Hush owner Jamie Barber sells Sake No Hana restaurant to Hakkasan
London restaurateur Jamie Barber (pictured), owner of Hush, has sold Japanese fine-dining restaurant Sake No Hana to Hakkasan Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
The sale of the St James restaurant is the latest of a number of deals made by Barber in the past six months, including the sale of Villandry and Kitchen Italia.
The deal sees Sake No Hana, which was owned by Barber and Evening Standard chairman Evgeny Lebedev, taken over by Hakkasan, the group originally founded by Alan Yau.
"Sake No Hana was set up with Alan Yau on board as a consultant, so in some way it's come full circle. It has returned to its spiritual home," Barber told Caterersearch.com.
Barber added that following this latest sale he would now concentrate on a number of new projects as well as the expansion of his Hush restaurant and bar brand.
"It's been a terrific six months for me. I made the decision last November to come out of the projects that weren't expanding quickly enough and that demanded too much management time," he added.
"After the refurbishment last July, Hush has been performing fantastically well and its brasserie element is something I can expand."
A former lawyer, Barber first launched Hush in Mayfair in 1999 and gradually expanded his portfolio by adding Villandry in 2005 and Kitchen Italia in 2008.
In May, Barber sold his Villandry business, with sites in central London and Bicester Village shopping centre in Oxfordshire, to Village du Pain founder Philippe Le Roux, who now plans to expand the brand. He has also sold his two Kitchen Italia restaurants in Covent Garden and Westfield London, with the total value of the three deals - including Sake No Hana - thought to be more £12m.
Two Villandry Kitchen sites in Chiswick and Holborn have been rebranded as the French Table by Relish Restaurants, who previously operated the sites under a license deal with Barber.
Jamie Barber - My Life in Hospitality >>
Relish Restaurants launches new restaurant brand the French Kitchen >>
Villandry taken over by Village du Pain founder >>
By Kerstin Kühn
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