Viva Brazil boss hungry for growth
LEISURE entrepreneur Andy Aldrich is hungry for more after the “fantastic” early success of his first Viva Brazil restaurant.
Despite some of the most difficult trading conditions ever seen in the leisure sector, the first Viva Brazil on Castle Street in Liverpool, has done so well in its first year of trading that Aldrich is opening a second site in Glasgow next month.
The Manchester-born former chef, whose interests also include Beluga Restaurant in Manchester and champagne bars in House of Fraser department stores in London, Glasgow and Manchester, is now looking for more sites for Viva Brazil in Birmingham and Leeds.
He told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I have been delighted by the response to Viva Brazil, which has done unbelievably well since it opened. We’ll do around £2.3m turnover this year.
“Glasgow opens next month after a £1.5m refurbishment of a former Post Office building on Bothwell Street in the heart of the city’s restaurant quarter.
I have high hopes that it will do well – it is nearly twice the size of Liverpool with 237 covers compared to 120.”
The 35-year-old who has two partners in the Viva Brazil business – one is Warrington-based construction group Willian UK – which is undertakes all the building work, and the other is a North West-based high-net worth investor.
“We’re alive to opportunities and I’ve been in Birmingham and Leeds in the last few weeks to look at sites, and Newcastle is also on the hit-list. Ideally I’d like to get to four or five sites in the next few years.”
He says the Brazilian theme has caught the public imagination: “It’s a fresh concept – in these tough times consumers are really wary of when and where they are going to spend their money.”
He said trade was hit by last month’s looting in Manchester and some parts of Liverpool.
“We’re in tough times anyway, so the trouble, particularly in Manchester, made things worse. It wasn’t good for business or our reputation overseas.”
Aldrich, who also co-founded Bem Brasil – a separate Brazilian steak-themed restaurant which has two Manchester sites and another in Liverpool, will have to wait to bring Viva to his home city.
Under the terms of his exit from Bem Brasil he was prevented from opening another restaurant within three miles from Manchester Town Hall for two years.
