Whitbread appoints pub restaurant COO
Whitbread, the leisure group, has continued the reorganisation of its pub restaurant division with the appointment of Peter Blake as chief operating officer.
Blake, who will report into recently appointed managing director of restaurants Paul Flaum, joined Whitbread in 2005 as a regional operations director for Costa Coffee. In 2008 he was appointed operations director for Brewers Fayre and Premier Inn.
He will oversee the group's four restaurant brands, Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarn.
Former operations director for Table Table John Forrest has been appointed as chief operating officer of the company's budget hotel chain Premier Inn.
At the same time, Tim Bowley, managing director of the Beefeater chain, has left the company.
The reorganisition comes after chief executive Andy Harrison announced the company's ambition to make its pub restaurant division 'best in class' to compliment its Costa and Premier Inn brands.
The company plans to open 14 pub restaurants in 2011/2012. Its value-driven Buffet Plate offer at Brewers Fayre will be rolled out to a further 50 over the next year. It is currently available in 27 sites.
In addition, 80-100 restaurants will be opened alongside Premier Inn hotels.
The company completed the refurbishment of 130 restaurants last year, with return on capital in its hotels and restaurants business in 2010/11 standing at 12.3%, up from 10.9% in 2009/10.
