D’Acampo’s restaurant to shut after just 2 years
Italian city centre venture will be rebranded along with others
CELEBRITY chef Gino D’Acampo’s Birmingham restaurant is to close just two years after opening in the city centre.
The Italian restaurant, in Temple Row, is to be replaced with a new venture from the group which owns the chef’s branded restaurants.
The restaurant is one of five of D’Acampo’s ‘My Restaurants’ owned by The Individual Restaurant Group which will close on January 27.
It will be rebranded to become new Italian restaurant Riva Blu instead.
The other D’Acampo branches to be replaced are in Manchester’s Corn Exchange, Castle Street in Liverpool, and Park Row in Leeds.
All will become Riva Blu restaurants, with the existing teams left in place.
It comes after D’Acampo took to Twitter earlier this month to reassure fans after rumours spread his chain was in trouble.
The move follows D’Acampo’s closure of his three My Pasta Bar casual diners in London. The chain, which was set up a decade ago, went bust owing millions to 49 creditors.
At the time D’Acampo said: “The pasta bar business has got nothing to do with my restaurant business, my import business or any other business that I do.
“It’s a standalone business, it’s gone into liquidation, we have to move on. This is what business is all about, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
“Now let’s talk about the restaurant business, which is growing really, really well.
“So much so that this year alone, I am going to be opening three megasized restaurants and one I am going to be opening in Italy.”
The star chef recently opened
‘upmarket’ Italian restaurant brand Luciano in Cheshire.
The Individual Restaurant Group currently runs three restaurants in Birmingham: Gino D’Acampo My Restaurant, Piccolino, which has a
site in Brindleyplace, and The Restaurant & Grill, which operates Bank, also in Brindleyplace.
The group reportedly faced huge losses at the start of the first lockdown.
After going into administration it was bailed out by Iceland bosses Sir Malcolm Walker and Tarsem Dhaliwal in November 2020.
A spokesperson for Individual Restaurants said: “Gino Worldwide Restaurants has always had Sir Malcolm Walker and Tarsem Dhaliwal as shareholders where they have enjoyed a successful partnership with Gino for several years.
“However, the time has come for both parties to explore new ventures. 2022 is a new year with a new vision.”
In a statement to the Post, Karen Forrester – chief executive of Individual Restaurant Company added: “We are extremely excited to introduce Riva Blu restaurants.
“Riva Blu continues to deliver authentic Italian food and experience with all our existing teams at the helm and we look forward to welcoming both existing and new guests.”
D’Acampo opened his Birmingham venue in a whirlwind of publicity in October 2019.
The restaurant boasted a 25-metre cocktail bar, deli, private dining area and open kitchen.
In an email sent to members of Individual Restaurant’s loyalty scheme, Club Individual, it states that “any bookings, gift card and Club Individual usage or points are unaffected by the change”.