According to a new dedicated website for the new format, the company says it is “trying something different and exciting at a handful of our Beefeater restaurants — a brand new look, a tantalising menu and a whole new take on steak”.
Sites in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire; Eureka Park in Ashford, Kent; and Hagley Road, in Birmingham, have so far been upgraded with the new format.
Over the past year, Whitbread has made several moves to strengthen the management team of its c.390-strong pub-restaurant operation as it looks to “flex its muscles” in the sector, including taking on its first food director.
The Brewers Fayre, Beefeater Grill and Table Table operator placed Ronald Lento, who recently stepped down as head of food development at Wagamama, into the role. The division, which is overseen by managing director Paul Flaum, also appointed Michelle Durrant, former head of price and revenue management at Mitchells & Butlers, as its new trading director.
Their appointments come as Whitbread repositions its three core pub-restaurant brands to attract a wider consumer audience.
Flaum told M&C Report that the new recruits, together with chief operating officer Peter Blake and marketing director David Murdin, put the business in a strong position as it looks to bring a “sharper focus” to its offer.