North East & Yorkshire Premier Hospitality Wales

Double delight for Prezzo

Prezzo Carmarthen
Written by Roma Publications

Prezzo Carmarthen

Since Prezzo opened the doors of its first branch back in 2000, more than 250 restaurants have followed.

newThe brand’s two latest sites – Newcastle and Carmarthen –opened just before Christmas 2014 and having already proved popular with customers it is clear that Prezzo is being firmly embraced by the UK.

Prezzo Newcastle opened in November and became the company’s 250th restaurant. Meanwhile, the Carmarthen site opened in December to become restaurant 251.

Commenting on this achievement, Prezzo Chief Executive, Jonathan Kaye, said:

“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone.”

It is a milestone indeed, as it means that Prezzo is opening around 18 new restaurants a year, over the 14-year period that it has been in operation. This means that on average a new Prezzo opens each month – a fantastic achievement.

Prezzo Carmarthen

Prezzo Newcastle is a 118-cover restaurant situated on Eldon Square Shopping Centre in the heart of the city centre. The restaurant is split between a ground and a first floor and includes an outside seating area for use during the warmer months.

Prezzo Carmarthen, meanwhile, is situated in St Catherine’s Walk Shopping Centre. Whilst the restaurant is smaller than Prezzo Newcastle – covering one floor instead of two – the restaurant still manages to include an impressive 92 covers.

Oakwoods Shopfitting was the main contractor on Prezzo Newcastle, whilst Gary Bluff Projects was the main contractor on the Carmarthen site. Moxon Design was the design practice involved with both sites.

Speaking to Premier Hospitality, Katy Moxon of Moxon Design, said:

“Prezzo Newcastle has a great location and is quite prominent in the city, so when approaching the design we wanted it to have a contemporary theme, whilst maintaining the warm elegance associated with the Prezzo brand.”

Prezzo Carmarthen

Prezzo Newcastle’s design includes a nod to the Art Deco era, with oak panelling, diamond mirrors and metal detailing being true highlights of the interior. The ground floor includes a feature bar, whilst a central staircase leads to the spacious first floor.

Katy said:

“Prezzo often acquire older buildings, however because of the rise in shopping centres over recent years we have seen an influx of more modern buildings amongst the Prezzo portfolio. Therefore the design has adapted slightly to cater towards this style of building. I always look towards an Art Deco design with the sites that I’m involved with because I feel that this particular style is very much associated with a strong attention to detail – which is what Prezzo is all about.”

Prezzo Carmarthen followed Prezzo Newcastle and opened the week before Christmas, a very busy time for all in the hospitality trade, especially those working within a shopping centre, so it had to hit the ground running. However that didn’t pose too much of a problem for Katy, who took on the challenge in her stride.

Prezzo Newcastle

“This restaurant presented a good opportunity for Prezzo as there aren’t as many restaurants in Carmarthen as say Newcastle. Prezzo can now kick-start the rise in restaurants in the area,” said Katy.

Prezzo Carmarthen is housed in what was previously an empty shell; however both Moxon Design and Gary Bluff Projects have utilised the space to its fullest to give it real character. The restaurant features full height glass at the front and includes a large, double-sided horseshoe bar and wrap around seating.

Like with all Prezzo’s, the Carmarthen site presents a delicious menu, packed with a tasty range of dishes which includes sharing starters, pizzas, pasta, risottos, sides and salads. The menu also includes a succulent selection of meats from the Prezzo grill, with the likes of chargrilled chicken breast, roasted pork belly and fillet of salmon joining the good old fashioned Italian Burger.

For children, smaller portions of classic Italian dishes are offered; again with the option of more than one course being available and a range of options for very young children. Prezzo also has a separate menu to cater for parties.

Prezzo Newcastle

Discussing the design approach to Prezzo Carmarthen, Katy said:

“It’s closer in style to Prezzo Newcastle than any of the other sites that we have been involved with and this is due to the type of building. It felt right to us to continue the theme started in Newcastle, however it is a more toned down approach as we really wanted the emphasis to be on the feature bar.”

Gary Bluff Projects has worked with Prezzo on more than 50 of its restaurants and this latest site in Carmarthen continues this important working relationship; building upon the quality of workmanship that the contractor has become known for. The company specialises in delivering fit-out works for the hospitality industry, specifically restaurant projects, and its wealth of knowledge and experience is applied to each scheme it undertakes.

Gary Bluff Projects Contract Manager, Matthew Tryner, said:

“We worked on Prezzo Carmarthen for a period of nine weeks and the work ran as we would have expected, without any major problems.

Prezzo Newcastle

“We value our working relationship with Prezzo, so it was good to be involved with this site. We are currently involved with the next Prezzo which is in Penarth, Wales which is due in early 2015.”

Matthew added:

“At Gary Bluff Projects we always strive to meet our clients’ needs and we are proud of our finished product.”

With more restaurants on the horizon Prezzo continues to broaden its customer-base, producing inviting establishments, creating more jobs and delivering the taste of Italy to more British locations. The award-winning brand continues to go from strength-to-strength and its profile will continue to rise throughout 2015.

Commenting on Moxon Design’s involvement with Prezzo, Katy said:

“Prezzo is a very important client for us. We work very closely with them and the way that the brand is developing allows us to be very creative, which is very exciting.”

Prezzo Newcastle

Moving forward, Moxon Design continues to work with Prezzo and is currently involved with a new restaurant for the chain – this time a Chimichanga – in Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow. Chimichanga Glasgow is currently due to open in March.

For more information about Prezzo, please visit: www.prezzorestaurants.co.uk.

Oakwoods

Oakwoods was established in 1987 and successfully continue to provide a first class service for the implementation of interior design concepts throughout the UK and Europe for the restaurants, retail and commercial sector. Oakwoods’ wealth of experience, gained from working with highly regarded clients, architects and designers, enables the company to provide the same quality service from bespoke installations right through to nationwide roll-out programs.

Prezzo Newcastle

As a result Oakwoods has built an enviable reputation for reliability, responsiveness and cost – effectiveness within an industry renowned for the high levels of customer service that clients such as Prezzo, Chimichanga, Wildwood, La Martina, Shake Shack, Cleaver, Burberry, The White Company and Whistles demand.

Oakwood’s own joinery workshop/spray shop has been a part of the success over the years. With a highly experienced team of joiners, draughtsmen and managers the team can produce very high standards for joinery for all its client’s needs. By way of the workshop, in house drawing/ samples can be provided very quickly to enable projects to be kept on track.

Prezzo have been a client of Oakwoods for a number of years and as a company it is proud of its association. Oakwoods have been involved in the successful completion of all the Arezzo group restaurants and is very keen to be involved in the 250th restaurant.

Prezzo Newcastle

Acting as main contractor it was Oakwoods’ responsibility to manage the mechanical and electrical elements, kitchen installation and all the high end finishing trades required. At times the project posed technical challenges due to the ceiling feature detail which posed problems due to the existing structure of the building, but working together with Katy Moxon Design the solution was agreed and as a result the ceiling feature was installed. Oakwoods were also responsible for the manufacture of the fixed joinery items such as waiter stations, fixed banquet seating bars and back bars.

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Roma Publications