San Carlo to open in Beirut
ITALIAN restaurant chain San Carlo is opening one of its Signor Sassi branded outlets in Beirut.
The 150-seat restaurant, due to open in April, will be next door to a Four Seasons hotel at a new marina complex in the Lebanese capital.
The move is part of a deal San Carlo has struck with the Kuwait-based Americana Group to open 22 Signor Sassi restaurants under a franchise agreement.
Two have already opened in Kuwait and other branches are planned for Dubai and Cairo. San Carlo is also hoping to open in Bangkok, Thailand, with a new franchise partner.
The group’s founder Carlo Di Stefano, in Manchester to oversee the newly-launched bar and tapas-style restaurant San Carlo Cicchetti, said the company is closely involved with the franchised restaurants. It recruits and trains the kitchen staff and head waiter and checks each restaurant four times a year.
The £22m turnover business, launched in Birmingham by Mr Di Stefano in 1992, now has six UK restaurants including one off Deansgate in Manchester and another in Liverpool which opened a year ago.
Mr Di Stefano said the UK’s wider economic problems have not had an impact on the business which caters for around 4,500 diners in Manchester every week.
He said: “Liverpool is also very busy, it’s gone very, very well and Manchester is booming. You have to be honest with yourself and give people what you would want to eat, and be prepared to pay for.
“We try not to be too commerical with things like portion control. In each restaurant we let the chefs express themselves.”
San Carlo Cicchetti, which takes its name from the small plate dishes typically served in cicchetti bars in Venice, could be the next part of the business to expand. Mr Di Stefano said he would monitor the progress of the Manchester eatery, opposite the San Carlo restaurant on King Street West, over the next 12 months before launching elsewhere.
