Casual Dining Group appoints Bella Italia, Las Iguanas and Café Rouge brand directors

Casual Dining Group has appointed a series of brand directors to its key restaurant concepts, replacing the former managing director for branded business role.

The directors for the Café Rouge, Bella Italia and Las Iguanas brands will report directly to chief executive James Spragg (pictured), who was appointed in May.

Lisa Gibbons has been promoted to brand director of Bella Italia, Julie McEwan to Las Iguanas and Greg Gibbons to Café Rouge.

Mark Nelson remains managing director of the franchise and concessions business, while Sara Pope joins from GLH Hotels as chief information officer.

Casual Dining Group, which has about 290 sites, has reported like-for-like sales growth of 3% across the group in the first six months of 2019.

In July 2018 the restaurant group agreed a refinancing deal with American private equity company KKR, including a cash injection of £30m to "fund growth opportunities".

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