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Helping Greggs with evening opening

Greggs is a phenomenal business and for many is a much loved and important dining experience.

First seen as a daytime bakery and takeaway, the opportunities for evening opening are abundant, and I have been helping the team define and make the most of these.

Working alongside my friends at FIS we have carried out a review of the operation and made recommendation’s on how to take this development forward.

The Belfry Hotel and Resort

Over the last couple of months I have been working with Chris Eigelaar, Quin Holtzhuizen and their senior leadership team to brainstorm a new F&B vision for the resort.

It is a beast, with multiple already successful F&B spaces with vast revenue and brilliant feedback. So this is not a reinvention, more a reboot of the offers, upgrading and improving, and adapting the existing to merge seamlessly with new restaurants and bars which we are imagining.

The team is fantastic – young, driven and endlessly enthusiastic – this is a dream collaboration as ‘in house’ they have the knowledge, I can bring external inspiration and guidance, so together we can build a sustainable future for the hotel. It is helped enormously by a first class culinary team, Rob and Dean are a pleasure to work with, and can underpin all the ideas with practical know how and experience.

Keep an eye out for more news, this is a going to be a game changing development and will keep the resort at the top of the pile.

The Store Oxford

The former department store Boswells in Oxford is being transformed into a luxury boutique hotel in a venture between Reef and the EQ Group.

I am on board with the team to help drive space planning, F&B strategy and concept development.

This is one of the most exciting things to happen in Oxford for many years and will become an important destination in the city centre.

The Ministry

It is a real pleasure to be working with the Ministry team to look onto the exciting opportunities being developed by them in the co working, members club and serviced office space. It is a young and vibrant brand with huge ambition.

More news to come on new sites and developments.

Leiths Food Business Course

After an enforced covid break, my very popular food business course is back at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Over the years, many successful businesses have started their journey on this course, and it is designed to help you decide firstly whether this is the career for you, and if so how best to make a go of it.

With every crisis comes opportunity, and arguably there has never been a better time with rents at a low and properties available, and an eager audience desperate to get back to hospitality.

The next course runs in March and April over 4 evenings, please contact me directly if you need more information; chris@cbfoodsolutions.com

Gloucester Rugby

Gloucester Rugby are a top premiership side with ambitions to elevate their facilities to a new level. They have secured a massive warehouse space adjacent to the Kingsholm Stadium which allows them to have a world class gym and indoor training facility. This is also brings many hospitality options, potentially creating new concepts for pre and post match dining and drinking, but also to rethink what goes on with hospitality in the stadium. We were delighted to kick this off with a workshop alongside the clubs c-suite team, Lance Bradley and Alex Brown, and between us we found many possible solutions and developments. Stuart Bradbury of ADS design introduced us to the project and was there to give architectural and design insights to the process. It was a great session, CBFS were joined by William Barber, in his final year at UWE Bristol to observe the session, and add a younger persons view to the proceedings.

Jazz Funk Supper Club

Andrew levy Presents Jazz Funk Supper Club

In a partnership with world renowned musician Andrew Levy of The Brand New Heavies and Mike Glasspell of Oink Creative we have created a new concept for experiential dining. Hosted by our friends and partners at Balfour St Barts  we are launching an evening of food, exceptional wines from the Hush Heath Estate, and world class live music curated and hosted by Andrew Levy. The menu is designed personally by Chris Barber and this will see the launch of a supper club with live music second to none. The launch night is 4th November with a follow up event on 8th December. Following the live music we have Tim Garcia and Anne Frankenstein of Jazz FM with an awesome DJ set.

 

The Other House

Our clients, The Portfolio Club have just announced the naming of their 2 London hotel venture – The Other House

First to open will be The Other House Kensington, based in the former Harrington Hall Hotel, with a February 2022 launch in mind. This will be very stylish short and long stay accommodation, with members area, cocktail bar and premium casual dining.

Soon after will see the launch of The Other House Covent Garden, housed in the magnificent Wellington Block, a prime location for tourists, Londoners and anyone who happens to be passing by.

There is much planning to do, but the newly formed team have fresh ideas and a unique vision, we are delighted to be part of the team and add our years of knowledge and experience to the leadership team.

Getting back to business

The sad news has been that many existing operators in hospitality and F&B have been mortally wounded by first Brexit, and then Covid delivering the knock out punch.

CBFS has seen big companies and clients close forever, others flipping with new investments, wiping out existing debt. We have not been immune to this, and have suffered industry losses in line with our operational partners.

We have survived, and had plenty of long term projects to keep us busy, and to keep the vital cashflow coming in to enable our continued success. Wherever we can, we have helped and taken on many pro bono projects, especially in our pet field, the arts.

There are examples of success, we launched Dabbawalla amidst the pandemic, and even starting life as a take away and delivery business, it has been a huge success.

My directorship of Mamma Dough | Sourdough Pizza, the much renowned South London craft pizza collection, has had many challenges, but continued to trade well through the pandemic, and now looks forward to further growth and success.

The churn of business means more opportunity, a chance to reinvent and maximise the bounce back for hospitality – we look forward to our next challenges.

The Portfolio Club Acquire Wellington Block

Our exciting project with The Portfolio Club, the renovation of Harrington Hall and creation of The Other House is in full swing.

The latest news is that the client has now acquired the site for the second venture, based in Covent Garden and set to be another ground breaking devlopement.

More news to come as the project develops, and delighted to be on board.