SCOTTISH restaurant chain Di Maggio's achieved a rise in operating profits in its last financial year to April 2011, even though turnover dipped, and is eyeing fresh projects in cities including Manchester, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
Operating profits at Glasgow-based Di Maggio's rose to £716,000 in the year to last April from £691,000 in the prior 12 months. And this increase was achieved in spite of a rise in directors' pay to £2.292 million, from £2.188m, in a year in which turnover dipped from £18.82m to £18.67m.
The highest-paid director, believed to be co-owner Mario Gizzi, received £1.048m of remuneration for the year to April 30, down from £1.08m for the previous 12 months. Mr Gizzi said he was "very encouraged" by the com-pany's financial results.
Last year, Di Maggio's opened its second venture in the Scottish capital, Amarone Edinburgh, on the corner of George Street and St Andrew Square, investing £750,000 in a refurbishment of these premises.
It said yesterday that trading "has proved brisk", and that a further location in Edinburgh city centre was planned.
Di Maggio's meanwhile invested £500,000 in transforming L'Ariosto, the venerable Italian restaurant on Mitchell Street in Glasgow. This restaurant was re-launched as Barolo Grill in July 2011.
The firm, which has a 19-strong portfolio of outlets, also invested £400,000 in its Café Di Maggio's restaurant in the Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen.
In early 2011, Mr Gizzi highlighted plans to move into England for the first time and a spokesman said that such a move, with the planned opening of a restaurant in Manchester, was a priority for him over the next 12 months.
Di Maggio's also plans to go ahead in 2012 with its long-awaited opening of an American-style chop house in Glasgow. Issues relating to the building in St Vincent Place in which this restaurant is to be housed have caused a hold-up.
Last year, Di Maggio's opened its first Mexican venture, burrito restaurant Pinto, in Glasgow's Queen Street on the site of the former Ingram Bar.
Mr Gizzi, who owns the group with Tony Conetta, said Di Maggio's move last year to Clydesdale Bank, with a new £15m facility, "will help us with plans for further expansion".
Di Maggio's employs 431 staff, and expects to create a further 50 jobs. Its portfolio includes tapas chain Cafe Andaluz.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article