Red’s True makes key hires: Red’s True Barbecue has appointed Matt Snell as operations director and Craig Bell as finance director. Snell, 36, joins from Fuller’s where he is currently head of operations for the quality division, overseeing 98 of the company’s unbranded premium food-led pubs. Whilst at Fuller’s, Snell, worked closely with managing director Jonathan Swaine, to roll out the company’s Every Customer Leaves Happy strategy and will bring his experience in customer excellence to the new role. Snell, who is relocating back to the north, said: “I’ve been a fan of Red’s since it opened in 2012; both the food and its strong brand. Getting back into the casual dining industry and into a young entrepreneurial company, which has a clear roll out plan, is incredibly exciting for me.” Bell, 43, is appointed to the board as FD. He joins from the Lardhar Group, the 50-site bar and restaurant group, which include the Hop & Cleaver and national chain, For Your Eyes Only. Prior to this, Bell was FD at Premium Bars and Restaurant Group where he was responsible for the acquisition of Living Room and Bell & The Dragon. His significant experience in debt and equity finance will help enable Red’s to ‘meet its ambitious growth targets, and keep the company on track to become the de facto national barbecue brand in the UK’. He said: “Opportunities to work for a company with drive and ambition, a single-minded strategy, and a brand with such admiration, don’t come along very often in the north; I’m delighted to have joined the business.” The appointments come just weeks before Red’s opens its fourth smokehouse, sited in Queen Street, Nottingham. The £1.1m, 150-cover restaurant will kick-start a year of national expansion. Scott Munro, co-founder, said: “Both Craig and Matt bring a huge amount of expertise and value to the business. We have a big focus on quality and service, underpinned by aggressive growth. With these two appointments we are building a market-leading team, and are now aligned to take Red’s rapidly forward and bring true barbecue to the masses. Alongside their obvious skillsets, both bring a little glamour to the business, which made the decision easier. Matt was a former world junior fresh water angling champion, whose claim to fame is that he caught the biggest Chub since records began. Furthermore Craig, in his formative years, had a brush with TV stardom. He filmed the first ever pilot of Biker Grove with Ant and Dec. Originally plugged as a trio ‘Ant, Dec and Clive’ Craig narrowly missed out on the lucrative part because of on set rivalry, and a dispute over who had the best Geordie accent.”
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 15:51:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015