The founders of seafood restaurant brand Randall & Aubin, Ed Baines and Jamie Poulton, have bought the Manchester franchise out of administration and intend to operate the business themselves.
Randall & Aubin has been described by readers as “the epitome of a Soho lifestyle”, with “fabulous fish” and “warm service”. “It’s worth the queue”.
A second branch was opened as an autonomous franchise in Manchester in April 2016, but administrators were appointed this month, according to MCA. Despite turning over £1.44m, the business had accumulated losses of £669,000.
Now, Baines and Poulton are moving in to focus on making the site profitable. So it’s not another Manchester closure – but an ambitious step forward. Chef Baines said there may be room to open two further sites in Edinburgh and London too.
Open to new ideas
He said: “The Manchester site has traded fantastically well – it’s had great footfall and great reviews – but unfortunately the guy was not that great at running a business.
“From a public perspective, it was very successful, but from a business perspective, there was a lot of loose holes”.
Baines added, however, that he wouldn’t be detered from franchising the brand out in the future.
“Randall & Aubin is something we will endeavour to grow further, but for the moment we have to focus on ensuring Manchester becomes profitable”, the chef added.
