Activities

Carluccio’s Caffés is a rapidly-expanding chain of informal Italian cafés that are combined with a deli and an authentic alimentary food shop (or old-fashioned grocer) selling branded packaged and fresh produce imported from regional Italy.

The chain, which is concentrated in London and the South East, is the brainchild of Antonio and Priscilla Carluccio. Italian-born Antonio is a prolific TV chef and author and the chef-patron of the fine-dining Neal Street Restaurant in London’s Covent Garden, which he has run since 1981.

The café chain can trace its origins back to 1991 when Antonio and Priscilla (the sister of Sir Terence Conran) opened the Carluccio’s food shop and deli next door to the Neal Street restaurant and added a wholesale arm three years later.

Originally, the group was 50% owned by Antonio and Priscilla, along with three former directors of the My Kinda Town restaurant group – managing director Simon Kossoff and non-executive directors Peter Webber and Stephen Ghee. Antonio wrote the menus and trained the chefs while Priscilla and Kossoff ran the café business.

Following its flotation on the Alternative Investment Market in December 2005, the directors retained a 21.7% stake in the group. Antonio and Priscilla stayed on as part-time consultants.

Timeline

• 1991: Priscilla and Antonio found Carluccio’s shop and deli next door to the Neal Street Restaurant in London’s Covent Garden. It specialises in regional Italian food and fungi.
• 1994: Priscilla sets up the Carluccio’s wholesale arm that grows to supply more than 150 independent delis with Carluccio-branded regional foods from Italy. However, in April 2003, supply is limited to Carluccio’s cafés, The Conran Shop and David Jones in Australia.
• 1998: Priscilla designs the concept for Carluccio’s deli cafés, sets up the management team and raises £2m to fund the first three outlets.
• November 1999: The first Carluccio’s Caffé opens in Market Place, London W1. 
• November: 2000: A second café opens in New Bond Street, London.
• 2001: The group opens three more cafés in London (St Christopher’s Place and Canary Wharf) and Surrey (Kingston upon Thames).
• 2002: Four more branches open in London (West Smithfield and Ealing), Kent (Bluewater) and Hertfordshire (St Albans).
• 2003: In March, Antonio sets up a cookery school with Westminster Kingsway College to train chefs across the chain in Italian cooking. Four new cafés open in London (Brent Cross and Islington, which includes a training kitchen) Kent (Tunbridge Wells) and Oxon (Bicester).
• 2004: Five cafés are added in London (Fulham, Putney, Hampstead, and South Kensington) and Berkshire (Windsor).
• 2005: The group opens its 19th outlet in St Johns Wood, London, with a 20th due to open in Esher, Surrey, in August. In December, the group raises £10m when it floats on the Alternative Investment Market at 94.5p per share, giving a market value of £53.6m. The Carluccio's stay on as part-time consultants.

Financial snapshot

Full year

Turnover: £36.8m (2004:  £24.8m) 
Pre-tax profit: £3.5m (2004:  £3.1m)

Full year end: September 2005

Operating data

In-café shops account for 22% of turnover

Total number of outlets: 24

Carluccio’s food shops: Neal Street, Covent Garden, London

Number of café-delis: 23, in London (Brent Cross, Canary Wharf, Ealing, Fulham, Hampstead, Islington, Market Place, New Bond Street, Putney, South Kensington, St Christoper’s Place, St Johns Wood, Westbourne Corner, West Smithfield), Berkshire (Reading, Windsor), Hertfordshire (St Albans), Kent (Bluewater, Tunbridge Wells), Oxon (Bicester Village, Oxford), and Surrey (Esher, Kingston-upon-Thames),

Number of staff: more than 900

Strategy

“At Carluccio’s we are looking forward to a sustained growth of five or six caffé openings per year, located largely in the South East area.”

Source: managing director Simon Kossoff, 23 June 2005

Key directors

Chairman: Stephen Gee
Managing director: Simon Kossoff
Finance director: Frank Bandura
Operations director: Sarah Murray
Development director: Alison Stanton
Human resources and training director: Aileen Moodie
Company head chef: Jennifer McLaughlin
Consultant, food:  Antonio Carluccio
Consultant, design and marketing: Priscilla Carluccio

Contact

12 Great Portland Street
London
Greater London
W1W 8QN

Tel: 020 7580 3050
Fax: 020 7580 3070

E-mail: theoffice@carluccios.com
Website: http://www.carluccios.com

Commentary

Priscilla, who gained extensive experience at the Conran group in buying and marketing food and other products, was managing director of the Carluccio’s food shop when she detected a gap in the market for a chain of restaurants with adjacent shops. Before, such hybrid animals existed as isolated individuals.

The concept has taken off like a rocket and Carluccio’s was named the UK’s fastest-growing hospitality business in the Sunday Times Fast Track 2004, which placed it 48th in the overall rankings.

The cafés trade all through the day and have moved into a profit within a month of opening. Their high turnover – the chain has achieved annual sales growth of 90.39% - allows the group to target higher-rated premises that are too expensive for its rivals.