Carluccio’s: Quantity and Quality?

However, Carluccio’s is not just about the food. The business also offers a number of things that its competitors don’t. For example, the restaurant offers all-day dining, opening from 8am in the morning through to 11pm.

Simon says:

We’re doing some business that other restaurants aren’t really doing. So you can come here in the morning for a takeaway coffee or sit down and have a croissant with your coffee, or maybe even a cooked breakfast. And then you can come back at lunchtime, or for afternoon tea, right through to a proper evening meal and a bottle of wine if you wanted

Antonio also believes this relaxed attitude is crucially important to providing the sort of atmosphere that is as much a part of the brand as the food.

The reason being that it’s not like other restaurants, or chains, whatever, is that we give the full liberty to the customer. They can have lunch in the morning if they like, seven-days a week. And that’s quite a liberty, because in many places you’re not allowed to have a coffee at lunch because you take the table. And I find it stupid. So we don’t mind that sort of thing. The other thing is we train our people to be very friendly to the customers. To let them feel genuinely welcome, and have a good time. And if you have this feeling in restaurants, which I almost never have, then you’re happy and you’ll come back

And come back customers have – in droves, it seems, as while many businesses have been struggling to stay afloat in the economic downturn, Carluccio’s has been positively thriving. The low- spend business model (with most main courses hovering around the £11 mark) has certainly proved resilient to the recession and Simon agrees this is a key part of the chain’s success:

I think it’s mostly about offering value. We want people to eat at Carluccio’s and go – for what I paid, that was pretty good. And I believe most people would think that, we even offer a two-course menu for £10, which is great value. It’s also about offering a reliable experience. Our expectation is that the consumer is going to be in a difficult position for a while yet, so if you’re not going out as often as you used to, you want to know that if you’re spending £20 it’s going to be OK. You know, it’s not fine dining – that’s a different experience. Its high street prices, but we believe our products are of a slightly higher order

Another key part of the business model is that each Carluccio’s features a retail element selling premium Italian produce. The shop, designed to look like an Italian store cupboard, actually contributes significantly to the overall revenue of the company – on average about 15-20% but rising to around 50% during the Christmas period.

“There really isn’t another multiple restaurant offer that runs a retail component in the way that we do. There are one or two smaller, family businesses that maybe do something similar but there’s no one that’s got the number of stores or the geographic spread that we have. Some of the products are expensive because it’s premium produce (for example a 75cl bottle of Puglian Extra virgin Olive Oil retails at £22.95). But I challenge anyone to say our pesto is not better than what you buy in a supermarket. We’re not trying to bring products in just to hit a price, you know we could easily buy cheaper olive oil, or cheaper vinegar. But what’s the point? What we want to do is bring in a great product.”

What’s interesting about individual elements of the business, such as this one, is that they were all present in the original concept of Carluccio’s, back when it was a small boutique cafe and deli run by Antonio and his wife Priscilla. Simon admits it’s adapted slightly from the original idea, but is adamant that the business remains true to its original core values.

It’s a different business but with all the same heritage.” Simon confirms. “It actually feels a bit like a family business because we’ve all been here 13 years, and we’ve still got Antonio who really represents the original family, so that also helps us to deliver something that is slightly different to the average branded business and I think that’s important. It’s actually quite interesting –for a business like us, that’s into its 14th year and has had three ownership structures (initially owned by Antonio and Priscilla, floating on the stock market as a PLC in 2005 before being reclaimed by a sole private investor as it stands today). It’s very unusual for the management to still be the same. And yet me and all the other directors are the same people that started out on the first day. And I think that keeps the brand true to itself

As Simon reveals, he has been with Carluccio’s since the very beginning:

I was lucky enough to meet Antonio’s wife by a quirk of networking. She said to me I’ve got this idea for a restaurant, which was basically Carluccio’s, but she didn’t know how to build a team, find the sites, get the funding, do the banking and so on and I thought, I did know how to do all that stuff! So we formed a partnership

Simon is actually being rather modest about a very successful pre-Carluccio’s career that saw him working across a number of high profile management positions, including The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory and Beach Blanket Babylon. The serendipitous meeting with Priscilla Carluccio came at the perfect time for Simon, as he was looking for a new opportunity away from the world of “themed restaurants” and was excited by the concept of an authentic, accessible restaurant. He has since been the driving force in transforming Carluccio’s from a boutique restaurant to a huge fleet of stores across the country. And the popular brand looks set to continue its steamroller success, with another 10 UK restaurant openings planned for 2013, plus further expansion internationally.

Carluccio’s

Cumbergate,
Peterborough,
PE1 1YR

01733 890 752

www.carluccios.com

@carluccioscaffe

www.facebook.com/carluccioscaffe