Latest news with #JeremyKing
Time Out
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Legendary London restaurant Simpson's In The Strand has confirmed its reopening date
We've known that Jeremy King – the hospitality brains behind the likes of Brasserie Zédel, The Wolseley and recent Bayswater opening The Park – has been planning to reopen the legendary Simpson's in the Strand for a while. And finally we have an opening date. 'At the end of 2025, just a few years short of its 200th anniversary, Jeremy King will relaunch this legendary restaurant,' says an official statement. It was initially thought that Simpson's would be re-opening in May of this year. Serving up traditional British fare since 1828, and beloved by literary luminaries Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Simpson's was one of the first UK restaurants to earn a Michelin star back in 1974. However, this London dining institution has been shut since 2020 and in 2023 it auctioned off a bunch of fixtures and fittings, including carving trolleys, tables, booths and three pianos. In other words: expect a whole new look inside. More information about the revamped resto has also been newly released. Simpson's will have two dining rooms - the Grand Divan and the Green Room (which is apparently a 'working title') – as well as two bars – Simpson's Bar and Nellie's. There will also be private ballroom for 100 covers, called the Assembly Room. 'Food throughout will be British at its core, with a meal in the Grand Divan being a rather traditional affair and the Green Room offering a more flexible service at a lower price point.' Simpson's, 100 Strand, WC2R 0EW.
Mint
17-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Diamond Mine in Canada's North Halted With Hundreds Laid Off
(Bloomberg) -- Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. laid off 'several hundred' workers after halting part of its Ekati operations in northern Canada, adding another blow to the country's struggling diamond mining industry. Chief Executive Officer Jeremy King said the company has temporarily suspended its Point Lake open-pit mine after record-low global diamond prices made the operation uneconomical. 'The diamonds assessed in the marketplace have just shown that in this market right now, Point Lake is non-economic and in fact we'd be losing money on a daily basis there,' King said in an interview. Its nearby underground mine is unaffected by the suspension, he added. Burgundy's Ekati operations are one of three diamond mines in Canada's Northwest Territories, all of which reported financial losses last year. The diamond industry is grappling with one of its worst slumps in decades, hit by collapsing Chinese demand, uncertainty around US tariffs, and competition from lab-grown alternatives. The closure is expected to have significant ripple effect on nearby Indigenous communities, which have long relied on diamond mining for jobs and revenue. Local leaders said the scale of the job cuts caught them off guard. 'It's shocking. It is sad,' said Marc Whitford, president of the North Slave Métis Alliance. 'We're talking about a whole part of that line suddenly carved away and gone, with all these many jobs that are gone primarily out of the indigenous communities.' The diamond industry has generated more than C$104 million ($75.6 million) for three Indigenous development corporations and supported 355 jobs for local Indigenous workers, according to an economic study published in April. King didn't disclose the exact number of layoffs, but said the company is working toward a point where it can recall workers and reactivate Point Lake when diamond prices recover. Australia-based Burgundy bought the Ekati mine, which is about 210 kilometers (131 miles) south of the Arctic Circle, two years ago. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. earlier reported on the layoffs and stoppage at the open-pit mine. (Updates with comment from Metis group and additional information about the local economic impact, beginning in the fifth paragraph.) More stories like this are available on
Bloomberg
17-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Diamond Mine in Canada's North Halted With Hundreds Laid Off
Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. laid off 'several hundred' workers after halting part of its Ekati operations in northern Canada, adding another blow to the country's struggling diamond mining industry. Chief Executive Officer Jeremy King said the company has temporarily suspended its Point Lake open-pit mine after record-low global diamond prices made the operation uneconomical.
The Independent
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
The Wolseley's global takeover is thriving. Investors and Keir Starmer should take note
There was consternation among London restaurant -goers when their favourite venue, owned by their favourite restaurateur, was acquired three years ago by a Thai-based group. It was feared The Wolseley, adored by many, including Lucian Freud (whose regular corner table was covered with a black cloth and a single candle following his death) and AA Gill, would be no more. It would not be the same without Jeremy King, its co-founder, greeting regulars and attending to every last detail. But fears The Wolseley would lose its cachet have proved groundless. The restaurant and its siblings, including The Delaunay, Colbert and Brasserie Zedel, plus a new Wolseley in the City, are thriving. The Wolseley remains as it was, known far beyond London for its 'Parisian cafe meets Viennese dining room' menu, spectacular but intimate room, and warm ambience. The numbers speak for themselves. Last year, the original Wolseley sold 21,803 schnitzels, 7,542 pancakes, 45,750 afternoon teas and 29,837 oysters. As a group, the restaurants managed 18,358 champagne bottles and 91,306 glasses, 99,013 schnitzels, 15,755 pancakes and 49,104 afternoon teas. Wolseley parent company, Minor International, turned in thumping annual results, including record net profits. Now Minor is taking the business international, and going further still, by opening The Wolseley Hotels. Proof that no single person is bigger than the brand, and evidence that what they created is capable of developing and expanding into a money-making machine Minor is so-called because it was founded by entrepreneur Bill Heinecke when he was underage. American-born Heinecke started in business in Bangkok at the age of just 14, in 1963, while he was still in high school. He persuaded the editor of the Bangkok World newspaper to let him write a column on go-karting, securing advertising space alongside it. This initiative was so successful that he took over the paper's advertising manager position. When Heinecke left school at 17, he decided