Gingerman Restaurant Group celebrates 21st anniversary with the opening of their fifth restaurant
Despite the well documented challenges facing the hospitality industry the Gingerman Group, a Brighton based restaurant business, is thriving and celebrated its 21st birthday with the opening of a fifth outlet.
Ben McKellar, was born in Brighton in 1973 and studied at City College in Brighton before leaving at the age of 18 to gain experience at restaurants in France, the UK and New York. Once he had mastered his trade he decided to return home to Brighton to start his own business.
The Gingerman Group was started in 1998 by Ben with wife and business partner Pamela, when they took on their flagship restaurant close to Brighton seafront, the Gingerman.
Over the next 20 years the company has expanded to four Ginger-branded sites in total, one of which includes luxury guest accommodation, The Ginger Pig and Ginger Rooms in Hove, The Ginger Dog in Kemptown and The Ginger Fox a few miles outside of Brighton.
The company continues to evolve and in April the Gingerman Group opened a new dining concept in the heart of the Brighton Lanes, the Flint House, A modern restaurant and bar with a focus on fast turnaround food – tapas, street food style but still of great quality. The restaurant also has a cocktail bar and rooftop terrace.
Ben McKellar said: “After gaining experience as a chef in some of the most exclusive Michelin-starred restaurants in the world, I decided it was time to return home to Brighton and open my first restaurant, ‘The Gingerman’.
The business has done well and I believe the secret to this is that we have always tried to look long term by concentrating on the three most important elements of any business, quality, service and price.
Also, having the freehold for the majority of our premises gives us the freedom to adapt. It means that we can support smaller and more local brewers in the community, creating a wider choice which our customers appreciate.”
Ben and Pamela are committed to helping other business to thrive and have developed a growing consultancy business supporting other restauranteurs with their operations and strategy. They are already working with some big name brands including Compass Group and Zoe Ball’s online food website.
The company has diversified further with ‘Ginger at home’ where Executive Chef Ben Mckellar creates and cooks a bespoke 5 course tasting menu for customer gatherings in their own homes.
The Gingerman Restaurant Group has a long standing relationship with Barclays, with the bank providing the finance for much of the expansion of the company.
Tony Forster, Relationship Director, Corporate Banking at Barclays, said: “Part of the reason that Ben and Pamela have been able to continue their growth despite the headwinds facing the industry is that they have concentrated on their core offering – higher end food, while also diversifying into accommodation and private dining.”
It’s been a pleasure to support their ambitions and I look forward to working with them for many years to come.”