Whitbread has appointed the former CEO of Boparan Restaurant Group to lead its newly revamped restaurant division.
Joe Teixeira has been appointed managing director of Whitbread’s branded restaurants division, overseeing brands such as Beefeater and Brewers Fayre.
The appointment comes as the group plans to streamline its struggling branded restaurant division by exiting 126 sites and converting around 100 of them into Premier Inn hotel rooms over the next two years.
In October, Whitbread announced it had accepted bids totaling £56m for 51 branded restaurants and bars.
Simon Ewins, chief executive of Whitbread, told the annual Hospitality Conference in September that some of the company’s restaurants had become a “distraction” for the business.
A Whitbread spokesperson said: “We have a clear plan for food and drink and this dedicated new role will ensure we continue to do a first class job of serving the hotel guests and community visitors who visit these brands day in and day out, while enabling our operations managers to focus on the experiences of their four million guests , who visit our hotels every month.”
Teixeira started his career at Whitbread as a management trainee and later led retail food and beverage formats for the John Lewis Partnership.
He was also CEO at Greene King and has held positions at Greenalls Pubs & Restaurants and De Vere Hotels.
Most recently, Teixeira was Managing Director of Majid Al Futtaim LLC’s entertainment division in the Middle East, overseeing shopping malls, retail outlets, cinemas, leisure and entertainment venues, including the indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai.
Whitbread reported a 1% increase in group sales to £739m in the first quarter of the year.
