James Fisher appointed finance director at Comptoir Group

James Fisher, finance director at Wahaca, is set to take on the same role at Comptoir Group this summer.

Fisher has more than 10 years’ experience in senior financial roles, including as senior finance manager at BT and financial controller at Wahaca.

He is also an ACA qualified accountant.

His appointment to the group and the Board completes the “restructure of the senior leadership team”.

Travis Fish, the former managing director of cocktail bar operator Ballie Ballerson, was recently named operations director, while Dominika Kurowska, who comes from a background in contract catering, was appointed people director.

Nick Ayerst, former Leon managing director and chief executive of Comptoir, said: “We are excited to welcome James, Travis and Dominika to the Comptoir Group and look forward to benefitting from their experience and sector expertise.

“This is a key time for Comptoir with both franchise and equity restaurant openings, and we are confident that these three senior appointments will help lead the business into the next phase of growth. We know there is strong demand for our brand of Lebanese, Middle Eastern and North African food and we are on a mission to further grow this market serving our great food and hospitality one dish at a time.”

It comes after the operator of the Comptoir Libanais, Yalla-Yalla and Shawa brands reported a decline in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) from £3.8m in 2022 to £1m in 2023 in its interim results for the six months ending 2 July 2023.

However, it has since returned to expansion, with an opening at London's Southbank Centre due to launch this spring.

Comptoir Group owns and operates 27 Lebanese restaurants, six of which are franchised, based predominately in the UK.

The flagship brand of the group, Comptoir Libanais, is a collection of 22 restaurants located across London and nationwide, including cities such as Manchester, Bath, Birmingham, Oxford and Exeter.