An embryonic restaurant concept has bought a second site in London in what it predicts could be the start of a wider expansion in the capital and elsewhere.
Charles Jackson Chef, which claims to provide restaurant-quality dishes that customers can either eat in, take home to cook or take away already cooked, has been operating out of a shop on Goodge Street for the past 15 months.
It has now bought an 800sq ft former Bagelmania site in New Row, Covent Garden, for an undisclosed sum through agent Davis Coffer Lyons. The new outlet is expected to open early in January, said owner Rick Butcher.
Should this prove successful, the plan is to open up to 30 sites by the end of 2006 at a cost of about £200,000 a unit, Butcher added.
“We are going to run with the New Row site for a couple of months and see what happens from there.
"If we had between 25 and 30 sites by the end of 2006 I would be happy,” he told Caterer-online.
Butcher, who used to run beverage company Balmoral Scanomat before selling up five years ago, has so far invested some £750,000 into the business.
The company operates out of kitchens in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, making Birmingham another possible target, said Butcher.
by Nic Paton
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