Scotland gets taste of Yauatcha chain

As part of the plans, Niall Howard, chief executive of high-end Cantonese restaurant group Hakkasan, is searching for a suitable site in Edinburgh to open an outlet of sister chain Yauatcha within the next two years.

Howard, a former director of Royal Bank of Scotland, took over the running of the Hakkasan group after the restaurant's founder, mercurial chef Alan Yau, left in 2009.

Famous for founding the stylish fast food noodle bar chain, Wagamama, Yau sold his troubled Hakkasan restaurant business to Tasameem, the property arm of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for 30m.

The firm is controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan, who is also the owner of Manchester City Football Club.

Howard, who two years ago was running his own consultancy business, Clearwater, was approached to advise the restaurant's owners but to his surprise was then offered the chief executive's job. Having no previous experience of owning or running a restaurant, he initially declined the offer.

"I said no," said Howard. "It is not my background and I live in Edinburgh. The short version is they don't take no for an answer. But I went down to see what I could do to turn it around and I'm still there and loving it."

When he joined, the restaurant business was making a 2.4m loss, which extended to 6.4m in 2009. Following a series of changes which saw Howard shut down a "disastrous" outlet of Hakkasan in Istanbul, the firm's latest accounts show the company has now returned to profit.

"I'm proud to say we have just filed our accounts and made a profit of 700,000," said Howard.

He said he was a "huge admirer" of his predecessor, Yau but that his leadership style was "autocratic". "He's more a creator than a business person. It (Hakkasan] just needed someone to be a bit more commercial," he said.

This week the firm will open its second Hakkasan outlet in London, in the well-heeled area of Mayfair. Howard said the new restaurant will improve on the "poor location" of the original Hakkasan in Fitzrovia.

"It (the location] has worked to its advantage because it is a destination, but it does put people off," said Howard.

"I feel there is a whole new market in London, from Kensington and Chelsea, that will go to Mayfair that don't go to the original place."

Following the opening of Hakkasan restaurants in Miami and Abu Dhabi, Howard has plans for at least six more outlets. The group has sites in Dubai, Las Vegas and New York while Howard also plans to target Paris, Los Angeles. Perhaps contentiously, he aims to "bring coals to Newcastle" by opening a branch of the Cantonese restaurant in Shanghai.Howard expects the 15m turnover company will be grossing 50m by the end of next year while he has similar plans to expand the Yauatcha format as well. Although the sole Yauatcha restaurant in London is also Michelin-starred, it is less expensive than Hakkasan which makes it more suitable for Edinburgh, he said.

"Yauatcha can be regionalised, whereas Hakkasan can't - the spend is too high. The thing about Hakkasan is it only works in megacities."

Although Howard's varied CV does not include running a restaurant, one of his first jobs was in the kitchen of a German hotel. Other roles for the 55-year-old chartered accountant include 15 years as an oil executive and ten years with RBS.

"My first full-time job was training to become a demi chef de rang in Baden-Baden," said Howard.

"Little did I know that I would be privileged to be leading such a prestigious restaurant brand after such a long and successful career mainly in the corporate world."