Record festive trading boosts sales for owner of US-inspired restaurants
A RECORD Christmas trading period has boosted sales at restaurant and bar group East Coast Concepts, which owns Neighbourhood and Victor’s.
Like-for-like sales for the group were up 10 per cent in the six weeks ending 7 January 2018, while overall sales increased 48 per cent over the period. Revenues for the group in the year to December 2017 reached £10m – up from £6.3m the previous year.
East Coast Concepts was established by entrepreneur James Hitchen, who took inspiration from New York’s dining district. Hitchen launched the group’s flagship Neighbourhood in Manchester’s Spinningfields in 2012 and has since added sites in Leeds and Liverpool.
The company also runs Victor’s, an elegant and contemporary Hamptons-inspired dining concept, which launched in Hale in Greater Manchester, in 2014 and has a second site opening in May 2018 in Oxford.
East Coast Concepts, which employs over 300 staff across four sites, was backed by NorthEdge Capital in June 2016 to support its roll-out across the UK. The private equity firm has provided additional funding to accelerate the expansion plans in 2018 as the Group actively looks for new locations for both brands.
James Hitchen, chief executive of East Coast Concepts, said: “It is testament to both the strength of our proposition and the hard work of our people that the whole group has traded so well through the competitive Christmas period. In Neighbourhood and Victor’s, we have two unique concepts which have continued to focus on innovation and delivering the best possible experience to our customers.
“We have a world class team that is incredibly creative.”