Restaurateurs Neil Rankin and Handley Amos are to join SALT, a “partnership and experience” agency specialising in food & drink, to head up its new restaurant division The Pepper Collective.

The collective has brought together a team of people with a common purpose: “to work with like-minded souls, businesses and enterprises to create new hospitality experiences.”

The Pepper Collective provides investment opportunities and expertise to get projects off the ground. It focuses on development, location sourcing, marketing, staff training, as well as the “creative insight needed to ensure a quality and sustainable business model for each and every partnership,” an announcement said.

SALT’s CEO Andrew Fishwick said: “I could not be more thrilled to have brought together two legends of our industry to head up our new restaurant division.

“I have known Neil and Handley for years and they think like I do about the future of hospitality; we all know our sector is changing beyond recognition and we believe that by working with the best, by being at the vanguard of the new movement and by incorporating new ways of thinking, we can create a group that makes a difference.”

To date, The PEPPER Collective have curated a number of projects, with many more to come:

SIMPLICITY BURGER | LAUNCHED WINTER 2019

Neil Rankin opened vegan restaurant, Simplicity Burger, on London’s Brick Lane in November 2019, in partnership with The PEPPER Collective team.

Simplicity Burger, Neil Rankin’s vegan burger bar in Brick Lane, East London.

TOM BROWN | 2020

Tom Brown, of Cornerstone, will work with the group to bring his next project to life. Further details are to be revealed in spring.

VEDA BABY | SPRING 2020

An Ayurvedic, all-day dining offering from best-selling author and chef Jasmine Hemsley in the heart of Soho. Veda Baby will focus on a simple seasonal menu – in a ‘canteen’ style grab and go set-up.

F!LTH | SPRING 2020

F!LTH will be a burger joint from chef and author Gizzi Erskine and nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson. The pair have reinvented “junk” food. F!LTH will launch its first joint in the West End in Spring 2020 followed by a national high street roll-out.

ALYN WILLIAMS | SUMMER 2020

Following nine years at The Westbury, Williams will be working with Pepper to bring his next phase to life in Summer 2020. It will involve a fine-dining restaurant at its core but have a great local pub (“the likes of which has never been seen…”) and boutique rooms.