Taking over a restaurant business from one of the world’s most famous chefs doesn’t sound like the easiest of tasks, but since Mark Derry took over Petit Blanc from its eponymous founder Raymond Blanc five years ago, he has transformed the business.

Thanks to Derry, the restaurant chain has grown from three outlets  to 11, turnover has reached £17m and it has started turning a profit – expected this year to reach around £4m.

Background and challenges

In 2006, Derry was looking for a new challenge. His existing business, Loch Fyne, had been a huge success, and now was the time to take a step back, and prepare for a new venture.

So, using an EIS investment led by Core Capital, and supported by substantial contributions from friends and family (including his father) he snapped up Petit Blanc – a company which was synonymous with great food and high standards, but hadn’t as yet realised its full commercial potential.

Derry juggled the two companies for the next few months, before selling Loch Fyne to Greene King for £70m in August 2007. He says the exit was “always planned” and believes it was “optimum timing,” coming just a year before the catering and hospitality industries were swept up in the global financial crisis.

Even before the sale, Derry had begun transforming Petit Blanc – he changed the name to Brasserie Blanc, a name more appropriate for mid-market and casual dining, just weeks after taking over.

He explains: “When we took over the business, it had a high turnover but it was very expensive to run – when Raymond was running it, it was heavily focused on premium food. Overheads were high, partly because of the number of staff employed at each restaurant.

“We were saying we wanted great food at an affordable price, with a business model which allowed us to employ 10 chefs per restaurant, rather than 20.”

This was arguably a risky strategy. The restaurants were synonymous with excellence, and damaging the brand through making it more mass-market was a real danger. However Derry was able to draw on his experience running Loch Fyne – a brand which successfully balanced quality and value.

Says Derry: “We started Loch Fyne with the aim of creating a specialist seafood outlet that would provide good value for money. The company operated at an average spend of around £25, and as a group we were almost unique in trading at that level of spend.

“We didn’t set about de-skilling the restaurants – in fact we created training programmes for chefs and managers to fulfil their aspirations. It was more about making the process as simple and clear as possible.”