Richoux moves into profit after seven site openings

Casual-dining firm Richoux group has moved into the black with a £505,000 pre-tax profit in a year which saw the firm open seven new restaurants.

The company also saw a 16% rise in its turnover, to £5.84m, for the year to 26 December 2010. The company made a pre-tax loss of £1.5m in the previous year.

Richoux now operates 13 restaurants under the Richoux, Zippers and Dean's Diner (formerly Frankie's Easy Diner) brands.

The firm's four Richoux restaurants, all located in central London, traded "in line with expectations", while the Knightsbridge site was refurbished as part of a £3.32m capital expenditure programme.

Meanwhile, the company opened three Zippers restaurants in Andover (Hampshire), Barnet (London) and Bexhill-on-Sea (East Sussex) to add to the original site in Chatham (Kent).

Dean's Diner, the first of which was also opened in Chatham, has grown to five sites after restaurants were added in Basingstoke (Hampshire), Basildon (Essex), and Slough (Berkshire). A site in High Wycombe (Buckinghamshire) opened also under the format after an existing site was rebranded. Two more sites in Port Solent (Portsmouth, Hampshire) and Braintree (Essex) are expected to open in June and October respectively.

Philip Shotter, chairman of Richoux Group, said: "The core Richoux business remains profitable and continues to trade in line with expectations. The company has undergone relatively significant expansion during the year, opening seven new restaurants and rebranding an existing site under its Zippers and Dean's Diner concepts. A measured development of both concepts is envisaged to further assess their suitability for wider roll-out."

Richoux Group raises £2m to fund expansion >>

Richoux Group to develop Zippers and Frankie's Easy Diner concepts >>

By Neil Gerrard

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