More online www.thecaterer.com AA reveals new rosette award winners By Jungmin Seo


La Dame de Pic London at Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square in the City of London was the only restaurant to receive four AA rosettes at the 2024 AA Rosette Awards. The restaurant, which opened


under French chef Anne-Sophie Pic in 2017, was celebrated by the AA for its “stunning classic dishes, first-class, sea- sonal produce [and] superb technical execution”. Sixteen restaurants received


three AA rosettes, including Pavyllon in London’s May- fair, which opened in July last year as the debut UK site for French chef Yannick Alléno; the Little Chartroom in Edin- burgh from chef Roberta Hall- McCarron; and the Tasting Room, the Vineyard in Berk- shire, which was launched by chef Tom Scade in October. Simon Numphud, manag-


ing director at AA Media, said: “We are delighted to celebrate and recognise the latest collec- tion of outstanding restaurants. All deliver excellent culinary experiences where provenance, seasonality, flavour and great


AA rosette winners


New four AA rosettes ●La Dame de Pic London, Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square, London


New three AA rosettes ●Social Eating House, London ●Pavyllon London, Four Seasons


Hotel at Park Lane, London ●Claridge’s, London ●The Silver Birch, London ●Studio Frantzén, London ●Fallowfields, Housel Bay,


Cornwall ●Summer Lodge Country


House hotel, Dorset ●Toffs by Rob Palmer,


West Midlands ●The Gin Trap Inn, Norfolk ●The Dining Room and Cellar, Hillbark Hotel & Spa,


Merseyside ●The Little Chartroom,


La Dame de Pic is located in Four Seasons Ten Trinity in London


cooking take centre stage. Here’s to the remarkable chefs and front of house teams whose dedication has brought these accolades to life.” The awards were held at


RAK Ceramics Design Hub in London’s Clerkenwell and each winner received a signature RAK porcelain AA plate.


jungmin.seo@thecaterer.com


Hospitality entrepreneur Luke Johnson takes a bite of Tortilla Shares in Tortilla, which has


Serial hospitality investor Luke Johnson has taken a stake in the Tortilla Mexican restaurant brand. Johnson, whose Risk Capital


Partners firm backs the likes of All Star Lanes and Brighton Pier Group, acquired 1.4 million shares in the group last week. The move gives Johnson a


3.62% stake in the business and makes him around the 10th larg- est shareholder in the company. As a publicly listed firm


Tortilla does not comment on individual investors, but it is understood the move is seen as a positive for the business. Johnson drove the expansion


of PizzaExpress from 12 restau- rants to over 250 in the 1990s and founded the Strada Ital- ian chain. He acquired a stake in family-friendly restaurant group Giraffe in 2004 before it was sold to Tesco for £50m in 2013 and more recently has


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backed Gail’s bakery and caterer Genuine Dining Co. His investment came less


than a week after Tortilla’s chief executive Richard Mor- ris announced he would step down at the end of March after three years in the role and a decade at the company. He will be succeeded by managing director Andy Naylor, who said the brand had “huge potential” for growth. Tortilla was founded in 2007


and runs 85 UK restaurants. The burrito brand reported a loss before tax of £600,000 in the six months to 2 July 2023 after being hit by cost pres- sures, but revenue rose 22% to £32.7m over the same period. Tortilla ended its delivery part- nership with Deliveroo this year after a review of its strategy found commission charges had “chal- lenged margin performance”.


been publicly listed since 2021, jumped 17% to 53p following


Edinburgh ●Mingary Castle, Highlands ●Thomas by Tom Simmons,


Cardiff ●The Tasting Room, the


Vineyard, Berkshire ●The Angel Inn, Suffolk ●Kintsu, Essex


the announcement of John- son’s investment but have since dropped to around 49p.


Tortilla’s chief executive announced he would step down in March 8 March 2024 | The Caterer | 5


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