News

New dining concepts at Hilton London Heathrow Airport

Following a £3million refurbishment, Hilton London Heathrow Airport has launched three new dining outlets for guests and visitors. The three outlets, the OXBO experience at the OXBO Café, OXBO Kitchen and OXBO Bar will offer a wide range of food and drink options to guests throughout the day and night.

With an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients and inspired by nature and “agricultural heritage”, the dining spaces have been designed to celebrate the hotel’s location but also be multi-functional for travellers at any time of day.

The three outlets will each have their own distinctive food off ering, including a range of dishes suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

OXBO Café will off er both dine-in and take away options in an informal setting with menu items such as pastries, salads, tray bakes and breakfast goods.

OXBO Kitchen will feature a buff et breakfast, followed by an a la carte menu during the day which includes a “feasting” menu that is designed to be shared.

OXBO Bar will off er drinks and casual dining options with a range of unique signature drinks and cocktails.

As part of the nature ethos the new outlets are following, guests will be given a plantable seed card with their bill, which they can take home and grow.

Spotlight on Portman Marylebone

As hospitality venues are reopening after lockdown, The Portman Estate is welcoming multiple British and international food and drink operators to Portman Marylebone over the coming months.

Roketsu, KOL, Chourangi, and Nobu Hotel London Portman Square add to the strong mix of pioneering independent brands and luxury boutique hotels that can be discovered across the 110 acre central London estate.

Adding to the impressive line-up of independent operators is Japanese restaurant, Roketsu, which is set to launch soon. As one of very few Kaiseki masters globally, and a protégée of seven-Michelin-starred chef Yoshihiro Murata, Chef and owner Daisuke Hayashi, will be the fi rst to bring this form of dining to London in a permanent space, following his residency for the concept at Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair. Daisuke Hayashi, said, “When this site on New Quebec Street came to our attention we knew it was the perfect opportunity to bring our traditional Japanese Kaiseki concept to life. The space, designed expertly by the Nakamura family business, provides the ultimate authentic dining environment for patrons.”

Chourangi, is set to open this summer on the Estate’s newly redeveloped pedestrian focused space on Old Quebec Street by Marble Arch. The restaurant will serve traditional Bengali dishes and showcase the little-known delights of East-Indian cuisine.

The Nobu Hotel London Portman Square is due to open this spring and features a signature Nobu Restaurant & Bar, a year-round outdoor terrace and other features alongside its 249 rooms.

Mexican chef Santiago Lastro opened the doors to his new restaurant, KOL, back in Autumn 2020. The restaurant boasts a ground fl oor restaurant, chefs table.

Philip Norris, Director – Commercial Asset Management at The Portman Estate, said, “We are continuing our commitment to support our growing community of independent retailers and restaurant operators across Portman Marylebone. Over the last decade we have actively encouraged growth across our streets – and we are pleased to welcome such exciting new additions to the area which will further enhance our neighbourhood’s exceptional culinary off ering.”

New MD for Burgess & Leigh

Jim Norman has been promoted to Managing Director of Burgess & Leigh, the makers of the iconic Burleigh ware and Poole Pottery.

Jim joined the business in 2015 as Marketing Manager & Business Team Leader from Parker Pens, where he worked on re-positioning the brand in UK. Jim was then promoted to Commercial Director at Burgess & Leigh where he grew Burleigh's customer base with both retail and HoReCa customers. Jim’s enthusiasm for sharing Burleigh's stories of design, provenance and authenticity goes hand-inhand with Burleigh's growing signifi cance and desirability around the globe.

New hires join Mikasa hospitality team

Mikasa Hospitality, part of the Lifetime Brands, Inc. family, announced the addition of Mary Agnes Palumbo, Jean Fritsche, and Michael Butler to its food service team. All three new hires are reporting to David Mackrell, president Tabletop/ Food Service, Lifetime Brands, Inc.

Mary Agnes Palumbo is vice president of national accounts for Mikasa Hospitality, while Jean Fritsche joins as vice president of sales, with responsibility for the West Coast and Michael Butler is the new vice president of sales for the East Coast.

The North East’s first ever Hard Rock Cafe® opened its doors at the Quayside’s historic Guildhall in Newcastle in May.

Along with memorabilia from some of the music industry’s biggest names, it features a US-inspired menu, cocktails and even a culinary tribute to its new home city.

