Italian restaurant and deli chain Carluccio’s opened its new Bath outlet with a glittering party last night – ending a five-year-plus wait to get into the city.
The Milsom Place restaurant takes the group’s total to 66 in the UK and for Carluccio’s managing director Simon Kossoff yesterday’s opening was a vital step for the rapidly-expanding business.
“Bath’s been high on the list of locations we wanted to open in,” he said. “It’s exactly the right kind of city for us because of its demographics. It’s got a w
ealthy resident population, it’s got tourists – both domestic and international – and it’s got a large student population.
“These are the three key elements for us when we look at a town or city.”
But he said finding the right location in Bath was just as important.
“We knew Milsom Place was where we wanted to be. It’s just a fantastic location. Once we’d made our mind up we were prepared to wait.”
The 3,800 sq ft restaurant occupies two units which have been sensitively combined.
“We usually go into new buildings so moving into an historic site like this is a novelty for us but it’s all worked out exactly as we wanted.”
The £750,000 restaurant has also created 35 jobs.
The chain was launched in 1999 in London by the ‘godfather’ of Italian cooking in the UK Antonio Carluccio – who spoke at last night’s opening night.
“Our first restaurants were in London and we then moved down the M4 to Reading, Bristol and Cardiff,” said Mr Kossoff. “But we always wanted to be in Bath. It was a bit of a gap on our map. But we wanted to right building in the right location.”
The restaurant may be an olive stone’s throw from rival national chains such as Jamie’s Italian and Cote but Mr Kossoff believes that’s great for business.
“Milsom Place has become an eating-out destination. When you go on holiday to a new place, where do you go to eat? Where all the restaurants are.,” he said.
Competition may be fierce and the economic situation is hitting people’s spending power but there would always be a demand for quality food and drink in good surroundings, he said.
“Well-run branded restaurants are doing well despite the economy,” he said. “People know us and trust us. They know what they are going to get.”
That can be a coffee or breakfast from 8am through to dinner at night. But the difference is with Carluccio’s there are no rules, he added.
“It’s up to our customers. We are open throughout the day but they can do what they want. They don't have to eat at lunchtime, they can just have a coffee or in the evening they can come in and share a bottle of wine.”
There may have been an influx of branded national chains to Bath such as Cote and Jamie’s Italian – and in May Raymond Blanc opened a branch of his Brasserie Blanc chain next to the refurbished Francis Hotel in Queen Square – but Mr Kossoff believes there is still room for independent restaurants of the kind which traditionally made Bath an eating-out Mecca.
“We wouldn’t want to be responsible for putting anyone out of business,” he said. “In fact, I hope it’s the opposite. We want to help develop Bath as a great place to eat out with a great choice of venues.”
