THE joint owner of Cook & Indi's World Buffet has revealed the restaurant chain will launch its next venue in the landmark Harry Ramsden's outlet on Glasgow's Paisley Road.
Cook Gill, who launched the business with Indi Singh in 2011, said the company will invest £500,000 to install its world buffet concept in the site over the next six to eight weeks.
The 200-capacity outlet, which is leased from Glasgow City Council, will be the seventh in the chain, and is due to open at the end of next month. Employing up to 70 staff, it will join a portfolio which already includes restaurants in Bishopbriggs, Darnley, Hamilton, Johnstone and Glasgow city centre.
And the Ramsden's site will quickly be followed by an eighth, this time in Motherwell, where the company plans to spend £1 million converting a warehouse into a world buffet restaurant.
Mr Gill, the younger brother of Indian restaurant pioneer Charan Gill, said he was "totally shocked" that Harry Ramsden's, owned by Boparan Ventures Restaurants, was willing to give up the Glasgow site which has traded for 25 years.
Revealing it had taken a year to conclude negotiations, he said the purpose-built restaurant offered numerous attractions, from its history to its location and parking facilities.
The building is a short walk from the Springfield Quay entertainment and hospitality complex, where there is an Odeon cimema and Alea Casino.
Mr Gill said: "It's a landmark. Harry Ramsden's in its heyday was the place to be. I saw some of the photographs from the ops directors when they came up from London and there was a queue right round the building underneath the Kingston Bridge. It's phenomenal when you see the history of the place.
"It was always one we thought would maybe on the cards, but we thought Harry Ramsden's is a Scottish institution, they will never sell up."
Mr Gill said the company is planning to overhaul the premises.
The self-funded investment will focus on installing the catering equipment needed to run its buffet model and back office facilities such as a new till system, as well as a conservatory able accommodate a further 60 diners.
"Every station is going to be a live station, so there will be live cooking as well as the buffet room," Mr Gill said.
"One of the things we are going to have is Harry Ramsden's fish bar counter, to keep with tradition. I don't know if we will be able to call it Harry Ramsden's, but it will be something similar.
"You will be able to get traditional fish and chips, which is a really good touch."
Meanwhile, work on Cook & Indi's Motherwell site, located prominently on a roundabout on Airbles Road, will start as soon as the new Glasgow restaurant is complete. It promises to be an even bigger investment, with the firm having set a £1 million budget to install a restaurant in the currently empty, 15,000 sq ft premises.
Some £100,000 has already been earmarked to install a mezzanine, while a glass staircase is also planned. Mr Gill pledged the expansion would continue next year, revealing he hoped a further three restaurants would join the chain in 2015. These will include its first outlets in Edinburgh, where two sites are under consideration, and possibly one in Clydebank.
Asked how many outlets the business could ultimately sustain, he said: "I don't know. There is going to come a time when we say: where do we stop? I think as long as we enjoy what we are doing, [then] if sites come along and we think it's a 'no brainer', we will continue.
"The concept works for us, our structure is strong, [and] we have good managers and chefs behind us now. I don't want to stop this."
Harry Ramsden's said it remained committed to expanding in Scotland with up to 50 new outlets planned under a franchise agreement. It had given up the Glasgow site as it no longer fitted the location criteria the business was looking for.
It added: "Currently, Harry Ramsden's is looking for more suitable locations across the country which better fit with the required location criteria, including in Glasgow city centre."
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