Chotto Matte wants to expand to 20 venues over next five years

Chotto Matte wants to expand to 20 venues over next five years, close to signing for Manchester site: Chotto Matte, founded by Kurt Zdesar, wants to expand its brand – which is set to open its fourth venue next month – to 20 sites over the next five years. Founded in 2013 by Zdesar, former Nobu European director and consultant for Hakkasan, the brand has a flagship restaurant in Soho as well as overseas sites in Miami and Toronto. It is set to launch in London’s Marylebone in late April, ahead of further pipeline openings in the US and Middle East. The group’s global executive chef, Jordan Sclare, who will be leading up the menu at the Marylebone site, told Propel: “We came out of covid very strong, and where other restaurants have been closing, we’re looking to open. We’re looking at Mexico, Panama and Italy, as well as Dallas and Philadelphia in the US. We have also looked at sites for Manchester and are very close to signing, it would be built from scratch and include a new hotel. We’ve had a rethink of how we expand and keep the same quality, and now we want to grow Chotto Matte to 20 sites in the next five years. We never expected back in 2013 for it to be so successful, but we’ve been packed since. We’re very big on customers getting an experience above and beyond their expectations, and enjoying immersive, elevated dining that is great value for what it offers. We’ve evolved the menu and added a vegan section that isn’t merely a trend, but food that non-vegan people want to eat too.” Indeed, the new Marylebone site will feature new dishes exclusive to the venue, including “new luxury items” with new types of wild fish and truffle. The group also sees the Marylebone site as an opportunity to showcase its offering to a new clientele ahead of openings in the Middle East. Sclare said: “Doha will be the next opening, and Riyadh too this year. San Francisco will also be this year, followed by Nashville and Los Angeles.” Sclare said Chotto Matte kept going through the pandemic by offering DIY boxes and parties for ten, “to keep the name alive”, whereby ingredients would be sent out and live cookery sessions followed on Zoom. “As soon as we reopened, we had our busiest year in every location,” he added. “Not just in revenue, but footfall too. We broke records in revenue and covers. Omicron didn’t really affect our London site – Toronto had to close and then go to 50% capacity – but we’re now back to normal and we’re so pleased.” Extracted from Propel Daily Newsletter