David Parkin on the ups and downs of running a business
WELL that didn’t take long.
Two years after the latest Gino D’Acampo-branded restaurant opened in Leeds, the hospitality firm behind it has done a pre-pack administration deal to shed a load of debt.
The Leeds restaurant opened inside the Marriott Hotel off Boar Lane in 2023 with a £1.5m investment and “feature’s” (that is their punctuation, not mine) a marble bar, lounge area, cicchetti bar, deli, 160-seater open plan restaurant, and outdoor terrace.
I’ve never eaten there, but you have to give the celebrity chef behind it 10 out of 10 marks for consistency: his pasta bar chain went into liquidation in 2022 and now the latest venture bearing his name has also gone through an insolvency process.
Upmarket Leisure, which operates five Gino D’Acampo-branded restaurants in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, London and Newcastle and a ‘sky’ bar in Liverpool, has been bought out of administration for £5m.
All 400 jobs at the company have been saved by the deal, according to reports.
Administrators Begbies Traynor would not disclose further details of the buyer when contacted by industry publication The Caterer, but said the business had a turnover of £20m.
My guess would be that the directors of Upmarket Leisure (that’s a misnomer, if ever I heard one) have stuck it into admin, dumped a chunk of debt and then bought it back via another vehicle.
So the positives are that the staff keep their jobs, the restaurants survive to serve another bowl of linguine but it isn’t such good news for the taxman and suppliers, who likely take a financial spanking.
The sale comes after the business was issued a winding up petition by HMRC in March, according to The Sun.
The last available accounts for Upmarket Leisure, for the year to 30 March 2023, show it owed nearly £5.8m to creditors at the time.
No word from chef Gino about this latest set-back to his catering empire, but I do wonder how financially involved he was.
Was the deal just to put his name over the door and make a few personal appearances?
Never a man short on self-confidence, it boasts on the website for the restaurant chain: “Gino is also one of the UK’s most successful restaurateurs with his restaurant empire growing by the day.”
I’m telling you I could be one of the most successful restaurant entrepreneurs in the country if every time my business clocked up a load of bills I didn’t bother paying them and just rolled them all up and chucked them in the wheelie bin outside the back door of the kitchen.
I’ve always been surprised at the popularity of Gino D’Acampo, whose early career in the British hospitality industry wasn’t exactly covered in glory.
He moved to the UK from his native Italy in 1995 aged 19 and worked in restaurants in Hampstead and Guildford.
In 1998 he was convicted of burgling singer Paul Young's London home, and served two years in prison.
How he transformed his fortunes from doing bird to celebrity chef stardom, with his own series on ITV, ranges of supermarket food with Tesco and Asda, chain of restaurants and appearing starkers except for an apron on This Morning, is quite remarkable.
The great British public clearly liked D’Acampo’s combination of cheeky charm and flamboyant cooking style as much as they love Italian food.
Earlier this year D’Acampo was accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour over a 12-year period, which the television chef has “firmly denied”.
D’Acampo’s shows have been removed from the ITV schedules following the accusations against him.
Of course, these are only allegations but it does beg the question of whether having his name on the front of a restaurant is currently a help or a hindrance.
When D’Acampo opened his original restaurant in Leeds it was in partnership with Individual Restaurants – the group behind Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill – and eateries bearing his name quickly followed on Parliament Street in Harrogate and Thorpe Park on the outskirts of Leeds.
They were all modestly titled Gino D’Acampo: My Restaurant.
It was a tried and tested formula: average food, poor service in a restaurant with walls bedecked with black and white photographs of the eponymous chef with his celebrity pals.
I think most diners believed the cheery Gino would be in the kitchen straining his conchiglie (leave it) before it was served by a rather glum, underpaid member of the waiting staff.
To be fair to Gino, at least when he did open his restaurants, he did bring a smattering of celebrity pals to the launch party.
I was once walking through Leeds city centre when I met a rather breathless lady who was in a hurry.