Sited across two floors of the Grade I listed building, the restaurant can take up to 180 covers – and a highlight of the menu are the steak burgers for which Hard Rock® is famous, plus a completely unique addition in the form of the black and white Whey Aye Burger, one of the Hard Rock® local legendary burgers which has been designed specifically for the first North East restaurant. The burger comes with Northumberland cheese, Newcastle Brown Ale onion compote, horseradish cream with a spring onion, cheddar cheese and pease pudding beignet – served in a toasted charcoal and sesame seed bun. "Opening Hard Rock Cafe Newcastle during 2021 has been a huge challenge for our partners, and we feel extremely proud to finally be able to announce the opening of this iconic cafe in the beautiful city of Newcastle," said Anibal Fernandez, Vice President of Franchise Operations, Hard Rock International.

Grosvenor growth

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland has announced the arrival of 14 new hospitality, lifestyle, health and beauty and interiors occupiers to Mayfair and Belgravia. The new openings, which will happen over the summer, include the launch of new concepts from British restaurant group The Ivy and Deliciously Ella.

June 2021 will see the opening of boutique dessert shop Crème London, Bibi, a new 35-cover restaurant from Chef Chet Sharma on North Audley Street and Plants by Deliciously Ella, the concept café by Deliciously Ella on Weighhouse Street in Mayfair.

In the same month, Belgravia will welcome plant-based fast food restaurant Neat Burger and Southeast Asian fusion restaurant concept Shan Shui to Buckingham Palace Road. Salad bar Atis will also be bringing its health-focused concept to Belgravia.

In August, The Ivy Asia, the latest concept from The Ivy Collection, will open its doors in Mayfair. With 9,418 sq.ft of space on North Audley Street, the iconic Asian version of the Ivy will build on the success of its St Paul’s location, serving tantalising dishes with a stunning interior design.

Also coming in August to Ebury Street in Belgravia will be The Ganymede the second London location from Lunar Pub Company which will offer modern-European cuisine from Oliver Marlowe.

The new occupiers will follow a series of new openings in Mayfair and Belgravia over the past six months.

UK records hospitality staff shortages

200 Degrees Coffee openings

Nottingham based coffee roaster 200 Degrees opened its latest coffee shop in June, at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet West Midlands in Cannock, Staffordshire. This will be the coffee roaster’s second shop with the McArthurGlen retail outlet group and follows up on the success of the first venue at East Midlands Designer Outlet. The new shop will create 12 new full time and part time jobs and will be housed in a central vintage style kiosk at the outlet, with 200 Degrees’ usual cosy interior seating for 36, plus exterior seating for another 60. It will also feature a dedicated takeaway hatch which will be open at peak times. The company, which was set up in 2012, recently opened its 13th coffee shop in The Hyphen Building in Manchester and is due to open another in York in July.

Utopia website updates

The hospitality industry in the UK is struggling to fill thousands of vacancies according to research by UK Hospitality. The survey found there are thousands of vacancies across all levels in the sector and suggests there is about a 9 per cent vacancy rate, which equates to a shortage of around 188,000 workers.

To deal with the problem, UKHospitality and the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) have joined forces to promote jobs in hospitality.

With hospitality re-opening following 15 months of pandemicrelated disruption, the trade association is keen to demonstrate the wide range of jobs and career options available in the sector to UK workers. To promote the diverse opportunities, UKHospitality will be running sessions in partnership with Jobcentre Plus work coaches in every region of England, as well as across Scotland and Wales this month.

Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, said, “We’re delighted to be working with the Government to restore confidence in a sector which is a stable employer for millions of skilled and unskilled workers across a wide range of diverse roles, and which can play a constructive role in tackling unemployment. Staff at all levels play a crucial role delivering wonderful hospitality at the very heart of their local communities and employers large and small offer high-class training schemes, apprenticeships and career development pathways.

“Prior to Covid, the hospitality industry employed 3.2m people in the UK, making it the third largest private sector employer in the UK. The Government can help to restore confidence in the sector so once again it as seen as a dynamic sector of growth, and a provider of fulfilling careers that will help power the UK’s economic and social recovery.”

Utopia has taken advantage of the lockdowns in the past year to make significant enhancements to its web platform creating a site that is faster and hassle-free to navigate.

It’s easy now to find particular items through the product specific search facility. Alternatively, if you’re looking for inspiration they have broken down the vast range into collections: Utopia protects, new products, barware, cutlery, eco products, food service, glassware, plastic, tableware, themes and Nude, making it straightforward to browse.

The website upgrade also features a special tool, called Utopia Prism, that allows dealers to create their own ‘custom collections’ including quotes, brochures and price lists, either as PDFs or as Excel spreadsheets. Orders and quotes are also much easier to generate as everything can be controlled through a dedicated online account. Dealers now have the tools to publish their own sales material especially geared to their own specific customers.