Vapiano heading for Corn Exchange

ITALIAN restaurant group Vapiano is opening its only eatery outside London in Manchester.

The £2m Vapiano Manchester will employ 90 staff for its 400-cover restaurant and it will be the biggest Vapiano restaurant in the UK.
 
Vapiano, which boasts 152 restaurants across 29 countries, including three in London, will join the Cosy Club, Pho and Wahaca at the newly redeveloped £30m Corn Exchange later this summer.

Designed by Felix Fingernagle Ross, the designer behind Vapiano’s Soho venue, the restaurant will sit over two floors with an indoor terrace in the heart of the iconic Grade II listed building plus an outside seating area looking out on to Exchange Square.

It will also feature a 100-year-old olive tree and fresh live herbs on the tables.

The concept of Vapiano is self-service using a smart-card payment system, with guests experiencing face-to-face interactions with chefs.

Diners order pasta, pizzas, antipasti and salads directly from the chefs at individual food stations by ‘tapping’ their smart cards on a machine at each station within the restaurant and paying at the front desk when leaving.

Phil Sermon, Vapiano UK managing director, said: “We are delighted to be launching in one of the most vibrant cities in Europe and in such a fantastic, historical development as the Corn Exchange.

“Vapiano Manchester has been designed to offer a guest a relaxed yet vibrant atmosphere and to ensure we offer our guests great freshly made pasta, pizza and salads created to the guests personal taste.”