Italian restaurant chain Carluccio’s has placed its Oxford branch on the market, despite the company seeing an unexpected 8% rise in turnover for the financial year.
The group, which expects to post a pre-tax profit ahead of expectations, also has plans to put one other as-yet-unspecified branch up for sale, according to managing director Simon Kossoff.
Speaking to Caterersearch, Kossoff said: “Oxford is one of our least good performers. We said in our trading report that we were making provisions against two branches and Oxford is one of them. We were obliged to make a write-off because stores weren’t performing well enough to make a return and it’s best we face up to that and move on.
He added that Carluccio’s Caffés trade best in the daytime and the Oxford Castle Complex was very destinational. “I think a branch would work very well elsewhere in Oxford as we have proven to be very successful in university towns,” he admitted.
The Oxford restaurant, which opened in 2005, is located in the Oxford Castle Complex, which also plays home to the town’s former prison; now a Malmaison hotel.
No details have yet been released as to the identity of the other branch set to be placed on the market.
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By Tom Vaughan
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