Harvester (restaurant)
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| Industry | Hospitality |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Courage Brewery |
| Headquarters | 27 Fleet Street, Birmingham |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | CEO Phil Urban |
| Products | 230 restaurants |
| Parent | Mitchells & Butlers |
| Website | www |
Harvester is a British casual dining restaurant chain with over 230 outlets (as of December 2015) in the United Kingdom.
The first location was The George Inn, opening in 1983 in Morden, Greater London. The chain was seen before as a rival to Whitbread's Beefeater restaurants.
Bass
On 21 July 1995, Bass bought the seventy eight restaurants of Harvester for £165 million.[1] Whitbread had offered £150 million for the chain.[1] Most Harvesters were in the South East, and Bass had plans to rebrand other restaurants (such as the former Innkeeper's Fayre) elsewhere in England as Harvesters. When Bass divested its brewing division in 2000, the chain was looked after by the renamed company, Six Continents, until 2003.[2]
Mitchells & Butlers
On 15 April 2003, the chain Six Continents was taken over by the renamed company, Mitchells & Butlers, and had 127 outlets. By 2012, there were over two hundred hotels across the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
The brand grew far larger after the purchase of a large number of Brewers Fayres and Beefeaters from Whitbread.
Return to television and radio advertising
For the first time in ten years, Harvester Restaurants spent nearly £20,000 on advertising on both television in the United Kingdom, and radio stations in July 2010. The advertising campaign was part of a general shift within Mitchells & Butlers, to focus on businesses that were food led.[3] As part of the marketing campaign, they also run "free ice cream vouchers when you order main meal" campaigns periodically.[citation needed]
Sustainability
In November 2015, the chain was the worst out of seven restaurants surveyed[by whom?] that failed to meet a basic level of sustainability in its seafood.[4][needs update]
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See also
- Brewers Fayre, owned by Whitbread
- Beefeater, owned by Whitbread
- Toby Carvery, also owned by M & B
- List of restaurant chains
References
- ^ a b Shepherd, John (22 July 1995). "Forte sells Harvester pub chain". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-09. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ Day, Julia (27 June 2001). "Bass to become Six Continents". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ Parsons, Russell (24 March 2010). "Mitchells & Butlers readies push for restaurant brands as it switches to food-led business". Marketing Week. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010.
- ^ Smithers, Rebecca (18 November 2015). "More than half of UK's family restaurant chains serving unsustainable seafood". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
External links
