Baton Berisha to join D&D London as managing director

Baton Berisha, former chief executive at the Ivy Collection, is to join D&D London as managing director next month.

He will take up the position on 3 May and work alongside the restaurant group’s founders, Des Gunewardena and David Loewi, to oversee the business.

The pair founded the group in 2006 and it now has more than 45 restaurants and bars worldwide, including Le Pont de la Tour in London, 20 Stories in Manchester, and Bluebird cafés in both London and New York.

Berisha spent seven years at the Ivy Collection and left in December 2021, only a year after being promoted to overall chief executive of the Ivy Collection, Bill’s Restaurants, Caprice Restaurants and the Birley Group.

His new appointment follows reports that D&D’s owner LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, is exploring a £100m sale of the business.

Gunewardena said: “This is an important appointment for D&D and signifies our ambitions for the business. We know Baton well – he actually worked for a number of our restaurants in his younger days! His experience particularly in leading the growth of the very successful Ivy Collection will be a huge asset to us as D&D enters the next stage of its expansion.”

Berisha added: “I am very excited to join D&D and having worked for the business in the past I have many fond memories. I have tremendous respect for Des and David, their vision and ambition for the future is very exciting and I look forward to working closely with them while the business enters its next stage of growth.”