Tasting menu restaurant Six by Nico is preparing to launch two new brands that will create 50 additional jobs in founder Nico Simeone's home city of Glasgow.
The overall investment of £3 million will include the closure of the original Six by Nico in Finnieston, which first opened in 2017. A new flagship Six by Nico will open on January 15 in Glasgow's Merchant City, with existing bookings at Finnieston transferring to the new venue.
The Finnieston site will re-launch in February under a new brand, Sole Club, which will operate as a speakeasy-style fish restaurant and takeaway. Another new concept, cocktail bar Somewhere by Nico, is scheduled to begin trading in February at Six by Nico Byres Road in Glasgow's West End.
“Our team is driven daily by the challenge to constantly create and reinvent," Mr Simeone said. "We are dedicated to being different, never resting on our laurels, and continuously striving to create the best customer experiences.
"Marking our six-year journey with such a significant evolution of experiences in our home town and reaffirming our commitments to the city seems like the best way to celebrate the next stage in our company vision."
He added that the Merchant City venue is a "watershed moment" for the group, which during its six years of operation in Glasgow has expanded to 15 Six by Nico restaurants across the UK and Ireland. All existing staff from Finnieston will transfer to the new city centre location, with approximately 50 additional jobs created by the launch of the two new brands.
Sole Club will pay homage to the original idea that kick-started the Six by Nico journey - "The Chippie" - bringing together two dining concepts in one venue. One side will host a unique takeaway offering new twists on the traditional chippie, while the other will operate as a 22-seat fish restaurant focused on crafting menus based on the best ingredients available each day.
READ MORE: Six by Nico restaurant group plans four new sites
Somewhere by Nico is a variation of the signature Six by Nico concept, which revolves around six-course tasting menu that changes every six weeks and is themed around different places, memories and ideas.
Somewhere by Nico will offer a six-stage cocktail experience with paired dishes which change every six weeks, each inspired by a "themed world". The two-hour experience will focus on storytelling with the mixologist as narrator.
Since launching the first restaurant in 2017, Six by Nico has served more than 350,000 customers across its Glasgow locations in Finnieston, Byres Road and the Southside. In that time a total of 49 tasting menus for which the brand is known have been created.
Latest accounts filed at Companies House by Sixco Limited - which takes in the Six by Nico chain along with other brands such as Glasgow's Chateau-X and the Ta&ns wine importing business - show that the group rebounded strongly during the year to July 2022 from Covid lockdown restrictions.
The group recorded turnover of £30.8m against £18.1m for the prior 15-month period to June 2021. Operating profits from continuing operations jumped to £4.4m against a loss of £600,000 previously.
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