UK

According to a story by the Australian Financial Review, Sydney-based private equity firm Allegro Funds is in “advanced talks” to purchase the Eagle Boys brand from the company’s voluntary administrators SV Partners, and to buy the Pizza Hut Australian business from parent company YUM! Brands.

GBK Temple Bar, the first restaurant completed in Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s €3.5 million refurbishment plan, will reopen in Dublin this Monday, 15th August.

Hermes Investment Management announced that casual dining brand, ASK Italian, will be launching a new restaurant at centre:mk in the autumn. Located on Eagle Walk and adjacent to Middleton Hall, ASK Italian will feature a 160 cover restaurant comprising 4,187 sq ft of dining space over two floors. The new restaurant adds to the 30 food and beverage providers at centre:mk, equating to over 1,400 covers. Ed Sellick, on behalf of centre:mk’s joint owners, Hermes Investment Management and AustralianSuper, said: “ASK Italian’s decision to select centre:mk as part of its expansion plan reflects the strength of the centre’s reputation as one of the leading retail and leisure destinations in the UK. The popular concept appeals to all ages and is perfect for daytime and evening trade. Our visitors will enjoy this new dining offer and Middleton Hall is a perfect showcase – providing the sense of entertainment whilst dining.” “ASK Italian will complement and enhance our already strong food offer, cementing our position as the destination of choice for premier leisure and retail experiences in the South East.” Harry Heeley, Managing Director at ASK Italian, added: “With its large and affluent catchment, centre:mk is a prime location within the city centre and will benefit from the high footfall and provide a great all-day offer. We cannot wait to launch at centre:mk alongside the premium and international retail brand mix here.” ASK Italian is the latest opening to be announced at centre:mk and joins the premium line up of retail and food specialists, including the recently launched international tea specialist brand T2. CBRE and MMX Retail acted for centre:mk. Lunson Mitchenall represented ASK Italian.  

On behalf of Carluccio’s, Savills, jointly with Kelion Sworn, acquired new retail premises in The Mint Building, South St Andrew Square in Edinburgh from Chris Stewart Group. Due to open in February 2018, this marks the first site in Scotland’s capital city for the Italian restaurant chain.

The pizza company introduced a new innovation to make ordering easier - a bot called ‘Dom’ on Facebook Messenger.

Squirrel, a new all day fast casual concept which will offer a range of healthy and freshly prepared food and drink, has opened its first store in South Kensington.

According to a story by the Metro, Deliveroo drivers staged a strike in central London in a row over pay.

CBRE Global Investors announced that a revolving street food offer launched on Friday 12th August 2016 at Angel Central in Islington, North London.

The juice and smoothie brand launched a new green juice, two new green smoothies and a new Super Greens booster.

According to a report by Local Data Company (LDC), Britain’s shop vacancy marginally increased to 12.4% in July from 12.3% in June. Annually this is down -0.6% from the same period last year (July 2015).

The sandwich chain, together with Pepsi MAX, launched a new Summer of Music campaign across both brands’ social media channels and in Subway stores. Aimed at millennials, the campaign will feature an exclusive online film featuring popular Grime artist Stormzy, and an in-store competition to win over a thousand music tickets.

The healthy Asian food chain reported the financial results in the 12 months to December 2015, according to figures to be released this week to Companies House. Now with 69 shops across the UK including recent openings in Leeds and Kingston, itsu grew revenues by 21.8% in 2015 compared to 20.8% in the previous year.

The brand announced that it has recently opened the doors to a new restaurant in Paris, with another store following at the end of the year.

Here is a summary of the most interesting QSR news stories of the week from around the world.

The company unveiled the new Eatwell containers which serve a multitude of winter warming takeaway choices – from homemade soups and oriental broths, to Latin American inspired mixed bean stews and chilli.

Commercial property agent Lambert Smith Hampton announced that Sports Direct will open a brand new, two-storey superstore at Springhill Shopping Park this August.