Whitbread appoints former Boparan CEO to lead restaurants division

Whitbread has brought in the former chief executive of Boparan Restaurant Group to lead its reshaped restaurants arm.

Joe Teixeira has been appointed managing director of the branded restaurants division where he will oversee brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre.

 

It comes as the group looks to streamline its struggling branded restaurant arm by exiting 126 sites and converting around 100 into Premier Inn hotel rooms over the next two years.

 

In October, Whitbread said it had accepted offers on 51 branded restaurants and bars for £56m.

 

Simon Ewins, managing director at Whitbread, told the Annual Hospitality Conference in September some of its restaurants had become a “distraction” to the business.

 

A Whitbread spokesperson said: “We have a clear plan for F&B and this dedicated new role will ensure we continue to do a first-class job of serving the hotel guests and community visitors who visit these brands day in, day out whilst enabling our operations directors to focus on the experience of the four million guests who visit our hotels each month.”

 

Teixeira originally joined Whitbread as a management trainee and went on to run retail F&B formats for the John Lewis Partnership. 

 

He was also managing director at Greene King and has worked for Greenalls Pubs & Restaurants and De Vere Hotels.

 

Most recently Teixera was managing director for the entertainment division of Majid Al Futtaim LLC in the Middle East, which runs shopping malls, retail outlets, cinemas, leisure and entertainment venues, including indoor ski slope Ski Dubai.

 

Whitbread reported a 1% rise in group sales to £739m in the first quarter of the year.