One of the UK’s leading hospitality development companies has signed a master franchise agreement with the ‘godfather of modern cooking’, Marco Pierre White.
50 restaurants in 5 years
Sanguine Hospitality will now oversee the roll out of the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill and Marco’s New York Italian concepts across the UK with plans to open 50 new franchised restaurants within five years.
Heading this new venture is Nick Taplin, managing director at Sanguine Hospitality who has been instrumental in establishing the already successful and popular steakhouse and Italian concepts at a number of destinations including Cadbury House in North Somerset, The Cube in Birmingham and more recently at Exeter Airport.
The first restaurant signed under the new master franchise agreement will be located in the heart of Manchester and will be a combined Indigo Hotel and Marco’s New York Italian restaurant. Due to open at the end of 2015 the restaurant will be on Corporation Street with direct links to the City of Manchester Stadium and within walking distance of the Phones 4 U Arena, Arndale Centre, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.
Contracts for four venues are in advanced stages of negotiation in London, Cambridge, Stratford and Glasgow and a further five venues are already earmarked to take on the brand including The Barbican Centre, London and Cardiff city centre.
Partnership agreements
With Marco Pierre White as a stakeholder, Nick and his team have formed New York Italian Ltd and are now looking to establish partnership agreements with other quality hotel and independent venues that want to drive footfall and custom to their business, utilising UK buying power while benefitting from the association with Marco Pierre White and the exposure it brings.
Nick Taplin said:
“We have had great success with our own seven restaurants and are opening in Sheffield at the end of March. We are looking forward to expanding both franchises. Some of the steakhouses have been in operation for a number of years and have proved extremely successful, while the New York Italian concept is a slightly newer idea.
Opening restaurants within hotels
“The move has been made following extensive market research and analysis to create both concepts to ensure we deliver the food, service and experience that people want. What we found is that, generally, people who stay in hotels do not necessarily eat in the hotel restaurant. A key focus is to therefore open restaurants in city centre locations within hotels with existing restaurants that do not trade well or profitably.
“A venue that has the provenance of Marco Pierre White will not only attract residents to dine in-house but also attract non-resident customers to visit. The Marco Pierre White name gives us a great platform for launch as it is synonymous across the world for good quality food. We know that with the current establishments the name alone pulls people through the door.
“Marco will ensure the food is top class and the team will ensure the rest of the experience works for diners. We believe the package will raise awareness and deliver footfall.
“Operationally, each venue has also needed to perform, attaining and maintaining the exacting standards of Marco while building its own reputation for meals that are good quality and excellent value for money. All of the restaurants stand behind Marco’s philosophy of ‘affordable glamour’.”
For more information on Sanguine Hospitality click here