Back in 1998 on a beach in Israel Russel Joffe and his wife Juliette were day-dreaming about tall animals, whilst snacking on healthy food and listening to great world music. This was the start of the family-friendly Giraffe restaurant business.
Juliette and Russel Joffe, along with friend Andrew Jacobs, decided to open the kind of restaurant they would like to hang out in - somewhere relaxed where people could have a great coffee and freshly cooked food at any time of day.
Juliette said: “Giraffe was created by my husband on a beach in Israel. We wanted to create the whole thing around people, value, lifestyle and good service.
“We were living in Israel at the time and Russel is very much the creative force behind Giraffe. We wanted to do something different and we thought it was a fun and exciting adventure and there’s a lot you can do with the animal – it’s colourful and friendly – and that’s how it all started. “Russel always wanted to have a business called Giraffe – hence the restaurant ‘Giraffe’ was born in 1998.”
The first restaurant opened in Hampstead, which has recently undergone a refurbishment into the Giraffe Café with some travelesque themes, fresh new menu and some fantastic new music. “Of course it has grown up a lot since 1998, but that’s how it evolved,” she adds. The company now has 45 restaurants in the UK with another three scheduled to open later in 2011 in Stratford, Chelmsford and Meadowhall in Sheffield.
Juliette said the company is hoping to open another five to eight restaurants in 2012.
Prior to Giraffe Juliette and Russel launched their very first restaurant in 1984, Bistroquet in Camden, a popular hang out for musicians and actors. Three years later they sold up and opened another restaurant, Café Flo, also in Camden, where Andrew was employed as Manager. They opened seven more sites over the next three years before Juliette and Russel followed a lifelong dream and moved to Israel after the sale of the business. She adds: “We always knew we would get back into the restaurant business - that’s what we do, that’s what we love and that’s our passion.”
She said the company’s primary focus is expanding within the UK, but they have not ruled out opening abroad.
She said: “We are always looking at franchises as I’m sure that that’s the way we’ll go forward. There’s a lot of demand for it and, one day, why not. There’s still plenty of scope though in the UK.
For the full article, please see the September 2011 issue.
|