“I can’t stop, I’m off to the VIP launch party for Gino D’Acampo’s restaurant,” she told me.
“Are you going?” she asked.
I said no.
“Oh. They are all going to be there.”
I asked who “they” were.
“Holly and Phil, Peter Andre and everybody.”
I enquired whether “everybody” would also include Alison Hammond and Gordon the Gopher.
That partnership didn’t fare well.
No, not Alison and Gordon, I mean the partnership between Gino and Individual Restaurants, which renamed his eponymous eateries either Riva Blu or Piccolo and Gino made his displeasure at the decision known when he opened his new restaurant, Luciano, catering to the glitterati of Cheshire, in Alderley Edge.
But that shut in 2023 only a year after opening its doors.
The venue was acquired by San Carlo, a family-owned restaurant chain that has a long history of success.
There is no doubt that the UK hospitality industry is facing very challenging times.
So perhaps Gino needs a period of self-reflection to ponder what he spends his time on in future.
I wouldn’t bet against him returning to our TV screens.
Even Paul Young accepted an apology from Gino for the burglary and suggested that the Italian could invite him to dinner in one of his restaurants.
If you haven’t been already Paul, I’d get my skates on.
But I’d suggest you refrain from singing Don’t Dream It’s Over when you are there.
:::
I’VE found myself in a bit of a rut over the last few weeks.
I lost a client and several other potential pieces of work are taking time to get over the line.
Look, if you are in business you have to accept that there will be some ups and downs.
I’ve always said as long as the ups outnumber the downs, I’ll be OK with that.
When I face these kind of challenges, I always opt for my Dad’s approach - give yourself a kick up the arse and a slap round the face and get out there and try and make things happen.
So when I was invited to a “Principals Dinner” this week by Gilbanks, the office provider where I am based, I put my best suit and tie on and headed to Sous le Nez.
There is nothing like mingling with entrepreneurial-minded people to give you a positive buzz.
Alex Duckett, who founded Gilbanks, started in Leeds and now has another in Manchester with a second Manchester office opening in Gary Neville’s St Michael’s development and a fourth space in the heart of Birmingham’s business district opening this summer.
Alex, along with his colleagues Maria Hall and Ben Jaffray, hosted the dinner for representatives of the companies that are based in their offices at Number One Park Row.
Some I knew, many I didn’t and it was fascinating to learn about what these varied businesses do over good food and fine wine in the private dining room of Sous le Nez.
Also in the bar at the restaurant was Dave McCartney from The Alternative Board.
That is a peer group network for business owners and Dave and those on his Leeds board were enjoying a drink after their latest meeting.
I went over to say hello and was overwhelmed by the positivity, enthusiasm and entrepreneurial vigour they all displayed.
It was the shot in the arm I needed and I left Sous le Nez with a spring in my step.
Which at gone midnight, is not always how I leave a restaurant or bar.
:::
ANOTHER bonus this week was lunch with Neil Muffitt.
Neil, the now retired founder of financial recruitment firm Headstar, has that great combination of being a wise head, generous with advice as well as being great company.
He told me he is finding retirement quite busy.
One of the activities consuming his time is training to be a tour guide in Knaresborough.
This unpaid role, taking free tours around the historic North Yorkshire town, involves hours of training and some rigorous exams.
Neil said that he can only provide a fraction of the rich history of the town on his hour-long walks through its streets.
After our lunch yesterday he was off to Knaresborough to collect a medieval costume to wear for a tour tomorrow in which he will be quoting from Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
And he told me that one of the killers of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket (when I was at school he was known as Thomas à Becket) in 1170 was Hugh de Morville, Constable of Knaresborough Castle.
That’s all fine and interesting, but all this history is, well, a bit old.
I suggested to Neil that he perhaps needs to inject something a bit more up-to-date into his walking tours.
I’ve said I will try and find out whether any Love Island or Big Brother contestants are from Knaresborough.
You’re welcome.
Have a great weekend.