Cosmo (restaurant)
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| Company type | Buffet restaurant |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 19 |
Key people | Aidan Harrison |
| Website | www |
Cosmo is a chain of 19 buffet restaurants in the United Kingdom. Its branch in Valley Leisure Park, Croydon, was formerly the UK's biggest restaurant. Formerly named 'Combos', the chain were accused of copyright claims as a restaurant of a similar name was opened by enterpeneur Aidan Harrison.[1]
The first location opened in 2003 in Eastbourne and now the chain operates 19 restaurants: 14 in England, three in Scotland and one each in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The restaurants include live cooking stations where customers can have food freshly cooked.[2]
History
The first Cosmo restaurant opened in Eastbourne in 2003 and since then has enjoyed continuous growth and expansion. Between 2003 and June 2012 Cosmo opened in Bristol, Chatham, Coventry, Croydon, Romford, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Wolverhampton, and Swansea.
A branch opened in Croydon in November 2011 and at the time was Britain's biggest restaurant with a seating capacity of 800.[3]
In July 2012, Cosmo opened restaurants in Reading, Aberdeen and Belfast.[citation needed]
In 2015, Cosmo was officially voted 3rd in the CGA Peach Brand Track Survey (out of the top 40 restaurant brands in the UK) for "Customer Satisfaction" and 2nd for "Value for Money".[citation needed]
In 2016, it opened restaurants in Oxford, Dublin and Southampton. Its Oxford branch won very positive reviews. The Oxford Mail said: "Cosmo definitely has the wow factor" (June 23, 2016)[citation needed] while monthly glossy OX Magazine said: "There is serious fun and genuinely great food to be had" (August 2016)[citation needed].
Menu
The restaurant serves up more 150 dishes from around the world including China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam, England and India.[4] Examples of dishes include sushi, sweet and sour pork, pizza, salmon fillet in black bean sauce and Chicken Korma.[5]
Hygiene Issues
In 2016 the Tunbridge Wells branch was closed down, following a visit from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's environmental health team. A spokesman for the council said that they had served a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice to close the premises because it was considered that conditions there posed an imminent and significant risk to food safety.[6] The inspection revealed there was "poor maintenance of routine cleaning, poor structural condition, and drainage defect in the basement kitchen resulting in a significant risk of food contamination".[7]
In March 2017 the Coventry branch received a one star rating from the Food Standards Agency for a number of issues, such as their sushi and dessert fridges being broken and marinated raw meat being found stored next to uncovered cooked noodles on worktops.[8] The company insisted it had made all necessary improvements within hours of the rating.[9]
Locations
England
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Ireland
References
- ^ Jeffries, Stuart (19 November 2010). "Feeding frenzy: Britain's biggest restaurant opens for business". The Guardian. London.
- ^ Union Square – Cosm weo
- ^ "Don't fancy doing the washing up much! Britain's biggest restaurant throws open its doors to 2,100 diners a night". Daily Mail. London. 29 November 2011.
- ^ Cosmo Archived 2013-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Cosmo Archived 2013-01-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ McConnell, Ed (12 September 2016). "Tunbridge Wells: Cosmo, on the corner of Grosvenor Road and Hanover Road, shut by council over food safety fears". Kent Messenger. Tunbridge Wells. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Closed down Cosmo to become US ice cream parlour". Times of Tunbridge Wells. Tunbridge Wells. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Ben Eccleston (20 April 2017). "Revealed: Shocking reasons behind Coventry restaurant Cosmo's shameful one-star hygiene". Coventry Telegraph. Coventry. Retrieved 2 Mar 2018.
- ^ Laura Hartley (19 April 2017). "Cosmo hits back over one-star hygiene rating - and says it's now worthy of top marks". Coventry Telegraph. Coventry. Retrieved 2 Mar 2018.
External links
