Heston Blumenthal to advise on £20m menu overhaul at Little Chef – For more hospitality stories, see what the weekend papers say

Heston Blumenthal to advise on £20m menu overhaul at Little Chef Three-Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal has been hired to advise roadside restaurant group Little Chef over a £20m overhaul of its menus. Blumenthal revamped the menu of the Popham Little Chef for a television documentary in 2008, and the new format will now be rolled out to 20 more venues over the next year, which will sell take-away deli sandwiches as well as Blumenthal-inspired dishes such as braised ox cheeks. In time, the makeover will be extended to all 160 restaurants. Little Chef, which made a £7m loss in 2007 before it was rescued from collapse by R Capital, reported a £2.5m profit last year. - 17 April
Read the full article in the Sunday Times >>

First Earl of Sandwich sandwich shop to open in UK The Earl of Sandwich - whose ancestor was said to have invented the successful snack 250 years ago so he could eat at the gambling tables - is to open his first sandwich shop in the UK with his son, Orlando Mantagu. The City venue will sell hot sandwiches priced at £3.95 that are made in front of the customers using freshly baked bread. The menu will include "The Original 1762 sandwich", which is filled with hot roast beef, cheddar and horseradish sauce. The family is hoping the venture will grow large enough to challenge existing chains such as Pret A Manger and Eat. It already runs 14 sandwich shops using the family name in the USA in a joint venture with Planet Hollywood entrepreneur Robert Earl. - 16 April
Read the full article in the Daily Telegraph >>

Soho pub shuts doors to avoid "gay kiss-in" protest A Soho pub shut its doors on Friday night to avoid a "gay kiss-in" planned on Facebook to protest against the ejection of two gay customers for kissing in the pub two days earlier. James Bull and Jonathan Williams had been asked to leave the John Snow pub in Broadwick Street after management described their first-date kiss as "obscene". Although the pub shut its doors at 3.30pm, the protest took place at 7pm as planned and attracted some 300 people including gay rights activist Peter Tatchell. The pub - one of 300 run by the Samuel Smiths brewery - declined to comment. Although Bull said he did not want to take legal action as it was enough that people had showed their support, the Metropolitan police said it was investigating the incident that took place on Wednesday. - 16 April
Read the full articles in the Independent and the Guardian >>

25% share boost for Latin American McDonald's franchisee Shares in the world's largest McDonald's franchisee started trading in New York at nearly 25% above their initial public offering price of $17 (£10.40) last week. Argentina-based Arcos Dorados (Golden Arches in Spanish) operates 1,800 McDonald's restaurants, cafés and kiosks in 18 Latin American countries and accounted for 5% of all the money spent in the chain worldwide in 2010. Last year, it boosted net revenues by 13.2% to more than $3b. The International Monetary Fund this week revised its 2011 growth forecasts for Latin America and the Caribbean to 4.7%, pushing the valuation of Arcos Dorados to 30 times earnings, compared with 16 times earnings for the US business. - 16 April
Read the full article in The Times >>

By Angela Frewin

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