profit warning, which Page proclaimed was a "dose of reality to the sector".

And last year, the group was forced to put Tootsies into administration. After a lengthy but fruitless attempt to sell the chain, Clapham House wrote down the value of Tootsies by 24.2m in July, before finally pulling the plug in October. Clapham House is now a two-chain entity, having offloaded its Indian restaurant chain, the Bombay Bicycle Club, a year earlier.

The future of The Real Greek is uncertain and many investors expect a "for sale" sign to be slapped on the brand in the coming year. Page last year hinted that the group was unlikely to continue to run the brand long term. "Will we still own it in two years' time?" Page pondered in an interview. "I'd say that was unlikely."

GBK, on the other hand, looks set to remain firmly in the Clapham House stable with Page proclaiming that he "loves" the brand and plans to grow it to as many as 150 outlets. In May, the group said it was set to raise 2.2m via a share placing to fund GBK's UK and overseas expansion. But the brand's success, which has seen it expand to 51 restaurants in just six years under Page's ownership, ironically came at the detriment of Tootsies, which, while groundbreaking in its day,was left in the shadows by its more modern, trendier sister.

Eleven of the 21 Tootsies outlets were sold to rival London restaurant chain Giraffe, which has since set up a rival to GBK called Guerilla Burgers.

This week investors will learn whether offloading Tootsies has boosted Clapham House's fortunes. Analysts have predicted a return to the black of 1.5m for the company, which made a 26.2m pre-tax loss in the year to 29 March, hit by write-downs from Tootsies' administration.

Page's decision to whittle down the group from four brands to one has made it an attractive prospect for buyers and a number of suitors are understood to be circling Clapham House.

If Page does take the plunge to sell off the firm he has spent seven years building up, it is unlikely we will have seen the last of him. Pizzas, burgers, curries and meze - all done, but there are plenty of world cuisines left for him to get his teeth into.z