HELLO and welcome to the AM Business Briefing on Wednesday, August 25 as giant Unite union is set to have its first female general secretary after a ballot to decide the successor to Len McCluskey.
Voting papers will be formally counted on Wednesday, but Sharon Graham, an assistant general secretary of the union, is expected to win.
Also today, a Scottish restaurant is booked out until November after reopening, Sir Brian Souter has bought out the Celtic & Co business, and in Business Voices Colin McLean asks: Does it matter who owns companies?
Restaurant hails surge of bookings
Edinburgh New York Italian-inspired pizza restaurant Civerinos was booked up for the next two months within hours of reopening after a 10-month hiatus.
The Hunter Square flagship of the five-site strong brand Scottish Italian owner Michele Civiera has credited and thanked its “phenomenally loyal fan-base” which number over 50,000 across their social media platforms @civerinos and @civerinos_slice for the successful re-launch.
However, it has also moved to make sure there will still be limited tables available “on the day” if customers call at 9am.
Civerinos, Hunter Square, first opened in 2014, just off the Royal Mile and was named the “coolest place to eat in Edinburgh” by GQ.
Its classic New York style pizzas appeared in Phaidon’s global “Where to eat pizza” guide. During the past year it delivered 16,000 lockdown DIY Kits and opened two more of their neighbourhood Slice Bars in Portobello and Corstorphine, joining The High Dive bar, the original Slice Bar on Forrest Road, and started to deliver pizzas to the 19,000 households that had downloaded their app.
Hunter Square features a main restaurant, basement dining room and indoor neon garden, as well as the terrace on the Square that can safely seat up to 110 with a combination of booths and sharing tables for groups and families.
Civerinos said: “The OG New York style pizza pie favourites are all back including the Signature Civerinos - Sugo, Sicilian fennel sausage, peperoni, rosemary, garlic oil, topped with burrata with some new additions including Savage Garden, a vegan pizza with double sugo, olives, roast peppers, mushroom, red onion, chilli, rocket and a Sicilian crumb & garlic oil.
“Also new, and paying homage to the convivial dining scene of NYC’s Italian family restaurants the menu now features giant sharing platters designed to be served family style including chicken parmigiana The Big Parm and the Tagliata Platter of steak strips, parmesan fries and truffle aioli. Small plates of authentic Italian cicchetti, bowls of traditional pasta and salads also feature, as well as the famous box of parmesan fries - to take home if you don’t finish.”
Sir Brian Souter in buyout of Celtic & Co
Scottish transport entrepreneur Sir Brian Souter’s family investment vehicle has partnered with retail executive and investor Ben Barnett to complete a buyout of Celtic & Co, a wool-based sustainable clothing and homeware brand.
Colin McLean: Wave of UK takeovers may derail drive to create attractive local communities
Opinion: Does it matter who owns companies? A boom in UK takeovers is under way, fuelled by a jump in business confidence and cheap money.
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