White Rabbit to operate F&B for upcoming Graduate Hotels openings

White Rabbit Projects will create and operate the food and beverage offerings at the forthcoming Graduate Hotels in Oxford and Cambridge, opening this spring.

The outlets will be the first under White Rabbit Studio, the bespoke, creative arm of White Rabbit Projects. Since launching in 2016, the restaurant investment and advisory service founded by former Soho House Group commercial director Chris Miller has supported the growth of brands including Kricket, Lina Stores and Island Poké, and works with early-stage chefs and restaurants to launch and grow their businesses.

White Rabbit Projects will develop and operate multiple outlets, including restaurants, cafés and bar concepts, across both the Oxford and Cambridge properties, working with suppliers to champion local, seasonal produce.

The group is also expected to be involved in Graduate Hotels’ properties in St Andrews and North Berwick.

Graduate Hotels was launched in 2014 by chief executive Ben Weprin and has 28 hotels in university-anchored towns throughout the US, with eight more set to open by the end of 2022. The group is owned by Adventurous Journeys (AJ) Capital Partners, the real estate developer, owner and operator founded by Weprin in 2008.

Since 2019, AJ Capital Partners has acquired Rusacks hotel in St Andrews, the leasehold interest of the Randolph hotel in Oxford (pictured) and the Marine Hotel & Spa in North Berwick, East Lothian, from Macdonald Hotels.

The Randolph hotel will launch under the Graduate Hotels Collection, while Rusacks, the Marine North Berwick and the Marine hotel in Troon in Ayrshire will relaunch under its Marine & Lawn Collection later this year. The former Cambridge hotel will relaunch as the Graduate Cambridge in the spring.