City Merchant has been purchased by Cafe India Group. The Matteo family, who opened the restaurant over 20 years ago, sold the lease of the restaurant for ?500,000.
Abdul Sattar, owner of Cafe India Group said:' While Cafe India is one of our best known brands, we have interests in many other restaurants throughout central Scotland including The Grape Vine in Bothwell.
'We have no intention of changing City Merchant, and junior members of the Matteo family will remain as active operators, with Nicola Matteo as general manager, Tony Matteo Jnr as manager and front of house and Marissa Matteo supervising the kitchen. Paul Aitken will remain as head chef.'
The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has confirmed the appointment of George Benson, commercial director of Edinburgh-based Bellevue, as vice-president.
'As a long-time supporter and active Council member of the SWA with responsibilities including recruitment and non-licensed trade activity, George is a real asset to the Association and is ideally placed to embrace the challenges facing our industry over the next couple of years,' says Iain Hill, President of the SWA.
'George's experience of the industry will bring fresh ideas and increased drive to the Association, and I look forward to working with him in the coming months.
'He will be an articulate and effective figurehead for the SWA as we continue to lobby government on key issues affecting the wholesale industry, develop relevant training programmes and help our members' businesses become more profitable.'
Bellevue, which operates cash and carries in Edinburgh and Stirling, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
'As a Council member, I have found my involvement with the Association very rewarding and I look forward to assuming the position of president when Iain steps down after his two-year term at our 2010 annual conference,' says George.
'With the changes to Scotland's licensing laws and the raft of ongoing legislative and legal compliance issues that directly affect our businesses and staff, we need a strong SWA to ensure that our voice is heard.'
The Federation of Chefs Scotland has announced the appointment of two new Culinary Team Managers for the Scottish Junior and Senior Culinary Teams.
David Auchie will guide the Juniors, while the Scottish Senior Team Manager will be David Hunt.
David Auchie, a lecturer at South Lanarkshire College, was a member of the Scottish Culinary team from 1996 to 2004 when he captained the team that came 5th in the Culinary Olympics in Erfurt. He was also crowned Scottish Chef of the Year in 1997.
Meanwhile, David Hunt, who is currently Executive Chef at Inspire Catering, has worked in many senior positions within contract catering over the last 15 years and was a member of the Scottish Culinary Team from 1996- 2002.
David was named The Craft Guild of Chefs' Contract Catering Chef of the Year 2007 and reached the final of National Chef of the Year Competition in 2006.
The new Team Managers will oversee the recruitment and development of the Scottish
Culinary Teams, as well as the training sessions at Gleneagles Hotel, the teams' official training venue, in preparation for the Culinary World Cup that at Expogast in Luxemburg in November 2010.
Visit www.scottishchefs.com for more information.
Occupancy levels for Edinburgh hotels during April rose by more than any other city in the UK. according to accountants and business advisers, PKF. The capital had a 6.0% increase in occupancy during April, with the joint-lowest fall in rooms yield along with York.
However, Scotland's three main cities saw occupancy rates falling by as much as 11.1%in Glasgow.
This shows that Edinburgh has retained its strong leisure market despite the economic situation over the last year or so,' says Alastair Rae, a partner at PKF.
'The city is continuing to attract large numbers of tourists, perhaps encouraged by the strength of the dollar and the euro which is producing an encouraging stability in both occupancy and rooms yield for the capital's hospitality sector.'
'Glasgow, meanwhile, has been hit by reduced business spending which will have affected its successful conference market. Unfortunately this aspect of trade is likely to remain depressed for some time as business expenditure looks likely to remain flat for the foreseeable future.
'The market remains volatile and there is still considerable uncertainty about the direction the economy is moving in. However, there is some encouragement for Edinburgh's hoteliers as the city retains a worldwide attraction for large numbers of tourists, and investment in the capital remains high. The Missoni Hotel in the heart of the city is a positive indication of activity in the sector and the figures for April would certainly indicate that hotel investment in Edinburgh is a sound proposition.'
