Restaurant boss £1m perk

THE new boss of The restaurant Group, owner of Frankie & Benny’s, is set to pocket up to £1m of shares under a bonus scheme.

Andy McCue, 41, took over as chief executive last month after former head Danny Breithaupt was ousted following a string of profit warnings.

He will pick up 282,675 shares in three years under a long-term incentive plan if performance conditions are met – worth just over £1m at today’s prices. This will be on top of a basic salary, annual bonuses, benefits and a pension.

Full details of McCue’s pay have not yet been released but his predecessor picked up £1.1m last year. stock market filings also reveal that McCue spent £178,350 on 50,000 shares in the firm earlier this week.

Chairman Debbie Hewitt bought 7,012 shares for £24,859, meaning her total holding is worth around £136,600. And new finance boss Barry Nightingale spent £49,632 on 13,617 shares, his only holding in the group.

McCue, a father of one, the former chief executive of betting giant Paddy Power, has taken on a difficult turnaround job, with the business’s brands facing stiff competition in Britain’s cutthroat leisure trade.

The firm – which also operates the Chiquito and Garfunkel’s chains – has been battling increased rivalry from pubs and branded restaurant chains.

Bosses are set to shut or sell 33 underperforming sites.

The company made £36.6m of profits in the first half of this year, 3.7pc down on the same period in 2015. shares are down 44pc since the start of the year. Yesterday, they rose 8.8pc, or 31.2p, to 384.6p.