Compass Group officially unveils new fine dining brand

Caterer Compass Group has today officially unveiled its streamlined fine-dining identity that brings its many interests together as Restaurant Associates (RA), as reported in Caterer last week.

The decision by RA managing director Jason Leek, who was appointed to shake-up fine dining at Compass last autumn, will see the phasing out of the Baxter & Platts and Everson Hewett fine-dining brands.

In their place will be four operating divisions: RA Dining will handle employee feeding and public restaurant catering RA Hospitality will look after executive dining (and will include Roux Dining) RA Business Services will handle "soft services" such as reception and help-desk functions and RA Hotels will continue to look for opportunities such as the recent tie-up with Gary Rhodes for Rhodes W1 at the Cumberland hotel in London.

Leek is particularly keen to grow RA's share of the business management market and hotel food & beverage (F&B), which, he says, affords the greatest growth opportunity and complements the business as a whole.

He said: “I am delighted to be introducing the brand that will take our business forward. It defines our culinary excellence and the unique, bespoke service of which we are extremely proud of.”

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By Chris Druce

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