he wanted to set up on his own. He borrowed $1,200 from a backstreet moneylender to register his first two companies: Inter-Asian Enterprise, which provided office cleaning services, and Inter-Asian Publicity, an advertising company. The holding company was Minor Holdings – for the first year, his mother had to sign the paychecks on his behalf. Over nearly six decades, he grew Minor into a major powerhouse, encompassing hospitality (Minor Hotels), food (Minor Food) and lifestyle retail. Pivotal was the 2018 acquisition of Spain's NH Hotel Group, tripling Minor's hotel portfolio and propelling it to leading world hospitality player. Today, Minor owns 560 properties with 85,000 rooms across 57 countries. They will be joined by four new brands – The Wolseley Hotels, Colbert Collection, Minor Reserve Collection and iStay Hotels – to help Minor achieve its aim of reaching 850 hotels and 4,000 restaurants by the end of 2027. It's all part of Heinecke's bold vision. When asked which was his best decade, he is quick to answer: 'My best decade has yet to come.' Ian Di Tullio, chief commercial officer of Minor Hotels, said the Wolseley Hotels will 'take multiple cues' from the restaurant in Piccadilly. 'Like the restaurant, the hotel will be a place where formality melts away, replaced by friendly familiarity and glamour without pretension. Rituality and attentiveness are at the heart of the guest experience, where every guest will be treated to our effortless balance of class and etiquette, from their welcome by The Wolseley Hotel's door person to the stay rituals delivered by a team passionate about the craft of hospitality.' Minor is looking to open Wolseley Hotels in New York, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai and other key centres. London is also earmarked as 'a fantastic location and a natural fit'. Di Tullio said: 'We will be very particular and deliberate about where we open The Wolseley Hotels properties, growing its footprint slowly with partners who share our vision for the brand experience. This will be a carefully curated rollout, with each new location thoughtfully chosen to be a perfect match for the brand's character and values.' He added: 'Brands are a brilliant way to endorse existing customers and find new ones.' He makes the point, though, that it does not apply to all. 'The Wolseley is an iconic brand with soul and character, and an individual creativity – there are very few of them, which is why we want to start a new hotel portfolio with our existing brands.' Nevertheless, he has a product – Britain has a product – that is internationally transferable, provided standards are maintained. 'There is pure theatre, pleasurable impact for anyone entering The Wolseley and we want to celebrate and to share that special sense of luxury with a new global audience. We will do that respectfully and carefully and with passion.' So, The Wolseley brand sustains and is expanding. Rather than the world taking over a uniquely British label, that British label is taking over the world. It shows what Britain is capable of, with an injection of self-belief and commercial strength and savvy. What began as a car showroom was, through imagination and flair, transformed into an exceptional restaurant, then widened. Now it's to be raised to another level, across the globe, in hotels. Credit to Minor and Heinecke for having the idea and for going where others have not. You realise that a Paris or Brussels restaurant could not make the leap, they just don't have that same internationally-admired British style. We could make so much more out of this as a country, as an economy. It does make you wonder what other loved and homegrown brands could achieve with the application of similar faith and a fair wind. Investors, brand proprietors and Keir Starmer and his teams devoted to exporting British soft power, please note.
Daily Mail
28-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Steaks could cost more on weekend if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, restaurant chief says
Steaks could cost more expensive on weekends if dynamic pricing becomes normal practice, a top restauranteur has warned. Jeremy King, whose establishments have included Le Caprice and The Wolseley, said that while he was personally 'really uncomfortable' with the practice, he admitted it was 'fair' for restaurants to sell tables to customers willing to spend a certain amount of money. Dynamic pricing is the practice of changing the cost of a product or service depending on demand. It came under fire after Oasis tickets were sold under the practice, leading to a slew of complaints from customers who felt they were overcharged. King, 71, told the Go To Food podcast: 'I don't begrudge the restaurants, for instance, which are using the apps to sell tables in advance because they've got fed up with people who book months in advance and then spend the entire meal taking photographs of themselves and of the food, ordering the absolute minimum they can just so they can put it on social media. 'So hold the tables back and those restaurants that say if you're willing to pay £200 we have a table for you on a Saturday, I think that's fair. 'I don't like the encroaching dynamic pricing whereby your steak is going to cost more on a Saturday night than it is on a Monday night, that makes me really uncomfortable but that's coming through. We've already seen it in the theatre.' Earlier this year, King gave diners who went to two of his restaurants, Arlington and The Park, a 25 per cent discount if they ate after 9pm in order to encourage later dining times. In February, Disney came under fire after it said that tickets to its American theme parks would jump with demand under a new dynamic pricing plan. Currently, entry to Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland near LA is priced based on pre-set peak and off-peak dates. Under the expected plan—already rolled out at Disneyland Paris—ticket prices at the US parks will fluctuate in real-time based on demand. The new scheme —which would cause huge variations in price —could be introduced by the the end of March, Richard Greenfield of closely-watched Wall Street researchers Lightshed Partners said on Friday. Disney fan Jasmin Guevara, who lives in LA and regularly visits Disneyland in nearby Anaheim, said: 'Does Disney have no shame? 'It has jacked up prices time and time again in the past few years. This will just be another way to squeeze even more money out of me and my family.' Greenfield, respected investor and analyst, explained the timing. He wrote: 'Given the early success of Disneyland Paris' pricing strategy shift, we expect Disney to announce it is moving to a similar airline-style, dynamic pricing plan in the US later in Q1 2025.'
