Orleans for sale
Scottish & Newcastle Retail this week confirmed it was putting 11 of its 41 Old Orleans outlets up for sale for £2.1m including its central London flagship in Covent Garden. It's believed the remainder will either follow the same path or be debranded. The managed house concept was increasingly developed as S&N's answer to the much higher profile TGI Friday's, US-owned but franchised by Whitbread in the UK. The right exit Jennings Bros revealed this week it had cost £1.3m to exit from managed houses and dispose of its 44 outlets in the sector. But chairman John Rudgard insisted there was "every sign" it was the right decision. He was able to report pre-tax profits soaring by 56.2% to £1.546m, and like-for-like sales in the leased and tenanted pubs that remain up by 3% in the half-year to 31 August. Protz praise MA columnist and Good Beer Guide editor Roger Protz has won prestigious Gold and Silver awards from the North American Guild of Beer Writers. The guild, meeting during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, earlier this month, awarded Protz for articles on Porter and Stout in Zymurgy magazine, and on Imperial Russian Stout in All About Beer magazine. Summit tasty Morning Advertiser readers are invited to attend the British Meat Foodservice Summit on 31 October at the QEII Conference Centre in Westminster. They'll hear superstar restaurateur Gordon Ramsey and award-winning pub chef Andrew Pern discuss the latest food issues. Contact James Sephton on 020 8974 2404 to reserve your free place. Salary slips Regent Inns chief executive Stephen Haupt has taken a pay cut. The managed house chain's report and accounts for 2002 reveal he was paid a basic salary of £187,000, rising to £218,000 with various benefits. But that was £17,000 down on 2001.
