Harts Group fell into the red in year before Coal Drops Yard launch

Harts Group, the firm behind London restaurant brands Barrafina, Quo Vadis, El Pastor and the Drop, has announced a pre-tax loss in its latest financial results.

The firm reported a pre-tax loss of £445,702 for the financial year ending 31 July 2018, down from last year's profit of £320,077. Turnover meanwhile increased by 2.1% to £10.5m across the portfolio, up from £10.3m the previous year.

The firm's directors said the results were satisfactory "in light of the current economic climate and competitive nature of the industry".

The report predates the group's latest opening, Barrafina in Coal Drops Yard, King's Cross, which launched in Autumn last year. At the time director James Hart told The Caterer the move had changed the business "from a large mama-and-papa operation into quite a big business, so we have been very busy building an HR department, an ops department, and putting in IT systems which hopefully will enable us to open these things in an efficient way".

How the Harts Group is taking over Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross >>