Andy Ruhan set to buy Orb's Thistle hotels
Orb Estates is believed to be on the verge of selling its 37 Thistle-branded hotels to property entrepreneur Andy Ruhan in a £652m deal that would involve Ruhan settling some of Orb's debts.
Orb bought the hotels, which include six London properties, from Thistle in April 2002 for £598.6m and agreed 30-year management contracts with Thistle for the largely provincial properties.
Among the debts Ruhan is expected to take on are a disputed £15m payment to Thistle claimed to be outstanding from the sale, plus a further £45m in two years.
Orb was unavailable for comment as Caterer went to press.
Mauro is top choice with European Cup finalists
Manchester chef Enzo Mauro was this week given the honour of cooking for Italian football team AC Milan, who last night played in the European Cup final at Old Trafford.
Mauro, who is head chef of Italian restaurant Stock in the city, was requested by both AC Milan and Juventus to be their team chef for the week, but he chose AC Milan because he has cooked for Juventus before.
"It's a very strict menu," he said. "You can't use any spices or any onions - nothing that will upset the digestion."
Permits for non-Europeans will ease skills shortage
Work permits for up to 10,000 new foreign workers will be available to UK hospitality employers from 30 May.
The new permits will be available to employers who can show that they have been unable to fill low-skill vacancies from within Europe. Permits will be granted to non-EU immigrants aged 18-30 and will remain in effect for one year only.