Former Café Rouge managing director named Byron Chief Executive

Simon Wilkinson, the former Café Rouge managing director and La Tasca chief executive, has been appointed as the new Byron chief executive.

Wilkinson also worked as an executive at Kout Food Group and Paramount Restaurants before joining La Tasca in the summer of 2011.   He oversaw the turnaround of the Spanish tapas chain, which was acquired by CDG for around £25m in August 2015. 

Byron, which was taken over by Three Hills Capital Partners in 2018, operates 53 restaurants across the UK.

Mauro Moretti, managing partner at Three Hills, said: “We are thrilled to have Simon on board for the next chapter of Byron’s story. Byron’s a fantastic brand, still hugely loved by its customers. With Simon joining as chief executive we know we have been very fortunate to have attracted a top-class executive who will lead the excellent Byron team to refurbish the estate later this year and drive the brand forward. And in the coming months we will be making further appointments that will complete the restructure of Byron’s top management team.”

Wilkinson said: “I’m delighted to be joining Byron, the original premium burger brand, as its new chief executive. I was in the fortunate position of having a number of options available to me, but Byron ticked all the boxes I was looking for; it’s a great brand, is now well funded and will be investing in restaurant refurbishments and positioning the brand to be the best in what is a rapidly changing market. And in Mauro, the Byron board and the Three Hills Capital Partners team I can see we have super-passionate owners all of whom share the vision of how we will drive Byron forward to future success. I have enjoyed my consultancy time at Parkdean Resorts and would like to personally thank Martin Robinson the chairman for the opportunity.”