Overall ranking: 82 (39)
Restaurateurs ranking: 23 (9)
Adam and Sam Kaye - Snapshot
Adam and Sam Kaye are the brothers behind the pan-Asian Tasty restaurant group, which currently owns four Oriental-style restaurants under the Dim T name which will grow by at least eight more venues over the next 18 months. Sam is executive director and Adam non-executive director.
The Kayes came to prominence as the founders of Ask Central (a name based on their initials) which was a highly successful mid-market chain of pizza and pasta restaurants operating under the Ask and Zizzi brands. The restaurants are now owned by Gondola Holdings.
Adam and Sam Kaye - Career guide
Adam and Sam, now in their 30s, are the sons of Garfunkel’s founder Phillip Kaye, whose status as the godfather of casual dining in the UK won him a Special Award in last year’s Cateys. His backing contributed to the success both of Ask and the Prezzo pizza group founded by his nephew, Jonathan Kaye.
Having identified a gap at the quality end of the pizza and pasta market, the Kaye brothers opened their first Ask restaurant in London’s Belsize Park in 1993 to instant success and floated on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in September 1995 at 35p per share. They launched the more upmarket, Tuscan-style Zizzi brand in 2000, followed by the first of three Jo Schmo’s US diner-style grill restaurants in 2003.
A friendly £168m takeover bid from Garfunkel’s owner City Centre Restaurants (now The Restaurant Group) was superseded in January 2004 by a £213m offer from the venture capital firms that bought larger rival PizzaExpress the year before.
The Kayes served for a while as directors of Ask under the new owners. However, they had already taken their first steps towards their new venture in August 2003, when they bought the Dim T restaurant in Hampstead which had been created in 1993.
Adam and Sam Kaye - What we think
Ask’s phenomenal growth and success won the Kaye brothers numerous accolades, including Company of the Year in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers 1998 AIM awards and the Group Restaurateur of the Year Catey in 1999. By that time, the then 53-strong chain had established itself as a key player in the UK pizza market in just six years.
Having successfully exploited one niche market and sold on the 150-plus chain, the brothers believe a more adventurous public is now ready for an alternative ethnic offering.
After opening new Dim T’s in Highgate and Charlotte Street in London, the Kayes floated on AIM in July 2006 at 52p per share, which valued the company at £11.75m.
The flotation raised £1.75m that will be used to fund the expansion of the group and build a central kitchen facility. The Kayes installed Jonny Plant (who has worked with Wagamama and leading oriental restaurateur Alan Yau) as chief executive.
In the same month, they opened a fourth branch in Tunbridge Wells – their first outside London – and announced plans to open further branches this year in Gloucester Road, Kensington, and Loughton in Essex.
At least six more sites will follow over the next 18 months and are likely to include venues in Nottingham and South London. The Kayes intend to assess the brand for a national roll-out once seven units are up and running.
The new company is already financially successful. In the year to December 2005, the group turned over £2.02m and achieved a gross profit of £950,000 and an operating profit of £110,000.
Adam and Sam Kaye – Further information
Tasty releases on Investegate
Tasty profile on Google Finance
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