One of Scotland’s largest independent hospitality groups has revealed plans for new restaurant openings - targeting its first-ever move into London as well as another venue in Newcastle.
Mario Gizzi, co-founder of Di Maggio’s owner DRG, revealed today that the group is exploring locations for a first venue in the UK’s capital.
He flagged the possibility of acquiring an existing restaurant business as part of DRG’s expansion plans.
READ MORE: Denial after denial from brass-necked Tory arch-Brexiter
Mr Gizzi declared DRG is “actively looking” at potential sites for a second Cafe Andaluz in Newcastle, after opening its Grey Street restaurant in the city in 2021.
The Glasgow-based restaurant group also revealed it had enjoyed its busiest December since 2019.
DRG opened a third Café Andaluz in Edinburgh in November last year, with this new venue in upmarket Stockbridge said by the group to be “proving a big hit in the neighbourhood”.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: What a relief - some sense from Labour on Brexit
The group said: “Almost 20,000 people have already visited the restaurant since it opened, making it one of the brand’s most successful new openings to date.”
DRG said combined sales across its 17 venues last month were up 10% on the same month of 2022.
Mr Gizzi, who founded DRG in Glasgow with his uncle Joe Conetta in 1985, said: “The reception to the Stockbridge Cafe Andaluz has been exceptional and is exactly why we chose that location. It’s another pillar in the progression of the business, and we have plans to grow the brand further.”
He declared that DRG had “a strong portfolio of brands across a broad range of sectors and food types”.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: So now Brexit failure is Joe Biden's fault? This is laughable
Mr Gizzi said: “Our plans are about growing what we have. We are actively looking at a site for a second Cafe Andaluz in Newcastle, and beyond that we intend to take the brand and potentially other restaurants into London as well.
“We are researching suitable locations, and that includes the potential acquisition of other restaurant businesses with a view to converting sites into one of our existing brands if the opportunity is right. We’ve been in business for 40 years because we take a responsible and measured approach to growth, only moving when the opportunity is right for the business, and that will continue to be fundamental to our approach.”
Gizzi, who trained as a chartered accountant in the 1980s, owns and runs DRG with cousin Tony Conetta.
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 here